Nine is Fine!

The birthday countdown usually starts in March. 11 months and counting. I can usually manage to distract her by focusing on how everyone else in the family needs to have a birthday first. Then after the last family member has his birthday in July, the excitement starts to flare up again. But Christmas comes first! Come Boxing Day, fuggataboutit. The birthday list has started, the menu of the day discussed and plans are made. Bring on the birthday!!

Food is always an important - no - integral part of any occasion in this house. Hosanna requested the following for her special day:

Breakfast - scrambled eggs with feta, tomatoes and basil, to be made by Mom
Lunch - Tomato and basil pizza, to be made by Oma
Supper - Bangers and Mash, to be made by Opa
Cake - Ice Cream Cake, to be made by Dairy Queen

She attempted to throw in a snack of cheese and crackers to be eaten while she opened her presents but I had to draw the line somewhere! 

Oma and Opa drove in from Wisconsin and spent the week before with us. Consequently she enjoyed a week off of school and accompanied me and our houseguests on various shopping outings along with her usual extra-curricular activities. She also enjoyed playing approximately 1000 rounds of Carcassonne with Opa who happily obliged especially when combined with their daily tea party (hot chocolate and cookies). 

I made the mistake of mentioning the day before her birthday that in China it was her birthday already. She took to that like marshmallows in hot chocolate and I fear that I've created a monster - or at least one that comes out for two days instead of one. 

Her birthday was spent seeing aunts and uncles on Skype, going to Lutheran Girl Pioneers and hosting her godparents for dinner. 

All in all, the girl had a pretty successful birthday which she rated as a "10". So far she hasn't brought up next years plans, but then it isn't March yet ...