Leah's Birthday

I don't remember a year that Leah's birthday wasn't celebrated in conjunction with Thanksgiving. It just always seems to work out that's when we have friends or family around.  My brother was visiting from Colorado also that weekend so he came to the party.  This wasn't my best birthday party hosting ever and Lance was crying during it and would only let me hold him.  So the pictures are not so good.  Sorry Leah.

First up is Leah playing pin the tail on the donkey.

 Kyla's turn.

 Oliver's turn . . and you get the point.  The other kids took their turns.

 Somehow I missed a picture of Leah doing the pinata.

 The little kids weren't making enough progress so we had to recruit Benjamin to help out.

 Opening the presents.

 Since May or whenever my kids started watching American TV with commercials Leah has wanted this ball pet. It's a stuffed animal you can fold into a ball.  In the past I have tried to steer Leah to toys I thought were good for her or fun.  But a while back I realized - just give the kid what they asked for as long as it isn't horrible or expensive.  Then when it breaks to quickly or something they don't care, they got what they wanted anyway and the actual birthday is memorable in a good way.  This is an As Seen on TV thing, but guess what she played with most that night - the ball pet. So I'm glad we got it for her.

 She also got this KidiZoomer watch.  I'm a little disappointed with how much this got played with.

 A new dress which she wore a ton over the winter - most every Sunday.

 The ball pet opened up.  She also got some princess dolls that Autumn kind of stole, some nail polish and chap stick and a game from her relatives.

 I wish I had a better picture here, but our lighting is so bad and as mentioned before I think I was holding a crying baby.

I love Leah so much.  She is such a great kid to have in our family.  She has a love of life you can't find in just anybody.  As Levin would say, "Do Leah's grow on trees?  I'd like to see a Leah tree."  She has been loving Kindergarten and is rushing me off the computer so I better end or I'd say more mushy love stuff about her.