Party!

It actually did rain on Hannah's birthday, but not after she opened this gift of an umbrella from Annette. Incidently, I have noticed that Southerners say "UMbrella" while Northern raised people say "umBRELLa".

Hannah turned eight on Tuesday! Her friend Rachel came over for a visit
and Her mom and little brother, Neil were with us as well.

Rachel and the birthday girl. My family will notice the crown on Hannah's head with mixed feelings. Remembering that Mom made it one year and how Dad made us wear it until WAY after we thought it was fun. How embarrassing it is to have several of your teen buddies over and to have to endure the videotaping of "the coronation"! Still, as with many things, now we can look back and have a pretty good laugh about it. Thank Goodness!!!

My mom got Hannah trick candles for her cake. Hannah hasn't ever seen them
since they are such an 'old joke' that I have never gotten them. So, that means that for Hannah they were Hilarious!
And as a side note, again for my family, the candle blowing time will bring back memories from the distant and recent past. If we actually aged a year for every candle we blew out, we would all be in our Two-hundreds by now! It is hard to get a video record as well as make sure someone has remembered to "man" the still camera and turn it on and have the flash work and get the shot before the candles were all out!
Trick candles solve all the relighting problems! Of course, you don't get your wish granted as a reward for blowing out all the candles in one breath, but at least Dad would get his!

My brother Evan ( who says he will read my blog if I put pictures of him on it) carried in one of Hannah's gifts:
a scooter!
I got this at a yard sale for a couple of dollars but it was still in nice shape with a good paint job. I invested $3 in the tassles on the handlebars, though. My dad was worried she'd know I'd bought it used. I told him, not only will she not care,
she will probably be really impressed that I found it!

She was pretty impressed!

I also gave her my old digital camera. She loves to take photos and I wasn't using it at all anymore. She has a film camera which she loves but the cost of film and developing prevents her from using it much. Now, with her own blog, she will be able to take her pictures more freely! My mom gave her some art things that we are looking forward to trying out--maybe today. I am looking forward to teaching her how to use the pastels!

Rachel and Neil gave her some really nice gifts: a great purse, a lovely headband, a china doll, and a box of ponies that are like the My Little Ponies but have a Christian theme! So cute. The girls were arguing over them before one minute had gone by!
A compliment to the gift, not the girls! We're still a work in progress...