aspen is 11

So, our Aspen turned 11 today...yesterday, she had a family party, and then that evening, she had three friends spend the night with her at a hotel in town. They did lots of swimming and general craziness. Thankfully, most of that was on her mom's watch, not ours! :)

Today, we did gifts with her, did some shopping, and had a birthday lunch at Mr. Gatti's (at what age does Mr. Gatti's STOP being the birthday choice???). I think Ms. Aspen had a great birthday...and hopefully 11 will be a good year for her.

Chris and I were sort of at a loss on gifts this year. Why does it seem, with kids, that you have to continually keep outdoing that last gifts you gave them?? Oh, for Christmas we gave her a cell phone. What can we possibly do to beat that? I'm guessing this is pretty standard, and thankfully Aspen does appreciate the big gifts that we give her.

Here she is, opening her iPod Nano (the gift to out-do the cell phone)...



The "oh my goodness, I think I know what this is" look...



The great excitement and laughter...



Which turned into tears...always does!



She might not look like it here, but she's HAPPY! Just a little overwhelmed, I think...

So, once she got ahold of herself and finished up a few other gifts, we headed outside for her to open her gift that was a joint gift from us and Mimi...



Oh, more excitement! You've got to love a drama-filled girl, she certainly gives me good photo ops!



The look back at Daddy...



The proud owner of a new basketball goal that extends out at an angle, so she can practice her layups without running into the pole now!!

A good day for her...I wish her a year filled with happiness, kindness, and personal growth...

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In other news...

This weekend was a pretty productive one. We accomplished some of our last minute wedding stuff, so that is good!

:: I took my engagement ring and my two wedding bands into a jeweler to have them 1) check my stone setting & tighten it, 2) buff up my engagement ring to a nice shine to match my new rings, and 3) solder the three rings together into one ring. They will be ready on Saturday, and then I won't be able to wear them until the wedding. So I am two weeks without my engagement ring, and felt so naked. I had to go and buy a cute little ring to wear in the meantime!!! Not quite the same, but works...

:: We found Chris' tie for the wedding! Actually, two! And orange one and a pink one. Couldn't decide, so bought them both and tried them on with the suit. I think we decided on the pink one. He looked AMAZINGLY HANDSOME in his wedding get-up. WOW!!!! Now if only I can have the same impression on him when he sees me walk down the aisle!!!

:: We also found his shoes and white shirt for the wedding. So he is done now!!

Tick tick tick...it's almost here!!!

:: OH! And I got the new Harry Potter book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm already on Chapter 3!!!!