Happy Birthday, Alyx!

Yesterday was Alyx's 9th birthday, but we actually celebrated with my family this past Saturday. We usually let each child pick what kind of meal they want for their birthday party and what kind of cake they want as well. When I asked Alyx what she wanted for her meal, she said, "Macaroni and cheese!" As you know, we have gone dairy-free, but we've decided that for special events and holidays, we'll let the rules slide a little bit. =) Since that was all she requested, we built a meal around that one dish. My mom fixed some BBQ beef that we put on toasted sesame seed buns and a big pan of baked beans. My sister, Kyra, brought a big pan of macaroni and cheese made with Fusilli pasta (you know, the twirly corkscrew stuff). Macaroni made fun! =) It was all very DE-lish!

She chose a chocolate cake with white frosting, but while we were at my parents' church celebrating the 30th anniversary of the church, we had dinner on the grounds and had a piece of Mississippi Mud cake. Alyx decided that she wanted that instead of a regular cake. Fine by me! =)

She wanted to be the one to put the candles on her cake.

While she was doing that, Jason was trying to get her to group them more together, so it would be easier to blow them out. She insisted on putting them in a straight line.

It wasn't until she turned the pan that we realized what she was thinking. She's pretty smart...

Make a wish!

She got 'em all...

You gotta lick the candles...

"Sisters, sisters...there were never such devoted sisters..." (Have you seen White Christmas?)

Uncle Richard (a.k.a. Uncle Ritardo) is the all-time cake cutter, because he's the BEST!! =)

After we (throroughly) enjoyed the cake, it was time to open presents. The gift that I was most excited about giving her and that (I think) was her favorite was a new digital camera. Since I got her a scrapbooking kit for Christmas, I thought that it would be nice for her to be able to take pictures that she could use on her pages. Here she is with her camera (which is in her favorite color no less, RED!!)...