Lizzie's 10th birthday

Liz was pretty excited to enter the double digits.  It felt bittersweet to me.  I was excited for her (and excited that she is still enough of a kid to want toys for her birthday), but I also felt sad that she is growing so quickly.  Where did my baby go?!

On her big day Liz woke up to a doorway of balloons (of which she has a great view from her bed).  At lunchtime I brought 41 cupcakes to school so that Liz could deliver them to all the children in her class and the other immersion class.  After school I hauled Liz to her piano lesson, then to Activity Girls (with more cupcakes), then home where Drew had the little girls in bed and Lizzie's specially requested meal prepared (crash hot potatoes and a yummy ritz cracker chicken dish).

 

Liz made this sign for herself, saying "I guess I'll go ahead and write a happy birthday sign for myself since no one else has" (fortunately she was super cheerful about it, not sarcastic).

During dinner Liz calculated what she could purchase at the American Girl store over the weekend.  We do not give our kids presents on their birthdays, we give them parties (well, they do get a present when they turn one . . . a carseat).  This year Liz decided to forgo a party and use the money for a present instead.

While we don't give our kids birthday presents, we help the girls give them to each other.  Lainey and Ellie helped wrap their present . . . they also helped unwrap it.

Lainey is saying, "Can I please have one too?!"

I felt bad that Liz was not going to have a celebration on such a special birthday so I told her that she could bring two friends with her for a meal at the American Girl store.  As it turned out breakfast for the four of us cost pretty much what I would have spent on a party at home so in the end I didn't save any money.

The girls loved the box of conversation starters on the table.

Liz pointed out that she received her Madame Alexander doll, Laura (named after Laura Ingalls), for her birthday a few years ago so it was the doll's birthday too.

 

Her other doll, Mary (after Laura's older sister), came to breakfast as well with Lizzie's friend:

Lizzie spent weeks deciding which doll to get.  She already had an American Girl doll, but it was a hand-me-down from a cousin.  This was her first chance to pick one out for herself and she had trouble narrowing it down.  The week of her birthday she vacillated between four dolls.  First she wanted Julie, then Rebecca, then Caroline, then Kaya.  Saturday morning it was Kaya, but by the time she was actually picking out a doll it was back to Julie.