She's Eleven

On her special day, I was sick with a cold - my 3rd in 6 weeks' time.  I tried to make it special by taking her to some of her favorite places, but I was only "half" there due to a blinding headache.  I think she had a good time anyway.
We went to a knitting store and bought some wool roving to make needle felted creatures, as that's her latest craft craze.
Then we went to a fabric store where she found some owl fabric she liked.  She's not sure what she wants to make with it... it will likely end up a pillowcase, a tote, or a skirt.
At a children's store she found an owl hair clip she liked, which matched the two clips she already had in her hair.  I'm not sure how much longer she'll enjoy putting these little things in her hair, but for now she loves to match her clips to whatever she's wearing that day.
Next stop, "Scratch Patch," a gem store where you can roll in the gems and sort through to find your favorites to bring home. She picked a few of each color.  You pay by the bag -- buying a little $8.00 bag to fill.  Of course we could get the same thing at the craft store for half the price, but she enjoyed spending an hour there sifting through all the gems, matching them to the ones on the identification cards, and playing "scavenger hunt" with her sister.
Then it was time for dinner and presents.  Most of what she received was "thrifted" or repurposed.  These muppets characters (that are her favorites) I found at the Goodwill, along with a small vintage juice glass with owls on it.  Grammy gave her an owl tote (she'd received for making a donation to the Audubon Society) and some owl figurines and a wall hanging.  Little K used wool roving to create an needle felted owl.  She also received some cash, which was pooled with her sister's birthday money and put towards the new Playmobil Schoolhouse.
While A was opening her presents, I looked across the table to find my mother and my husband acting like teenagers.  Both were busy with their cell phones.  I think my mom was trying to figure out how to take a picture with hers, while my husband was guilty of either checking email or sports scores.
Ah yes, the improptu family birthday gathering.
Happy Birthday Little Red!