11th Birthday

December 28, 2023

Happy 11th Birthday, Lauren!

Three days after Christmas we celebrated Lauren’s 11th birthday! Dave took her, Sophie and her friend Michelle skiing. Despite the terrible conditions they had a lot of fun. Sophie switched over to snowboarding last winter and according to Dave, she’s really picked it up. They both really love it.

That night we all went out to dinner at her favorite Mexican restaurant in Manayunk. Lauren’s friend Naomi joined us and then had a sleepover. Overall, it was a pretty good birthday!

Since Lauren’s birthday always falls during the school break and a lot of friends are away, this year we had her birthday party with friends the first weekend in January. She decided that she wanted to do something at an arcade, so we went to Dave and Busters. Talk about stimulation overload! She had a blast and it was exactly what she wanted.

Like me, she likes to stretch her birthday celebrations for as along as possible. We did a pretty good job this year 🙂

March 13, 2021

Coughlin Visit

11th Birthday

My family came up for a late birthday visit in the middle of March. No one has been vaccinated yet, but they all should still have antibodies from being sick at the end of 2020. It was another low key weekend, where we hung out at the house. They brought Penny for the first time, so the dogs had a blast playing in the backyard (and all over the house). Fortunately the weather was nice all weekend, so we got a lot of outside time for eating and playing. The swing that Lauren got for Christmas continues to be a hit with all the kids, which has been great.

March 2, 2021

Happy 11th Birthday, Sophie!

11th Birthday

We just hit the one year mark of the pandemic, which means Sophie is one year older! The very last “regular” get together we had with people was for her 10th birthday sleepover. What a year it’s been.

This year she celebrated on Saturday with two friends, Ruby and Sarah, who came over for a few hours for some crafts, pretzel making, pizza, cake and a movie. Fortunately it wasn’t a freezing day, so the kids could take their masks off and eat outside.

When the girls first arrived they made some bath bombs that were able to set by the time they left.

Dave then gave some pretzel making lessons and they made some Philly style pretzels to take home to their families.

On her actual birthday, which was a Tuesday, she did a scavenger hunt for her birthday presents (a new tradition started with Lauren’s last birthday). And that night the Sharp’s came over for dinner – homemade pizzas and chocolate mousse cups.