Laura's Birthday Weekend Begins

Laura has always been very happy that her birthday is close to Christmas, probably because it turns December into a month-long gift bonanza. Today, she had three of her friends over for her Christmas-themed birthday party, but even before that, the stars seemed to align for Laura at school. They had chicken burgers for lunch today AND it was checkout day in the library AND on Monday, which is the day after her birthday, for lunch they're having---BRUNCH BAR! It's like they knew it was her birthday or something!

Needless to say, Laura was very excited for her party. Here she is waiting at the door for her friends to arrive.

As soon as the girls got here, we started decorating Christmas cookies. Laura, Tabitha, Desi, and Destiny got very creative with their cookies, and proved to be liberal users of sprinkles and sugar.

Pizza break...

...then on to presents!

It's funny how kids always gravitate to the box of musical instruments we keep in the family room downstairs whenever they come to our house (and it's funny how I keep forgetting to put it away beforehand). The girls put on a series of musical parades (think harmonica, tambourines, maracas, recorders, etc.) to round out the party. They had a designated parade route that went from Laura's room, down to the kitchen, around the kitchen table, and downstairs around the family room that they marched before they would switch instruments and do it all again. I was too busy sweeping up sprinkles or I would have joined them (I'm serious--you should have seen the mess).

Laura seemed to have a great evening, and it was very nice to get to know the girls Laura has told me about. Now I need to get to bed and rest up for the rest of the festivities this weekend. Stay tuned!