Miriam is 16!

Even though we spent most of Miriam's birthday being...busy...in general, and even though we knew we wouldn't be celebrating her with cake until Sunday, she still had presents to open on Saturday. Whereas Alexander had eight presents to open on his birthday, Miriam only had four, thus disproving the rapidly generating myth that children receive the number of presents equal to their age. They don't. It's random.

Here she is getting very excited about the post-it notes she asked for so that she can colour code her German notes.

And here she is opening a slim water bottle, which she's also very excited about. We got big ol' water bottles for the kids a few years ago, and those are cool. But a small water bottle is nice for carrying around—it fits in your backpack, it fits in the car's cup holders, it's way't more convenient. 

She also asked for a German grammar book. And socks.

So yeah—pretty exciting day for her! 

After a long day of painting and picture taking and, honestly, focusing on everyone else that was not her, Miriam had a few friends over to play games and watch a movie in the evening. Andie arrived first and Phoebe was very excited.

Andie sat down on the couch and started chatting. Phoebe brought her a book and handed it to her. Andie took the book and kept chatting. Phoebe climbed up beside Andie. Andie kept chatting. Phoebe patted Andie and said, "I'm ready now!"

Andie said, "Ready for what?"

"My story," Phoebe said. 

"What? Oh! I didn't even notice what she handed me. I just took it. I guess I'm reading a story now."

So Andie read a story. And then disappeared into the basement to play games.

*****

I finished decorating Miriam's cake on Sunday afternoon between church and choir practice. Miriam had no particular theme in mind, so I just wrote a birthday greeting in German. Miriam is a little obsessed with learning German lately—I should mention that I also scored a set of Asterix and Obelix books (in German) for her on the Buy Nothing Group! She was excited about that!

Grandpa and Darla came over for dinner (falafel, etc.) and stayed for cake.

Here we are getting ready to sing to Miriam:

Phoebe desperately wants something...I'm not sure what.

She laughed soon after Andrew had finished lighting all the candles and nearly blew some out, so here she is continuing to laugh, but with her hand covering her mouth:

Here's to Miriam's sweet sixteen! This girl is the sweetest!