Nine is fine!

Julia mused on her birthday that this was the last year that she would only be ONE number. I kidded her saying I wasn't ready for the year she would be 10 and two handfuls. I told her that she would for the rest of her birthdays be forever 2 numbers. She corrected me saying that she could live to be 100+ like Great Great Aunt Julia, her namesake (who is 102 and living in the house she was born in Ireland). Oh to be so wise and forward thinking. As Julia's birthday approached, all she said she wanted was a new hamster, a new friend. A suitable amount of mourning time had passed since the loss of our dear Butterscotch back at Thanksgiving, so we just needed to wait for some warmer temperatures to come so we could safely bring home a new pet. The beginning of March coming in like a lamb gave us the chance.

Introducing Roxy.

How can this be -- only a hamster? Seemed easy. We originally were going to be at a dance competition on her birthday. Julia was excited about this way of celebrating her birthday -- looked like the party planned itself. But then the dancing schedule changed and we were going to be home for her birthday. So now the celebration for 9 was being revamped. The "only a hamster" birthday list now included an Ipod Touch -- asking for gift cards and a tighter reign on her spending would make this dream a reality -- someday. And then there was the discussion of a sleepover. I was okay with that, had started the initial contacting of guests to work out a possible date, and then the year of equilbrium that was the year of being 8 came to a crashing halt as Julia disappointed me with some bad choices. Nuff said -- sleep-over cancelled. Hopefully, lesson learned. It would be a simple birthday this year.

Julia's note-to-self on her doodle dots -- a simple statement. Not even an exclamation mark. She was particularly excited this year by the birthday phone calls that came.

Traditional breakfast in bed -- Julia is still sporting her competition hair.

I was pleased that my summer purge made it easy for me to find

the Birthday plate on which Julia dined for the whole day.

Reading her birthday correspondance.

To acknowledge the day, I decided to spice things up with a birthday treasure hunt. Julia and Alyse work on one of the clues.

Nine-year old beauty sports the new now-assembled birthday outfit.

Parts were scattered all over the house and were retreived during the hunt.

A welcome spring cake.

The wish for the next year.

And the birthday table cloth art -- a tribute to the fine showing at the dance competition.

Julia was particularly proud of her cursive signature.

Happy Birthday, Julia. We are off to a wonderful start -- fingers crossed, silent wishes and prayers made that this is a year of many blessings, opportunities, and adventures.