EJ's 10th birthday!

EJ celebrated her 10th birthday this weekend. My brother's family came for the weekend, and we had a great time. My niece went to school with EJ on Friday, and then EJ celebrated with her cousin and friends on Friday afternoon.

But first, her birthday gift. She couldn't decide what she wanted this year. One day, she happened to mention that she wished her room was painted aqua. It was just painted about 4-5 years ago in a nice lavender and I wasn't willing to undo that just yet. But I told her we could look for an aqua and purple comforter...and that kind of evolved into a room makeover for her gift. We rearranged the furniture, so it really does feel like a new room when you walk in!




Grandma and Grandpap H sent the cool "bendy" lamp, which EJ has wanted for a long time.

We even found a matching aqua area rug that's very shaggy for her "reading area" at the foot of her bed:

And these sheer aqua curtains make the room glow in the evening:

EJ found these cool curtain rods and matching tiebacks:

The view from her bed:

On Friday afternoon, she had a party at a local movie theater that has table service. We went to see Night at the Museum 2.


On Saturday (her real birthday), we went with the whole clan to southern Maine to have a lobster lunch (my niece wanted to have a whole lobster!). After that we walked around Portsmouth NH for a while. It was a beautiful day. That evening, my cousin and her daughter came for dinner, and EJ blew out the candles a second time on the leftover cake!

The three cousins snuggled up on the couch with their sock monkeys (thanks Uncle T!) and watched Paul Blart, Mall Cop:


Can you believe she's into double digits already? I can't! Happy Birthday sweetie!

Another unbelievable thing...you might remember that we left on EJ's 8th birthday to go to China, so it's been two years already since we traveled to meet Sophie. We'll be celebrating our 2nd Family Day this Thursday!