Two days earlier, Hannah had noticed that one of the bunnies, Cookie Dough, was not acting himself. His appetite slowly decreased until the morning of the birthday, it was non-existent. I told Hannah we'd come home from school over lunch to check on him.
By 11:30, Hannah, Samuel and I were home and we found Cookie Dough lifeless in the bamboo hutch. I dug a grave behind our house while Samuel and Hannah cried beside the hutch in disbelief.
My kids have been fortunate to have been largely sheltered from the reality of death to this point in their lives and Cookie Dough's demise really tore them up inside ...
Which, in turn, really tore ME up.
Fortunately, by the time we returned to school, the day made a decisive turn from bitter to sweet. The birthday girl clearly wanted EVERYONE to know it was her birthday - even if it meant breaking the school uniform code.
Her class enjoyed the cupcakes she brought to share.
After school, Melissa and I planned our big birthday surprise: bringing home the puppy the kids had been begging for. I decided to take Hannah along on my little errand and let her in on the secret early since the morning had been so rough for her. During the course of our walk up the hillside, she figured out what was happening and she couldn't stop grinning the rest of the way to Johnny's house.
Johnny separated the puppy (named "Puppy") from its mother. Mom didn't put up a fight - she seemed relieved, actually. ;-)
There was no doubt who was going to carry Puppy down to where we parked the truck.
Once home, we placed Puppy under a brightly wrapped box in the living room and called the boys and Sarah in to open her present. Sarah lifted the box to unwrap it, noticed the little puppy feet beneath it and did a double-take.
I'm sure the puppy was as surprised as anybody...
Is it just my imagination, or is he smiling?
We ended the evening with cake and candles.
And more presents, for which quite a crowd gathered. Sarah didn't mind being the center of attention.
Our friend Mikenn surprised everyone with a colored pencil portrait of Sarah he created using a picture I had once posted on Facebook as his reference. The overwhelming consensus: "Wow."
The party continued on Saturday as several of Sarah's friends came over to the house for an afternoon doll tea party. Just look at these lovely ladies...
The girls each made miniature food for their dolls out of bake able clay sent in by Grandma Trudy.
By this point, the dog was feeling right at home...
More cupcakes.
Which were thoroughly enjoyed!
It WAS a HAPPY birthday...
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