megan's b-day

for megan's ninth, we had a ladies only lunch at archibald's with megan's grandmas and her bestest cousin maren. she was adamant that mallory was not allowed to come as all she wanted this year was to go somewhere without everyone else, meaning "the little people", mallory, isaac, and eli. so, thanks to my sister-in-law, dana, we could grant her this one wish. we had a lovely lunch and then walked around gardner village checking out all the cutesie girl shops. we later hit ikea as she also wanted to give her room a makeover and she wanted to pick a new duvet and color scheme for her room. her bed has been pink for the last few years and she's had enough. she picked a black and white floral print with primary colored circles so we'll see when we get it all thrown together how it turns out.
she also wanted to make her own cake and she did a fabulous job. (no, the cake did not fall off the counter as it appears it is about to in this picture.) it was her first time using the icing bag and tips and she was so nervous--but she pulled through in the end. i'm actually quite excited as i am a horrible cake baker/decorator, so she may have been lucky and acquired that gene from matt and can do all my cake decorating for me.
i can't believe how fast she has grown and that i have a nine year old. she has been such a joy so far--even when her competitive spirit gets the better of her (like today,with isaac playing the wii--that girl CANNOT lose to her brother in anything) and she tries so hard to be the best at anything she tries. she's such a sweetheart and we love her to death (and can't wait until she's 12 and we have a built in babysitter!! believe me we are counting down!)