The little girl is turning nine...

Look who is turning NINE!!!
This is my favorite photo from our girl's babyhood...
sigh...
She was about 3 months in this photo - and had just awakened from a nap.
She was always a happy and peaceful little soul -
I think this shot captured her essence perfectly.
Tuesday is her 9th Birhtday, and we can hardly believe we're starting out her last year in the single digits!
Tomorrow morn' she shall wake to lots of pretty decorations, a few lovely wrapped gifts, and berry-filled buckwheat pancakes!
Then the kids & I are HOPING to go downtown to Millenium Park to see the Museum of Modern Ice and do a little ice skating...but we're in the midst of another snow storm - so we'll have to make a judgement about the weather in the morning...
We may need to scratch the city plans & just hit the local sled hill instead.
I'm usually not one to let the weather stop me (you'd never leave the house from November through May here in the Midwest!) but we don't want to spend the little girl's birthday
stuck in hours and hours of bumper to bumper Chicago traffic...

What ever we do, it's sure to be a special day!

Here is our Birthday Eve poem - I don't know who the author is...but I just love it!

When I have said my evening prayer,
And my clothes are folded on the chair,
And mother switches off the light,
I'll still be 8 years old tonight.
But, from the very break of day,
Before the children rise and play,

Before the darkness turns to gold
Tomorrow, I'll be 9 years old.
Nine kisses when I wake,
Nine candles on my cake!