Daddy, I wanna mercedes for ma BERFDAY!

(said in my best "sweet sixteen" spoiled teenager voice of course.)

Another year FLEW by me like a speeding train,
...and what a year it was.

Having my birthday two days after Christmas is always a tricky matter, but our family was very sweet in making the day special for me.
It started not so hot as we were driving to family pictures and blew a tire on our van. sweet. after Conrad came and rescued us, we had crisp outdoor pictures taken where everyone looked cute bundled in coats and scarves... and of course inside was a spread of wonderful belly bounding food. Babysitters stepped in from all sides to watch our rascals so chris and i could go shopping for a new tire and a velour and denim dream of a much needed wardrobe. The icing on the cake was gifts of a James Christensen signed poster, book, and dinner to my favorite sushi place downtown (TAKASHI'S), followed by a night alone with papa bear at a hotel. double sweet. Morning greeted us with rested eyes, a rock in my mcmuffin, and a new goal to become a vegetarian... yeah that lasted all of one hour.

ThAnK YoU DeAr OnEs

FoR MaKiNg My BiRtHdAy

DeAr!!

chris,

being NOT as enthusiastic about raw fish as me,

kept making hilarious comments during dinner,

and i have never seen him drink so much water

... i think he swigged after each bite.

i love his guts.

him- "where are the strawberry shakes?"

her- "that say's SAKE not SHAKE"

him- "these chopsticks are slippery,

not like those wooden kind you pull apart"

her- "trust me, you'll be craving this later,

and i feel so good after eating it!"

him- "i like how i feel after a hamburger,

that's why i eat a hamburger."

him- "where's the spoon?" (for the soup)

him- "i love you"
her- "i love you"