Another birthday

Another birthday and all of a sudden Alissa is 11. Didnt she just have one of these? Good thing for me, this was a family birthday year, so it required little planning on my part. Can I just say though...I love that Amazon Prime supports my mad procrastination skills and allows me to order last minute gifts that will still get here in time. Its not that we didnt try to to get her gifts earlier, its just that they ended up either being too expensive or out of stock. We ended up getting her a bunch of small things, but I think she loved them all. I also discovered this cool feature on my phone this morning that put her gift opening pics. in slide show format. Why didnt I discover this sooner?

So, when you have unemployed children, they just claim gifts that Mom and Dad buy as their idea. Brylee wanted her name on the giraffe. Of course, Alissa cant have too many stuffed Giraffes. Madi picked out a scarf and headbands, Katelin chose the watch and Zack came up with his own idea. He wanted to get her some earrings and candy. (He didnt care about picking them out though.) Ryan and I were left with giving her some boots, a skirt, and a boggle game. Story behind the Boggle...Alissa kept randomly coming to me and asking if I knew what Boggle was for the past couple weeks. Turns out she saw a Studio C clip about it and thought it was a funny name. I surprised her with it and she thought it was hilarious! 

The next night, Alissa chose to go to an old forgotten favorite of hers: Rainforest Cafe. It was Brylee's first time and she loved it and wants to go back for her birthday. (She made friends with the Elephants)

When we got home, we celebrated with cake, although Alissa was so full from school treats and the restaurant that she couldn't really eat much. Katelin has cookie dough and Madi has Oreos, but Alissas go to treat is Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. 

Even though its sad to see them grow so fast, its always good to see your kids become responsible, happy, smart and successful. Alissa is all of these things and we couldn't be prouder of who she is becoming. Happy Birthday Alissa!