Birthday fun

It's been a busy week, and with all the delicious leftovers, I haven't had time to blog. I'm sure my sisters understand.

Her birthday was great--she was so excited all day and loved the phone calls and random birthday wishes from people at the grocery store (she told everyone). When Ainsleigh and Dono called to sing happy birthday, she just smiled and listened, and when they finished, she said, "Oh, good job, guys!" While I'm sure they did a spectacular job, Dono felt it wasn't good enough so they called back to sing again that night, which Mabes appreciated.


We decided to go low-key for her birthday, and perhaps save the Super Sweet Sixteen-style party for next year. We just had a few friends over (Hen(g)ry of course, and we're all very sad to learn she's dropping the nonexistent "g" from his name), ate pizza and cupcakes, and opened presents. Mabes thought it was the greatest party ever.


After putting her to bed, I thought I heard her asking for water. I went in to see what she needed, and she wistfully said "No, I don't need anything--I'm just talking about my birthday." The next morning, the first thing she said was "I had so much fun at my party last night!" I love that she's easily impressed.


Friday afternoon, we headed east to spend the weekend with Grandma Jackie and celebrate her birthday on Saturday. She was so excited to not only see Grandma Jackie, but to celebrate yet another birthday, that she fought falling asleep for most of the ride, despite being very tired. We had waffles Saturday morning, Mabes got to open more presents (including a cradle made by Jackie's cousin's husband, only Mabes insists that it's not a cradle, it's a rocking bed), and enjoyed fried chicken, barbeque, hush puppies, and dirt cake. The eight hour roundtrip drive is worth it for Eastern Carolina-style barbeque alone, and we had a great time visiting with Dave's family.


And finally, we decided that after 3 years, Mabes was ready for a haircut. Her hair had gotten a little crazy. But when you have a little girl who was bald for so long, it's hard to cut the hair, even for a trim. It had gotten long enough that I figured evening it out would still leave plenty of hair, so after cutting Dave's hair, we put Mabes in the barber seat. (And by barber seat, I mean the folding chair we use.)













It turned out really cute, though it's a little hard to tell from these pictures. She can wear her hair down without it looking strange--the sides were maybe 2 inches longer than the back. She now looks even more like a little girl, which is both funny and sad.