Someone had the audacity to turn nine on Tuesday without my permission.                                                                              March 28th, 2023- 1:40pm

She’s been breaking my no aging rule for 3285 days.

Yesterday was a school day which meant for the first time ever we were apart on her birthday. I did not like that arrangement, but it gave me time to do nothing but birthday prep. I cashed in my free coffee card after drop-off/before party prep because I was the one who did all the hard work all those years ago and I like to reward myself for keeping her alive. Laura guided me through making a balloon row. It was supposed to be an arch but despite my best efforts, it never bent. It takes several arms to put up a balloon arch and the cats refused to lend any of their eight arms. I wasn’t sure Annabelle would even appreciate the balloons. She’s not very outwardly exuberant in her old age and I thought there was a good chance I was doing it all for me, but her little face lit up when she saw it.

I went up to the school to eat lunch with her and we busted outta that place early for a little Mama and Sesame time. It was storming so AB’s first pick of the going to the playground got nixed and we went to the mall instead. We got pretzels from Uncle Angelo’s (her new name for Auntie Anne’s), got a duck from the machine to add to our very extensive rubber duckie collection and went to the pet store. We didn’t buy the baby goat on sale at the pet store which I blame on Christopher because he’s a party pooper.

AB still loves drawing and writing plays and musicals. She wrote the following drama on my phone:

“Mr sandy
(Mr sandy walking up)
Mr sandy: Good Morning
(Walks in the kitchen fully dressed)
Hannah: Good morning dad”

Stay tuned for the riveting act 2!

She’s started listening to Hamilton and Fiddler on the Roof, and listens to podcasts and audiobooks daily. She is very interested in the weather and checks the temperature several times a day. She’s learning the guitar and picks out a few tunes on the piano. Her love of Harry Potter is still going strong, but we’ve added in some new favorite books to the rotation. She needs frequent reminders about doing chores, but she’s generally a helpful chickadee to have around. Her favorite color is purple and she says she’s going to be a neurosurgeon when she grows up.

Most of all, Annabelle Sesame Lee is our best girl. We love her the best, the most and the always.