Girl On Fire

She's just a girl and she's on fire.  Hahahaha.  Oh Sophie!  What would we do without that spirited little spirit in our family???  The daughter formerly known as the supermuppet turned 11 years old this afternoon at approximately 12:31 PM.  And since I'm all about managing expectations, I asked her yesterday what exactly she wanted to see happen on her actual birthday which was today, and I'm sure glad I did.  Because there's no way I would have been able to guess what was on her mind.

Apparently I started a tradition last year of surprising her with powdered donuts for breakfast on her big day, so for this year she was expecting more of the same, along with some other kind of surprise waiting for her on her bed when she got home from school.  Thank goodness I went to the store YESTERDAY, because as luck would have it, I totally jinxed myself with that last post and today ended up being a SNOW DAY.  Doh!  Hahaha.

Sophie was none too happy about it herself (I think she really wanted to be at school so that her friends could wish her a happy birthday), but I managed to convince her that we'd have a fun day at home instead.  Not only did I have powdered donuts waiting for her this morning when she came down, but while at Kroger yesterday, I found the perfect little bouquet of candy in an emoji face vase that I knew she would love.

Unfortunately, Grace almost succeeded in hijacking the day with a tropical storm meltdown this morning.  After eating some breakfast and watching some Psych, however, she calmed down to a lower intensity storm level and managed to convince me that we should go ice skating for Sophie's birthday without resorting to physical violence, destruction, or verbal abuse.  And since I knew Sophie was secretly hoping in her heart of hearts that we'd be able to go, I caved and took the girls this afternoon while Ethan stayed home and watched the boys.  (For the record, ice skating is still not all that fun in my opinion -- it's way too cold, the skates hurt, and it's harder than it looks.)

{Jane lasted about 5 minutes before coming off the ice because the skates were hurting her ankles.  Sophie and Grace lasted maybe 20 minutes longer than that.  So, money well spent.}

Once home this afternoon, we finished off the birthday festivities with her requested dinner of shake n' bake pork chops and mashed potatoes, and I gifted her with one more surprise of a set of markers and a "sophisticated" coloring book filled with inspirational type phrases that I knew my little "words of affirmation" love languager would love.  :)  The last of the festivities will have to wait until Saturday when we'll do the whole family party thing, complete with cake, presents, and ice cream {for the non-dairy-allergy-people}.

In the meantime, THIS evening ended on the high note of finally finding the perfect karaoke backdrop for Sophie's Talent Show audition tomorrow afternoon.  My little Girl on Fire is braving a solo performance this year.  I'm super proud of her for working so hard to overcome her stage fright in order to pursue her dream of becoming a triple threat.  {That's a singer/dancer/actress for the uninitiated.}  Hahahahaha.  ;)  Wish her luck, people!

{Modeling one of her new outfits she got on our birthday shopping outing from Saturday.  In case you were wondering, her style leans mostly towards skinny jeans/pants and loose, flow-y tops. 😉}