Our Birthday!

Hey everyone! Goodness, sorry we've been so MIA lately - what with all the studying for finals and gymnastics meets and band concerts, we've hardly had time to breathe for about a month! But it's finally summer in just a few weeks, and I'm looking forward to blogging a lot more when school is finally over!

Our birthday was a little over two weeks ago, on April 30th. Unfortunately, it was really cloudy and drizzly all day, and still sort of cold, so the party we were planning for the afternoon had to be moved inside.

As soon as we got home, I started setting up snacks and games for the party. Our friends wouldn't be getting there for a few hours yet, until around dinnertime, but I was so excited that I couldn't wait!

Mom had helped me make cookies, brownies, pigs in a blanket, and kebabs that morning for the party. We sliced up some fruit and got some drinks and chips to put out too.

Zoe came in as I was straightening everything up on the table and plunked herself down in the beanbag chair in the corner.

"How does it look?" I asked her, gesturing back towards the table. She looked at it and shrugged.

"Oh, come on," I said. "I put a lot of work into this."

"It's nice," she said simply. I was satisfied. "Fine" to Zoe is like "fabulous" to me; she's a lot less expressive than I am.

I sat down in the beanbag chair next to her and groaned, throwing my hands in the air. "I can't stand this! When is everyone getting here?"

"Not for another hour, at least," Zoe sighed.

"Do you think Mom would let us open our presents now, at least?" I asked hopefully. Zoe shrugged.

"Let's go find out!" I cried, leaping up from my beanbag chair to go see. Zoe heaved herself up and followed.

Mom had just put our cake in the oven, and laughingly agreed to come up and watch as we opened the presents from her, Dad, and our friend Yvette who lives in a summer cottage near ours up at the lake. We opened Yvette's things first.

Yvette is a very artsy person herself and loves making things out of duct tape, even dresses! Her mom is a potter and Yvette is also an aspiring painter, and they actually made the pot in that first picture themselves! The little purse is something they found at an art gallery downtown and thought we might like. Well, we love them! Thanks Yvette!

The next things Mom handed us (unwrapped, as always) were two shoeboxes.

In Zoe's was a pair of blue moccasins with little bows on their toes! I got a pair of pretty purple sandals, which Mom said were called espadrilles. Neato!

In the rest of the boxes Mom handed us were clothes - her reasoning was that since we were going to have a party anyway, she should give us the practical things and leave the fun things to our friends - but neat ones at that!

Zoe got a new running outfit, jacket, and sneakers, and I got a sweet outfit with shorts, tights, flats, and a t-shirt with Coconut's face on it! It also came with a very pretty pink plaid headband.

We also got a new bathing suit to share, which I think we'll have some difficulty with...

The last thing Mom and Dad got us was something else to share - a pink-and-white polka-dotted raincoat with matching boots and an umbrella! We were both really happy about that. We take turns walking Ginger and Shiloh in the morning, and neither one of us particularly likes having to go outside in the dark, especially on rainy mornings, and get cold and wet waiting for them to do their business. But having such a cute coat and boots and umbrella to wear could make those mornings almost enjoyable!

The last presents we had to open were the ones that we got for each other. Zoe's been on a recent Coldplay craze, and can't wait for their new album, Ghost Stories, to be released this month! Obviously I couldn't get her the album yet, but I got her a poster of the band instead. She loved it! I was really happy. I know it's kind of cheesy to say so, but sometimes it really is better to give than it is to receive!

And for me, Zoe had gone to Newbury Comics in the Mall and picked out 5 neat pins that she thought I'd like. I loved them! One was even from one of our very favorite movies, The Princess Bride! I couldn't wait to put them on my backpack.

Mom had to go downstairs to take our cake out of the oven, and we were left to clean up the stray tissue paper and empty boxes strewn around the room. Because I knew Zoe wasn't going to, and because I felt that the situation was just begging for one, I leaped up and gave Zoe a huge hug.
"Happy Birthday, sis!" I cried. She laughed and hugged me back.
"Happy Birthday, Charlotte."

We heard the doorbell ring just as we finished cleaning up, and with cries of excitement, we ran down the stairs to greet our friends.

So that's how we spent our birthday! It turned out to be a really great day, even despite the rain, and I was so glad that I had such an awesome sister and friends to share it with!

Are you looking forward to summer? (I know we are!) Do you have any big plans for the vacation yet? What do you love most about the summertime?

That's all for now! Thanks for reading!