"This is, like, the best sleepover ever!"

Today is SD12's 10th birthday. Two of her friends are over (one spending the night, one getting picked up later). They're watching a movie and eating ice cream. SD12's having such a great time. It's nice to see her so happy and relaxed. She worries about everyone else so often, it's nice to see her being a normal kiddo.

I made her cake - she requested a 'smiley face cake'. Thank goodness, this is my first go-around with cake decorating, all I needed to do was not screw up the eyes and mouth. Mission accomplished.

We decorated the house. Nothing too exciting, paper streamers and balloons. But E was pretty excited about - she even said, "Wow, this looks really good, thanks D." I got lots of hugs and lots of praise for being the "best step-mom ever."

The husband and I gave SD12 $50 to spend on the micro-lending website Kiva . She's been talking a lot about how she's too little to make a difference, and I wanted to show her that that's not true. Once we got our money back, she can lend it to someone else. She thought it was pretty cool. But yes, we're taking her to Build-A-Bear tomorrow so she can build something. :-)

Good day. Really good day.

P.S.
Pic attached. Sorry for the blurring, you're missing out on how cute she is - but I want to protect her privacy. :-)