Birthdays!! Yes .... 2 of them!!

One thing I thought was amazing, when we first read Aiden's file sent to us from Holt International, was that Aiden's birthday was on January 3rd.  Taylor's birthday is on December 30th.  Wow, they're 4 days apart from each other! How cool would that be??

So on December 30th, Tay had her birthday/slumber party with 4 of her school friends.  The girls arrived around 11:00 am on Friday.  They chilled out for a few and then I said it was time to get some lunch before we headed to the mall.  Taylor was turning 11 years old.  Now in my mind, I'm still picturing my little girl, all sweet and quiet, kind of shy still. You know, as you see your sweet child, all in their innocence.  So when I got all the girls in the truck to go eat lunch, I still had some what of those visions in my head.  Boy did I get a shocking education on the way to McD's! And let me just say, girls today are not the same girls we were 30 years ago. (Keep in mind, I'm 41!) So now I'm comparing  my 11 year old and her friends to me and my friends when we were 16! Yes I said 16. Some of the same conversations they were having would have been me and my friends at age 16! How is it they grow up so fast!?!

Moving on, we get to McD's and the girls stand there acting all shy and no one wants to go first and order.  Typical 11 year olds come back into the picture, whew, I knew they were there somewhere. So finally Faith jumps up there and they all soon follow along.  Funny how the conversation tends to lead back to my 16 year old days when we all sat down to eat. Don't think I didn't like these adorable, sweet girls at all, I do! Just look at them!

Of course my child is the one with the goofy look shoving a french fry in her mouth! lol  Love that girl!

So we all finished eating and we headed to our local mall.  The first stop, Claire's! All these girls had money and were so excited to go there and spend it!

Next stop was Build a Bear! Ahhh, the 11 years olds are back! But, only 2 of them wanted to build a bear.  I forgot to take a pic so you'll just have to visualize 5 - 11 year olds at Build A Bear, acting as though they're 16.  The two girls that were actually getting a bear were getting help from the other 3 on what they could buy with the money they had left. Quite hilarious, I assure you! But in all seriousness they did very well.  I had to help one out with 46 cents and the other girl needed a dollar. I was pretty impressed with their math skills and their choices.

After that, the girls were pretty much broke, wiped out, out of funds. But they had a blast being together! Next, I needed to go to Toys R Us to get Aiden's birthday presents. So we headed there, the girls walked around together while I was waiting to purchase the items (You'll see those later!) Got them in the truck and headed home.  After we got home, the girls went upstairs and played around for the next 2 hours.  It sounded like a heard of elephants doing the Running Man up there! Just how much noise can 5 - 11 year old girls make? Elephants ... I dare say! It got pretty rowdy, but they were having a blast.

It was supper time, so Mike got the grill out, fired it up, and grilled them some hot dogs. I got the chips and lemonade out. They gobbled that up quick. Next, cake and ice cream!

They were trying not to breathe on the candles.

 My silly girl! "What are you waiting for? Make a wish!"

They all have chocolate icing on their noses, except for Tay.  You'd think she would have been in on that little spectacle of silliness.

Meanwhile, Aiden sits quietly in his high chair eating his cake and watching those silly girls. I think he just didn't know what to think about all those girls, really.

Another thing, I totally underestimated the stomachs of 5 - 11 year old girls! WOW some of those girls can put away some food!  After the cake and ice cream, they went back upstairs and the elephants returned! Needless to say, they were having oodles of fun and after about an hour they settled down a bit.  Mike and I went upstairs to get their beds, blankets, pillows out. Got them all settled and then they wanted to watch a movie. I put the movie in and stayed up and watched it with them, or should I say 2 of them. The other 3 girls were fast asleep about 30 minutes into it. By the time the movie was over, it was 12 am. Turned the movie off, slithered downstairs, got ready for bed, and crashed.  I didn't hear a peep out of them all night. Those girls plum wore themselves out! Awesome!!! I know right??

The next morning, Aiden sent out his morning call around 7:20, yeah he's been sleeping later since Tay's been out of school for Christmas break! I soon heard the girls moving around upstairs.  And don't you know those elephants returned yet again. I went upstairs and asked who's ready for pancakes. All hands went up! I came down, fixed what I thought would be sufficient enough pancakes.  Wrong! They gobbled them up, and wanted more. So, I fixed more. Totally underestimated those girls' stomachs, totally!

By lunch time most of the girls had gone home. Tay was tired, I could tell, but she had one awesome birthday party. So she spent the rest of the day being quiet, and I enjoyed the rest of the day being quiet. So happy birthday to my Tay Tay. Can't believe what an awesome girl you're turning into. You made me a mother 11 years ago.  You were my first baby, which makes you so special! Can't wait to see you grow into a fine young woman! Love you!

(to be continued.....)