Coree's birthday (or should I say birth WEEK) celebrations...

Let me start by saying Cliff has now missed 5 out of Coree's 12 birthdays. That's not meant to make anyone feel guilty...I guess I just use that to illustrate, maybe, why it is that we sometimes go a little overboard with the celebrating of her birthday. For example:

*If Cliff is leaving right before her birthday (which he has, 4 out of the 5 times) we, of course, have to celebrate before he leaves with a family dinner, cake and presents.

This is just what we did. Even though it was a joint Carrie/Coree birthday dinner...I let Coree choose the meal. We got off easy. Her choice (out of anything she wanted)?



Subway. That's right. Only instead of splitting our usual turkey with crispy bacon...she wanted one all to herself. Deal! She ate half and saved the other for lunch the next day.





The cake...a gorgeous chocolate sponge/chocolate cream number topped with fruit from a local patisserie. I don't care what people say, the Japanese can do some baking! It was the best cake I've ever tasted.


Did I mention we were sharing? So here we are while the boys are all singing to us...


And here Coree is blowing out all the candles while I make a wish...


What's up with that?


We love American Girl!


*Then, of course we have to acknowledge the actual day of her birth with another celebration. Maybe just a family dinner out, or special meal at home (who am I kidding...Dad's gone...who wants to cook!?) Typically this doesn't require another cake...but ordering dessert is expected, right?

Coree's birthday fell on a Thursday, which is family night at the O'Club here, so she chose to go there with some friends (Cliff's CO and fam). It was good food and great company...and the buffet included a bunch of different bite-sized desserts, so we could check that off, too. (And again, I might add...we got off cheap! Family night is a total bargain.)

*THEN, since birthdays don't often fall on a weekend, we have to have the birthday party with friends the next Saturday. This would require (of course) another cake...and since we wouldn't want to appear heartless in front of her friends (but we wouldn't have wanted Dad to miss out on the present opening, either) we need to do another present, right?

So, on top of the new outfits and AG doll accessories she got on her faux-birthday, Coree got her first Kokeshi doll (one that changes emotions quickly...like Coree), and a beautiful, leather pencil pouch (because ALL the kids have cuter pencil storage than she does).


But first, we started by taking Coree, 4 friends and 2 moms (my friend Molly came along) to Cocok's (pronounced Co-Co) to get our toenails done.









Each of us chose a design for our nail art, and everyone chose something unique. The girls were all SO sweet and got along great together. I was totally impressed.

Then we went back to our house to enjoy the individual cakes and pastries I had picked up earlier that day at the same patisserie. The presentation knocked our socks off.






Each of the girls loved picking their own cake...but it was so hard to choose! Coree received many thoughtful gifts, and it was a very special day, mostly because of the sweet young ladies we shared it with.



Happy 12th birthday, Coree! But wait, there's more...there are 2 more "rights of passage" Coree has been waiting for! Firstly, she has decided she wants her ears pierced, so we have to find a place to do that...and secondly...she finally gets to shave her legs! (Would that be totally weird to blog about?)