How sweet of you! Harry is amazed and touched that he's "remembered" on his fifth birthday. We'll have the usual brocolli, apple, green pepper, and burger cake. (All are his "favorite" foods.) Photos will follow. I can't believe all the laughter and joy this little Hairy Harry guy has brought to my life. And now his "other mother" is here too. What a happy zoo.

Got up this morning and cleaned the house up a little bit. Alex came over around 1:00 to have birthday cake & ice cream and eat lunch with us. He wanted curry & rice for his birthday meal and we ate and talked on Skype with Maria, our exchange student from two years ago. He then left with leftover curry and a bunch of frozen spaghetti I made him last night. It should last him a few weeks unless he eats it every single night. I also gave him most of his birthday cake for him and his friends to eat. Lauren, Duray and I then went to Louisville to eat at a German restaurant we've never been to. Duray's first time for German food. It was ok, nothing great. Tiny place in a strip mall, run by three family members. Then we went to the mall to find a little birthday gift for Sola, our Korean exchange student from last year. We just got home a little bit ago. Lauren drove there and back. I find myself relaxing a little more and she's doing pretty good.

Time with family is certainly the best gift. Sounds like a super-wonderful, memorable day, Sue. Happy birthday, whenever it is. Thank you for sharing your day. Going off-topic a little, hope it's ok... I spent a week taking care of my 5-year old grandson in the afternoons. I had my coloring books, and he wanted to do a page, so we picked the easiest one for him (a ladybug). He worked so hard to stay in the lines and did a pretty good job. It was such a peaceful time coloring together, just chatting about anything, asking each other what color do you think this should be, and so on. It was a really lovely time. Since then I've noticed his coloring in general is much better, and he pays attention to his colors (no green skin) like he didn't do so much before. I'm sure the coloring will benefit Alyssa as well, to say nothing of the time spent with loving family.

Not much. No need to cook or bake this year, well I could have made cut-outs but decided not to. Neighbors brought some plus candies, a jar of homemade tortellini soup(! my supper tonight), homemade spag.sauce with a bag of red/green striped tortellini, trail bologna, cheese from another neighbor. Plus I have my little mince meat pies. Too many sweets I really don't need right now. The only running I did today was to Hallmark for another Balsam/Cedar Yankee candle - the large jar size. Love it. My other one is burning very low and getting smoky. Then to a market for some breakfast sausages which they were still out of. Bummer. Then home. The traffic was a nightmare! It was the busiest I've ever seen on a Friday before Christmas. Granted this was at the North End of the city where Walmart and all the big box stores and restaurants are. If not for kind drivers waving me in, I would probably be still sitting there waiting to get into the lane of traffic. I was so happy to see my country roads again.