Eleven

Every year when my kids celebrate their birthdays or I rack my brain trying to come up with the best ever present. That we can afford. Which narrows it down a lot. But every year it seems like we think of someone that they are going to flip out over.

I’m starting to realize that this is going to be a hard gig to keep up. I mean five kids times 18 birthdays is…I have no idea, but a lot. I’m not good with numbers. It’s a lot of great cakes, it’s a lot of decorating with balloons and streamers, it’s a lot of parties.

Every year when I think it can’t get any better, it usually does. Kind of like for Christmas this year when they got a puppy. How on earth are we going to top that next year?

The thing Jenna wanted the most for her birthday was a bunny. I told her she had way too many stuffed animals already. Oh no, she wanted a real, live bunny. The kind that needs food and a cage. They poop and pee and reproduce. Yeah that was not going to happen. I already caved to the two dogs.

The thing is Jenna is hard to buy for. She doesn’t like Barbies or girlie stuff. She doesn’t play video games. She’s got a life size stuffed animal replica of the local zoo in her bed. And we’ve bought her all the sports equipment we can think of.

I’ve tried to dress her up for pictures. And it doesn’t look right for some reason. She doesn’t want to strike a pose like the other girls.

But this, this is her.

And this.

The other thing is I adore my daughter. She is growing into a super fabulous young lady. She is (generally) patient and gentle with her sisters.

She has a zest for life that is contagious.

She can do anything. Every year I think it cannot possibly get better. But it does. I love her so much already it seems impossible to grow that anymore. But we do.

Our relationship is growing in depth. We’ve had to talk about more serious issues and we have lots of fun. It’s a joy to do things with her and be around her and her friends. I’ll take it all. The good, the bad. The ugly, the sad. It really just keeps getting better.

Because of that I came to the conclusion that her gifts should keep getting better and better no matter what. So this is what she got for her birthday. Did I mention that bunnies are very reasonably priced?

Mike thought she should name him Stew, but she chose Buttons. Buttons is in his new cage happily being hand fed little chunks of carrots.

Next year maybe I’ll have to find a giraffe or a horse. By the time she’s fifteen maybe it’ll be a birthday party to the moon. And that’s fine. I think the gifts should match how much I love her. My love just keeps getting bigger and better and the best is yet to come.