Lily is 9!

Lily wanted rollerblades for her birthday, and that is what she got.  She also got The flitter fairy from Amara and me, but that birthday gift was somewhat belated since it hadn't shipped soon enough to arrive before her birthday.  

She woke up to a happily decorated living room, and a yummy breakfast. She loves homemade biscuits, so that's what I made and I made banana boats with yogurt a touch of whip cream and sprinkles and dried mango. Lily loved it!

She had found a picture online of a delicious chocolate-peanut butter layered cheesecake when we were searching for birthday cake ideas. The picture looked decadent and beautiful, so I attempted to make it, and...

I daresay I was successful! This is one rich cheesecake. The recipe said it served 16, but since it was her birthday I cut the cake into 12 pieces. That was a mistake. Although everyone loved it, they could only eat half their slice or a little more. If I ever make this again, I will cut the cheesecake into smaller slices.

Just look at the excitement on Lily's face as she holds her cake...

My little Lilly is growing up. She is now in her last year of single digit childhood. She is an absolute joy to have in our family. She is her sister's best buddy, and she is a budding artist and writer. She also likes cooking and generally she doesn't put up a fuss anymore about having to try new foods. In fact, she actually will even eat foods she doesn't like just because she knows it's good for her. If that's not a sign of maturity, I don't know what it is. Lily is a peacemaker, and has a very nurturing personality. She likes fairies she loves playing with animals, especially puppies and kittens. Lily is an avid reader. She has read the first four books of the Harry Potter series over and over again, she zooms through novels, especially the ones that are written for her age. She shares a room with her sister, but she also will often share a bed with her sister. They have a set of bunk beds, but more often than not I find Amara sleeping "upstairs" with Lily. Lily likes to match her clothes, she likes to dress up and look fancy. She also has enjoyed playing times attack, Word games, and tower defense type games on the computer.  As her teacher, I can say that she is a dream student. It is a complete privilege and honor to teach her. 

Below is Lily's blog post about her birthday that she posted on her personal blog at Lilypadhorsepizza.blogspot.com. She is quite the Blogger, and I couldn't be more proud!

Lizards and my 9th Birthday

When I woke up this morning, the first thing that popped into my head was B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y! So I sang "Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me..." Of course I sang this aloud, so Amara woke up. She said she had been dreaming that it was her birthday and that she woke up as she was opening a gift. I told her a story just like that, but worse too. I was dreaming that I was welcoming visitors into my house. They each had a doll. They gave me a present, and just as I was opening it, my dad came into the room and said "Get up. It's time for school." And of course with him being a teacher, he had to get there early, so we woke up at about 7:00 and had to be ready at 7:30 so we could leave. I'm sure that gift was a doll.

After I told her that, we went down the bunk bed ladder. You know, there aren't usually decorations, but who knows? We walked out the door into the hallway. I heard Amara say, "That's weird." I looked and saw the laundry room door open. It was blocking out the living room so I couldn't see it. I pushed open the door and a surprise flew open the second I closed the door. My mom grabbed my hand, spun me around, and sang Happy Birthday to me. I saw decorations and I felt so loved. When I saw the breakfast my mouth watered. Banana with yogurt with whipped cream with sprinkles!!! It looked just like a banana split. I saw some V8 splash, grapefruit juice mixed with pineapple juice, and biscuits with 2 different jellys. This was surely a breakfast for a queen. I got a special plate that said Happy birthday on it. We listened to music of my choice while we ate.

Next, it was time for a present. I thought all my gifts would arrive late. I guess not. It was a very large gift. And it was about 7 pounds. That was not too heavy for me though. I carefully set it on the floor. For the wrapping, it had a giant bow. The bow was a little bigger than Amara's head. What could it be? I opened it up and it was a pair of roller blades. I was excited and tried them on. They are easy peasy to balance in. It's like you are just standing. But a bit taller. The hard part was to move in them. I carefully went down the stairs. I crawled up our driveway and stood up. WEEEE! I went down our driveway. It was fun.

Then while I was sitting down, Amara said, "Lily! A lizard! I'll catch it!" She went outside. After a few minutes I saw her kneeling in the dirt with my mom. I went out and Amara said "Catch it for me Lily! I'm not going to do it." I put on my gloves and chased the lizard into a spot where it was cornered. I grabbed it and we played with it, and set it free.

Then my mom said we would eat at the park. I took off my roller blades and got shoes on and hopped in the car. It wasn't just any park, it was a park in Neola. We ate lunch there and played.

Then we rode our bikes across the street. Apparently there was a free rodeo that was open to anybody right there. We watched two different rodeo thingies. The first one was where kids their horses galloped onto the arena. They jumped off their horses and tied up a goat. I felt sorry for the goat. How would you like giants running towards you and tying you up?

The next thingie was where kids galloped their horses onto the arena and went in and out of poles which looked like giant plungers. One of the girls who did that looked like she was only 6 or 7 years old. Amara spotted a park next to the rodeo and asked if she could go. Mom said yes. We went and rode our bikes around some more.

Then we got in the car and went to Golden Corral for my birthday dinner. Yum!YUM! Y-U-M Yum. We had ice cream and a yummy dinner. We went home and invited grandma over for our dessert pie. We rode our bikes some more. The pie was so rich. What a birthday!