Is today really my birthday?

(I actually wrote this yestery, but didn't have time to finish it and post it on God's Daughter. Forgive my tardiness!)

Answer: I guess it is! :)


Well, I'm not spending it in any special way...that's for tomorrow! :) Today, Mother had to take Noah to art school and Lydia went with them, so I'm home with Eunice, Prisky, and Grace...and Obi (our Doberman :). But, my dear bosom friend is going to call me later today...hopefully, that'll be able to work out. She called me at 6:30 this morning to sing 'happy birthday' to me! :) *haha* How sweet is that??!! :)

Anyway, so...it's a tradition here in our home for the birthday person to open their gifts (from family members) *on* their birthday, regardless if they have a party/celebration the next day or that weekend, or whatever. :) But, since Noah isn't going to be here today and this weekend (yes, he's going to my Uncle Oscar and Aunt Lili's house to spend the weekend with our Uncle M., Aunt Kathryn, and Nicholas who are visiting from Virginia...and then Hannah (my sweet second cousin who I've posted pics of before :), her brothers - Tim and Tater (and maybe Zach) are going to go too and so they're just going to have a GUY WEEKEND :)...okay, that was a long explanation in parentheses! :) Back to what I was trying to get through to ya'll :)...since he's not going to be here this evening, I opened my gifts early! :) Four on Tuesday and five yesterday. Well, actually, I didn't *open* four gifts on Tuesday...I opened 3. The other one was...okay, yeah, confusing...I know. I'll explain. :)

So Tuesday afternoon I was really tired and just wanted to take a quick snooze before starting dinner. After having napped for about 1/2 hour, I think, Mother woke me up and told me that she "needed to use my room". Okay? I was...puzzled, to say the least. But she said not to ask any questions, and I was fine with that. (I was half-asleep still!) So I went to the restroom and then the kitchen - to start supper. She joined me there and I just kinda looked at her and she said, "Yeah, I'm done using your room." I was like "whatever!" :) It was kind of chilly in the house, so I decieded to go back to my room and get a sweater. WOW!!!! What did I find there, but a BEAUTIFUL new comforter and pillow!!! Oh it's so lovely!

So now you can understand why I didn't exactly "open" my first gift. :) *haha* Mother is so creative in the ways she gives us things! :) She likes it to be a REAL surprise - if it's going to be a surprise at all! :) And then, that evening, I opened three more...



#1: A beautiful journal from Prisky :) (She picked it out - and was so proud of it :). It's white background with orange felt in the shapes of a bird and flowers (on the front cover).

#2: A FUN book that I've really been wanting! I recommend it to anyone who loves Victorian style...things! :) It's such a wonderfully fun book! (I started it Tuesday evening and finished it Wednesday morning :). It's not very thick, but has lots of fun tidbits and information about life in the Victorian days - and etiquette. It's all about that! :)


#3: And...A CAMERA!!! :) Actually, it was already "mine", in a way - because I used it the most and stuff...but Mother actually GAVE it to me for my birthday...and went and bought herself a brand-spanking new one!! :) (Her's is purple :P :) But I love mine, and I've already made a little camera case for it out of some leftover yarn that Mother brought me from Argentina. The yarn is half cotton, half silk and you can imagine, it's SO soft! So, thankfully, it won't damage the screen on the camera.

And then on Wednesday, March 31st, I opened the rest of my family members' gifts! :)

#1: A really, really neat journal (from Noah) that is tons of different colors! It reminds me of a kleidoscope! Really, really neat!

#2: Some socks (from Dad and Mother) that I've been needing for a while. :) Nothing fancy, but warm!

#3: A REALLY, REALLY cute piggy bank (from Eunice). It's a light blue ("matches your room, Raquel!") with big yellow and green polka dots all over it. :) Really cute! And then I had help filling it with coins! :)

#4: The rest of the Jane Austen novels that I didn't have!!! WOOHOO! Now I have the whole set!!! (from Lydia and Grace :)

And then I got a few cards that were so special (from the family...and friends). They'll make good additions in my birthday scrapbook! :)

Well, I'm off! Love to you all!! And many blessings!

(Blogger is giving me some more trouble with photos. :( Hopefully I'll be able to put some up of the gifts soon!)