Brynne's 9th Birthday

I've been trying to get away from having "friend parties" for birthdays. My main reason for this is stuff. That's what nice friends bring as gifts for birthdays - stuff. I have recommended birthday parties where friends bring canned goods to donate, or where they bring money to donate to a cause that the birthday girl can choose; but these ideas have not been popular. I was really impressed, though, when Brynne didn't put up a fight when I said no friend parties this year. She just requested that we go out to dinner and asked if she could take one friend. 

We had dinner at Churck-A-Rama (a favorite of the girls' and also a place where we almost always have coupons for kids to eat free!!). The nice waitresses even made a cute little ice cream thing and sang to Brynne. In the past Brynne would have shied away from the attention, but this time she soaked it up! :)

The friend Brynne invited was Jordyn. Jordyn just moved into our neighborhood before school started. She and Brynne have the same class and have become great friends. Can you tell what Brynne ate before I took this picture? (Hint: It has something to do with a red frozen drink traditionally found at 7-11...)

Melissa decided to give Brynne a fun little present: While we were sitting eating someone mentioned the word "airplane" as part of our conversation. Suddenly Melissa starts making an airplane noise while flying her finger around in the air. It was so unexpected and so cute! We have a sign language book with the word airplane that I've read with her several times, but I had no idea she was taking that one in. It's hard to tell in this picture, but Melissa had her pointer finger out and was flying it all around. :)