Lauren hits the double digits!

I'm so far behind in our blog now I'm afraid I'll never get caught up so I'll just jump in where we are.

Yesterday- October 1, 2009 our family entered a new era- our oldest child is now in the double digits.

Lauren turned 10!

Lauren is by far the most gifty/celebrationy of all the children. She is the one who goes to great lengths to make each holiday "special." Unfortunately for her, her parents lack this same enthusiasm and often don't live up to her ideals. But alas she does not let it stop her from planning huge events/projects. Many times I have to remind her to reign it in a bit. She has a tendency to visualize some spectacular (aka unrealistic) creation and many times gets discouraged or disappointed when things don't come off as she hoped. Her birthday tends to be one of these areas. In the past she has spent an entire year planning for her birthday. She talks about it, draws pictures of it, researches it, etc etc. This year I told her I didn't want to hear about it until a couple of weeks before the big day and she did pretty good at holding out.

Luckily she is getting more realistic in her expectations and this year it was very simple to meet nearly all of her "plans." A few days before her birthday she came to me with an illustrated timeline of what she would like to have happen on her birthday. Obviously she has learned to leave nothing to chance with her gift/party challenged parents.It began with being wakened by the family singing "Happy Birthday" and a tray with breakfast (Muffin Tops and Strawberry Cream Cheese Swirls with a glass of orange juice and a napkin). It went on from there with equally detailed illustrations of each meal and activity. Although Lauren didn't want to open her presents until dad came home in the evening Kate couldn't wait so we broke out the face paint early and in the morning Lauren painted everyone's faces including her own.

Benny also surprised her by giving her a gift of pierced ears- which was something she's been asking about for a few months. She is looking so grown up now with pierced ears and her teeth all straightened out. In the afternoon she made peppermint fudge, crafts, and a scavenger hunt for her siblings complete with gifts she made each of them out of paper, yarn and popsicle sticks (the only real craft materials we have here). I'm amazed what she comes up with! Weapons and fairy wings and toys- she is so creative and resourceful. She allowed the kids to decorate her cake this year. Which shows she is growing up. In fact other than suggesting that they each sign their name on the cake she let them do it however they wanted.

We did pretty good, but had to do a little compromising in the evening as it got cold and dark before we could go to the park and play a family game of cops and robbers. Instead we played glow stick/balloon dance in the dark. Rusty took a few pictures of this event, but you just can't capture the excitement of a glow stick/balloon dance in a photo- you just have to experience it :)

What a joyful day! I don't know what we would do without our Lauren. She is such a great peacemaker and helper. We all love her so much--- and welcome her to the world of double digits.