President's Day

The alternate title for this post is "The Commencement of Eliza's 12-Day 10th Birthday Festival."

Ben and the kids were all home from work/school, and the only things we had planned were to see a movie in the morning and to welcome Grammy back from her long trip to the South Pacific.  Before I was even out of bed, Eliza was talking to me about celebrating her birthday that day, since she'd be out of town on her actual birthday.  I was hesitant, but she finally talked me into it and we pulled together a fun celebration, complete with most of her presents, a cake-like dessert, and YouTube.

We went to the theater as planned, with me taking the younger kids to see the much-anticipated (in our house, at least) Sonic, while Ben and Cat saw Jumanji 2.  Everyone enjoyed their movies - and I even stayed awake the whole time!

That afternoon Ben took the kids to Target (sneakily picking up some birthday presents), Eliza and I made cake balls, and Grammy arrived from the airport.  It was great to have her back and hear all about her adventures!

After a yummy grilled dinner, Eliza opened her presents, the most significant of which was the Instax instant camera she's been wanting (think Polaroid pictures, but half the size).  She was SO EXCITED and hurried to take her first picture, of her cake balls.

We sang happy birthday, ate our treats, and watched a few episodes of the JK Studios series "Loving Lyfe."  Not a bad impromptu birthday festival kickoff.