i did survive

the party went well, judging by the scream-o-meter. that's the one thing that i do not like about having a girl at this age. you get 3 or more of them together, and they feel that it's necessary to scream like undiscovered savages on skull island.

we had cake and ice cream at our house and punkin took inventory of her birthday haul. then, i was off to the mall with three 7 year olds who spoke more like 14 year olds in my backseat, the captain having elected to ride with his parents and my dad having elected to go play golf.

build-a-bear was a snap. i just found various places to sit, said, "oh how cute!" when some kid showed me his or her animal and gave the nice lady my credit card at the end. my mil made my day, though. she had never been to a build-a-bear and thought it was the cat's meow. she followed punkin while she made her bear, susan. then, after saying she would buy ONE (yes, i used capitals) extra outfit, punkin comes home and pulls out a wardrobe i would be envious of! well...okay...it was just one extra outfit, but i kept asking punkin, "where did that come from?" "where did you get that?" finally she told me. i'm sure the pajamas and bunny slippers were not from my in-laws proper, though. their 2 japanese chins have a penchant for sneaking in gifts, even when they're not bodily present, have no money and no opposable thumbs.

punkin was completely exhausted by the time we got her into bed. she had woken up before 6am. i remember the days when birthdays were exciting enough to wake up early for. now, dinner at mickey d's rocks.