Lia's 13th Birthday!

We kept the celebrating going yesterday by hosting my parents for Lia's family birthday party.  We decided to celebrate one day before Lia's official birthday to prevent my parents from having to drive down to P-town in rush hour traffic on Monday evening.  As always, Lia requested breakfast for dinner for her birthday dinner followed by gift opening and her traditional banana cream pie.  She loved opening her gifts and was thoroughly pleased with everything she got--especially her new books and the beautiful, Gryffindor quidditch sweater that I purchased from the Harry Potter store in New York City.  Since I decided that Lia needed a little something to make her actual birthday feel special, I made her another round of waffles with whipped cream and strawberries this morning and picked up Chick-Fil-A for dinner which we ate after Ella was done with ballet and Lia was done with her voice lessons.  We finished off the evening by eating a little cake that I had purchased from my grocery store bakery and watching Lia open up her one and only birthday gift today--a bag full of seven clues to help her realize that she and I are going on a trip to meet and visit her penpal, Lacey, who lives in Baltimore with a side trip to NYC for a total of five days during Spring Break.  Needless to say, Lia was so excited to open up this "gift" and learn that she is going to finally meet her penpal and travel to the city that she has wanted to visit for years!

Lia and the rest of the family enjoy her breakfast-for-dinner on Sunday evening.

Emmett now asks to have his picture taken all the time when I have my camera out.  Here is the pose he gave me after asking me to take his picture while eating dinner.

Lia getting ready to open her presents.

Emmett joining Lia before the present opening started.

Lia's happy reaction after opening up another set of books.

Lia checking out the latest book written by her beloved, J.K. Rowling.

Ella and Emmett surrounding Lia while she opened her next gift.

Typically, Logan builds a blanket and pillow fort in the small couch in the living room during the gift opening session of any of his siblings (I have why he does this).  Tonight, he decided to mix things up and piled all of his blankets inside the play tent while trying to balance laying in it on the stairs.  Oh, that kid.

Ella looking on while Lia opened up another gift.

Lia reading a card from grandma and grandpa with Ella at her side.

Lia getting ready to blow out another set of candles.

Blowing away!

Ella and Emmett waiting for their banana cream pie to be served up.

Lia posing with her beloved grandparents before they headed home at the end of the party.

Ella and Emmett decided to join in for one last picture before the party ended.

Lia getting ready to blow out more candles on her birthday waffles this morning.

After Chick-Fil-A for dinner tonight, we gathered around Lia in the living room to watch her unwrap the one gift that had mysteriously appeared today.  After lifting out the tissue paper stuffed at the top of the gift bag, Lia found seven little packages wrapped inside with a number on each of them.  Here she is holding up gift #1.

As Lia started to unwrap her seven gifts, she stared to put the clues together and figure it out.  The gifts included a toy airplane, a picture of Lacey, a "Welcome to Baltimore" postcard, a stack of Lacey's letter, a Statue of Liberty Tsum Tsum stuffie, a doll shirt from the AGD store in NYC, and a printout of our plane itinerary.  Lia was so excited!

Lia holding up the picture of Lacey with the little Tsum Tsum on top of her head.

Lia and her siblings posing around her third birthday cake all lit up with 13 candles.

Lia, Logan, Ella, and Emmett singing their hearts out!

Lia getting ready to blow out her candles.

Happy Birthday, Lia!  I can't believe that you are officially a teenager.  I can't wait to see what the next five years of your life bring!