K's 11th Birthday

On birthdays we have gifts as soon as the birthday person wakes up. 'Why not celebrate the whole day?' was our reasoning.

So, here is K, fresh out of bed on the 23rd of December. B took the day off work so we dragged him out of bed as well - to witness the beginnings of birthday celebrations: a couple of gifts.

K had been saving for a few months and was hoping to have enough saved for 1/2 an iPod touch. We had agreed to split the cost with her. As a bit of a surprise, we bought it early.

Amid the Christmas decorations, there are the traditional balloons and birthday banner.

K is modelling her birthday toque. It was a good find as she loves wearing hats and it matches her coat. She's a pre-teen now, she tells me, fashion is becoming fairly important, mom.

When asked what she wanted to do to celebrate her birthday, she wanted to have lunch out with B's mom and her husband. Here are her and I at East Side Mario's. K ordered the pasta off the 'big' menu. No more of the rinky-dink kid's menu for her...or so she says.

After lunch, we picked up the pre-ordered birthday cake. The kids like to go to the bakery to pick out a sugar rush on their birthdays. A couple of years ago, K only had Christmas cakes to pick from. That was ok with her at the time, but she later confessed to secretly preferring a more celebratory theme. Therefore, we now pre-order. Actually, with K's newly diagnosed peanut allergy, I ask for the cake to be baked first thing in the morning when all the equipment has been freshly cleaned and before it's had the chance to be graced with any peanut particles for the day.

Happy 11th, K. Here's to many more.