Hillary's Second Ninth Birthday

Faithful Reader, you may recall that, for Hillary's ninth birthday, we were in Missoula for a Sons of Norway convention.  She did a lot of fun, available-only-in-Missoula kinds of things that day, but she didn't get a birthday like what our kids are used to.  Usually we let the birthday girl make a lot of decisions on how we spend the special day: what to make for breakfast, what restaurant to go to for dinner, what kind of birthday party to have and where to have it, whom to invite for a sleepover--that kind of thing.  Since Hillary didn't get to do that on her actual birthday, we let her do it today and made this a "do-over" or substitute birthday for her!

For breakfast, Hillary requested "Daddy's scrambled eggs."  I never make them the same way twice, so there is no ONE recipe for "Daddy's scrambled eggs."  I do add Worcestershire sauce and milk to the beaten eggs before I scramble them, and I think that's what the girls think of when they refer to "my" scrambled eggs.  I had Hillary help me raid the fridge this morning, pulling out whatever she wanted added to the eggs.  Then she went off to wake her sisters for breakfast while I prepared breakfast.  I sautéed onion and pepperoncini in butter.  Then I poured in the egg mixture and stirred in some shrimp, flaked crab, bleu cheese crumbles, cracked pepper, and seasoned salt.  Voilà: Daddy's scrambled eggs (well, today's version, at least)!

For dinner, Hillary requested that we eat at Applebee's.  A sundae comes with each meal ordered from the children's menu, so even Suzanna and Abigail got one; but what made Hillary's sundae special was that, as our server gave it to her, several other servers on duty came over and joined him in singing their version of "Happy Birthday" to her!  (She wanted the singing but didn't want to lie; so, when we sat down, instead of telling our server that it was her birthday, she said, "I'm celebrating my birthday today."  Clever girl.)

Hillary requested "a bowling party," so Susan arranged for a birthday party at the Paragon, a local bowling alley.  They decorated some tables for us, provided pizza and pop, and set up the kids with bowling shoes and balls for a few games.  The pizza was tasty, and the kids enjoyed bowling.  The Paragon even dimmed the lights early and turned on the neon and black lights for the kids to experience before the party ended.

For her cake, Hillary requested an ice cream cake; so Susan left the cake "baking" to Dairy Queen!

There were nine kids at the party: our three plus six others.  They were all so well behaved that the evening was stress-free; in fact, I told Abigail and Suzanna that, for their own birthdays, they can invite only the kids who were at Hillary's party.  (In return, I received incredulous looks.)  In this photo (left to right): Emma, Hillary, Madeline, Ava (Emma and Ava are sisters, and Madeline is Hillary's best friend, who lives just a couple houses away), and the fingers of Jack (Madeline's little brother).

Christopher and Elizabeth are siblings who live not too many blocks away from us and whose parents work in the public schools with Susan.  (P.S.  I taught Christopher last winter in a short-term computer class at the elementary school that all three of our girls attended then.  He was a model student.)

Abigail and Christopher are classmates.

Here is Suzanna with our neighbor Jack.

Hillary had invited Madeline to sleep over at our house; so after the pizza and cake had been eaten, the bowling had been done, the gifts had been opened, and the thanks and farewells had been said at the Paragon, Madeline came home with us.  Susan made popcorn for the girls to enjoy while watching Meet the Robinsons, after which they got into their sleeping bags and crashed.  Hillary had a pretty good day.  In any case, she had better say only good things about it.  I mean, come on: two birthdays in one year?!  Spoiled.