Look who's 9!

It was a perfect day for a paint party on the balcony!

 
For Alison's 9th birthday, she had a paint party through a local company that hosts birthday parties. With step-by-step instruction, everyone paints the same picture, but all look different.  It's really neat to see how everyone puts their own artistic touches on their paintings.  

The party was supposed to happen the week before, but the school called to tell me that Alison had "uku," which is the local word for lice.  It is quite common here and letters are sent home all the time, but it's our first rodeo with these little buggers (no pun intended).  She was SO disappointed that Jay & I had to miss the National Guard ball AND her party, but it was important to get this taken care of.  We spent most our weekend washing EVERYTHING and treating hair.  By Monday, her actual birthday, she was uku free and able to head back to school.  (We have NO idea how she got lice because I am quite adamant about telling the kids NOT to share hats and such.) The nurse did say that the 3rd graders have them bad.  There were five kids, including Ali, sent home that week just from her class!

Although she wanted her party to happen on the original date, I think she enjoyed having something to look forward to.  In the end, it worked out how it was supposed to and everyone had a great time!