Belated Birthday

Emily turned 11 on the 10th. A few days before her birthday, she told me I should have let her stay in my tummy for one more day so that she could be turning 11 on 11-11 and so that she'd get a holiday from school for her birthday every year (Veteran's Day). Sorry, but after 42.5 weeks of gestation I wasn't really thinking about how Emily's birth-date would affect her future party plans. I just wanted that kid born!

To celebrate the big day, Emily had a friend stay the night and we all went to the roller rink. I haven't been roller skating in close to 30 years, but I'll tell you, it hasn't changed much. The only difference was that they line danced to the Cha-Cha Slide instead of the Hokey Pokey.

We did have our share of crashes, especially at first. Bryce had a particularly rough start. For some reason he was trying to skate by pushing off with only one foot (like riding a skateboard). Natalie ended up with a blister on her toe and a sore tailbone that bothered her for days. But, despite the bruises, the kids had a good time skating round and round to the blaring music and disco-ball lighting, and I had fun watching them. (Especially when they were shaking their wheeled booties during the dancing!) Surprisingly, I think Brandon enjoyed it the most. On the way home he asked for roller skates for Christmas.