My Baby is Seven

The birthday girl slept late. No school today. And when she finally got up, we sang "Happy Birthday" and she blew out her candles and we ate cake. I baked this cake and did a little of the decorating (I put rosettes around the edge and wrote Happy Birthday Katie on the top before Katie took over, wielding the frosting bags with great energy and enthusiasm (and, of course, artistic ability!) and completely scorning my suggestion that it might be bad luck for the birthday girl to decorate her own cake (not that I believe that or anything, but I had sort of an elegant, minimalist vision for this cake, which obviously was not in line with Katie's more baroque design). It was good.

Then she opened presents. Lots of presents. Travis gave her a pack of Pokemon cards last night, as an early present, and I wish I'd taken pictures because they were both just so excited about those cards. One of the cards, in particular, was a "good" one, and Travis was both thrilled to have given his sister such a great gift and wishing like anything that he had kept that particular pack for himself. It was cute. Today he gave her more cards and also video games, all "hand-me-downs," but still great fun and exciting to give and to open! And then there were lots of wonderful presents from Granny and Paba, includinga beautiful and well stocked sewing basket,

the Breyer horse she's been wishing and hoping for, Brenda Breyer , books (which I can hardly wait to read!), and clothes.
She got two Barbies* from us, including a 1966 version that Ed bought from e-bay and which arrived stark naked (apparently her clothes were no longer fashionable and, being Barbie, she just couldn't be seen in them). We also gave her a foal to go with the Breyer mare, because it is all about family with Katie. She got a third Barbie, one that sings three songs, from her Godmother, and she spent the rest of the day in her room, joyfully playing with her new toys.

Dinner was chicken pockets, from One Bite Won't Kill You, which is Katie's current favorite. I asked her what she wanted for a "side" and she said "milkshakes." Her ideas on nutrition are more than a little bizarre, but it's her day, so that is what we had. The blender went up in smoke just before the milkshakes were finished and I had to finish them in the food processor, but they came out fine anyway.
(And yes, those are potato chips. But I did make carrots too. But Katie didn't eat any.)

*Good thing we don't live in West Virginia, eh? I saw today that a member of the W.V. House of Representatives has introduced a Bill to Ban Barbie. I can only say that Katie's self esteem and assertiveness are still going strong.