Happy Birthday Meilani!

My girl is 10. Double digits. We now have less time with her in our home then we've already had. Daunting, to say the least. Oh how I love my girl! She is so much like me that we really seem to "get" each other lately. Even more now as she gets older, I understand her pre-pubescent drama, and she understands why I'm ready to pull my hair out when everyone is crying and screaming at me. I'm very proud of Meilani. She's such a hard worker. She's incredibly helpful with her siblings, and she teaches me how to be a better mother.

10 Fun Facts about Meilani:

1. Her favorite color is purple.
2. This girl LOVES soup.
3. She cleans faster with music on (specifically the song Dynamite).
4. She is a crafty pants. An inherited trait I think.
5. Meilani is a natural leader, very influential with her peers.
6. She's a great singer (even though she opted for violin over choir this year).
7. She prefers to do her own hair these days, complete with bows/flowers/headbands (and it actually looks acceptable most of the time! We've come a long way from the daily pony tail!).
8. She enjoys caring for young children, mostly those not directly related to her. Just this week she embarked on a little babysitting practice.
9. Mornings are not her favorite . . . unless it's Saturday and she can sneak downstairs to watch TV alone.
10. Recently Meilani won a "Most Athletic" award at school from her PE teacher. Who knew?

Meilani had a few church friends over to help her celebrate. It was a very last minute decision, as in, I called the girls' mothers the morning of the party, and Meilani didn't even know she was having a party until I picked her up from school. It's very unlike me to just throw a party together without a proper theme, invitations, goodie bags, activities, games, and cake, but my spontaneity paid off. The girls loved spending time together in a more relaxed, no pressure setting, and I enjoyed the stress free approach.

I baked the cupcakes while the girls played Wii, and they each frosted their own.

They painted nails. Vivica claimed that she used to work in a nail salon. After seeing her work, I somehow doubt it.


When everyone started to get bored I busted out my scrap material and sewing machine and each of the girls made a microwavable rice bag to take home.

Ben and I took Meilani on a special outing alone. We went to San Francisco and watched the sea lions at Pier 39 . . .

. . . watched the Bushman on the wharf . . .

. . . rode a cable car . . .

. . . and ate clam chowder from a bread bowl from Boudin at Fisherman's Wharf. We also drove down Lumbard Street then had dinner at Banchero's on the way home. A fun day with our first born baby.

We also had a celebration with the extended fam.

New bear, just what we need. =)

New shoes, just my size! You know the childhood days are numbered when your child doesn't want toys for their birthday anymore!

Meilani and Grandmom are both January babies.


Sariah thought she was hot stuff in my boots.