Okay, this is why I don't post pictures anymore. I've been working on this blog for 45 minutes and only the following uploads have been successful. I GIVE UP!

Well so on Saturday we celebrated Anna's birthday. It was Saturday, December 13, 2003, that I became a mother. 6:36 p.m. on that date was the best minute of my life! I remember it like it was yesterday, and when I remember that teeny infant, who only yesterday was whimpering on my chest, covered in gray slime and blood, and then I see her now, I am astonished. Five years happened in two blinks! I was holding my 8 pound, 1 ounce, twenty-one and a half inches long miracle yesterday, and yesterday that same miracle turned five years old. It's all the same day to me. How is it possible? My precious, beautiful angel-princess is five years old. And now she's 45 pounds and 45 inches. She's just as beautiful, just as miraculous. How I love her!

I thought we'd do presents later in the day. I grew up unwrapping presents first thing in the morning, before breakfast, before changing clothes, before peeing. I thought it would be cool to add suspense with my kids, so I decided we'd do presents later. It was a Saturday, and as happens on most Saturdays, I want to sleep in but my kids need me out of bed for the stupidest reasons, and we fight for about 30 minutes -- me staying stubbornly in bed trying to ignore their demands, and they never ceasing with their stubborn demands: "Mom, I wanna play on Playhouse Disney! You hafta turn it on!" "Mom, I want to watch a movie! You have to put it in!" "Mom, I'm HUNGRY!" "Mom, I have to go potty!" Most of these things they are perfectly capable of handling themselves at any moment except Saturday morning. Anyway, I got out of bed at 6:11 to say happy birthday to Anna, and then I said she could open one present, thinking my generosity would buy me time in bed. She opened her Diamond Castle Barbie doll. She loved it. Then she asked if she could open another one.
"No."
"Please?"
"No, let's wait."
"Please?"
"Alright. You can open the rest."
It's hard to break tradition! So she opened the rest and we put in her new movie (Barbie and the Diamond Castle of course, which she LOVES), and even with a brand new movie, I was not allowed to stay in bed. One day, when I have a husband, I will beg him to get up with the kids at least one morning a month so I can sleep however long I want 12 times a year.

My Mom got her an amazing dress, which she can't say enough about, and 2 new shirts. Awesome grandma.

Then I tried to clean the house.

Oh, wait. First it had snowed all night. Dangit. Well, it was the first real snow of the season, and since it was Saturday, I figured I had no business keeping my kids locked indoors when fresh, fluffy snow was beckoning. So I bundled them in snow bibs, coats, boots, gloves and hats, and out we went. Oh my coldness, it was COLD. In about 2 minutes, my hands were numb, and I said it was time to go inside. The kids, of course, had something to say about that, so I endured the frigid air for another 8 minutes, and that was it. The kids didn't know it was cold (how do they do that?), and they were doing belly flops into the snow. It was SO funny! I got videos, but I hate blogger right now, so I won't be posting them today.

And then it became blizzardy. Anna said, "It's a blister out there." Even so, Santa was to be at Broulim's, and I'd promised the kids a visit. So we went to see Santa. Sorry for the lack of pics, not my fault, maybe later. Then we went to Jennifer's for cake and icecream.

Anna got a present from Jennifer. It was a lovely dress. I had her try it on:

Matthias, apparently feeling left out, disappeared for a while. I called down the hall, "What are you doing, Mattie?" He said, "Changin" Hmm? Then he rushes out like this:

He had put Anna's shirt on! Silly, silly boy.

I have a video here. Not sure what it is. Anna opening presents, maybe? Considering my luck, it might be nothing. Enjoy: