Nine!

My Clara recently turned nine.

Nine!?!

I adore this kid. She is artistic and creative and funny and just plain happy.

Here's her trademark silly face:

On her birthday, we had two school open houses and soccer practice in the evening. So I picked her up from school at lunchtime, and she was treated to Olive Garden.

She opened her gifts while all the kids looked on.

Much later that evening, it was time for some cake.

Birthday parties with friends happen every other year around here. Last year was technically her year for a party. However, last year we had just moved to Minnesota, and school had barely started when her birthday arrived. Sadly, we didn't really have anyone to invite at that point. So we waited until this year, a few days after her birthday, and she had a fabulous party.

Isaac isn't sure what to make of a horde of giggling girls in his house.

The girls did a charming craft.

Madeline got to paint while the girls made their craft.

Then the group divided into two teams and completed a fairly challenging scavenger hunt, with twelve riddles to solve, and prizes at the end.

Here is one team, scouting for their clue.

The other team was held up on one riddle. Here they are, puzzling.

After the hunt, it was time for cake...and trampoline time...and games.

Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Blog Stalking

Tonight I stumbled across a blog of a Minnesota friend. I haven't talked with her since we moved, and it was fun to see what she's been doing lately. And then... I scrolled back about a year and found a post that pretty much cracked me up. I copied and pasted it here, instead of providing a link, to protect the innocent.

When you're done reading, take a wild guess as to whose kids she's talking about. :)

"Mom" of 6 for two days

I am the oldest of five. It never seemed like we had lots of kids around the house.

When I babysit five other kids for a couple of days, five seemed like 7 or 8. Two of those five kids were two-year-old twins. WHOA! Need I say more? If you have taken care of two-year-old twins, I don't need to describe the experience; you know what it is like. If you have never taken care of two-year-old twins, I just can't describe it well enough to give you an accurate idea. So, go offer to babysit twins. Their mom will be grateful.

Honestly though, the kids were pretty good (most of the time). The older kids were angels and lots of fun.