Birthday Bonanza.

On her birthday morning, eating cinnamon rolls and wearing her "Happy Birthday to Me" t-shirt

My big girl Michaela turned nine.

It seems impossible that so much time has gone by since she came into the world fifteen days late nine years ago, but who can imagine life before her?

Michaela is my go-to gal, my buddy, my spirited, funny, cool, friendly, energetic daughter. She is growing up before our very eyes: getting taller, longer, more mature looking, and losing all signs of kid-dom as she careens towards becoming a teenager.

Michaela has been my lifesaver with Alec and he just adores her.

We all adore her.

She had a great birthday party on 10/10/10, where we celebrated Michaela turning 9 and Alec turning 1, which conveniently adds up to 10. Our friends and family were there and ate two delicious, beautiful cakes made by my cousins Eric and Tammie. Michaela received many thoughtful gifts, including super skinny jeans and clothes and DVDs and Wii games and Liv dolls and craft projects.

The Super Skinnies

Alec also had a great time, playing with all the kids, being his usual happy, pleasant self. You could obviously tell he was the third-born child because he handled all the 1st birthday hoopla of a house full of guests so well. He took a good nap in the middle of the party and never really cried. We offered him a big piece of cake but he chose not to have any, probably because he had stuffed himself silly with Twisted Cheese Puffs all afternoon.

It was a birthday bonanza and lots of fun.