stuff and v's birthday

I posted this pic of E so you can get another look at her great cheeks, but also so you can take a peek at her hair color. I keep saying I won't get my hopes up, but her hair does look pretty red. We'll see -- we've had cousins who were redheads early on and then turned blonde. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't do justice to her complexion. She has beautiful peachy skin, a lot like her Aunt Georgia's. The downside is that her skin is quite sensitive. Don't know about sunburns yet, for obvious reasons. V complains every time we get a sunny day. "The sun is hurting my eyes." You are not from Texas, child. Where, exactly are you from? I've been reading up a bit on 3rd culture kids (children who grow up in a country that is not the country of either of their parents). Yep, they pretty much don't have that "now I'm home" feeling about any country. Speaking of V, here she is holding her little sister.

And here she is blowing out the candles on her cake. M had some issues at her birthday -- because he didn't get to blow out candles, open up presents ... yeah, the whole joy of giving thing isn't working for him yet. Luckily, Grammie had sent small things for the non-birthday kids, so we wrapped up a gift for M, too.

V specifically requested "girl presents" for her birthday. We don't focus too much on the princess dress up stuff at our house, so she's not obsessed (I fully realize that many girls are obsessed without any parental encouragement, by the way.) But she does enjoy it sometimes. She also received an alphabet puzzle, duplo animals and a zoo keeper girl, and a cell phone with covers she can change. M gave her the phone and I think it's her favorite gift. And it cost 79 crowns, or something like that. Less than 5 bucks.