On Monday, April 20th, my beautiful daughter, Ani Rose turned 9 years old. The celebration wasn’t quite what she had in mind. She is a social butterfly and wanted to have a girls’ day out with friends. Instead she had to stay at home with her family, but I think we did a pretty good job making it a special day. I decorated our kitchen and made the traditional birthday scones. She still had to do schoolwork, but her teacher made a webpage for the kids in her class to wish her a happy birthday. For dinner, Ani requested meatloaf and for her “cake”, she chose confetti cupcakes with chocolate frosting. We bought her a lot of gifts. As far as my only daughter getting another year older...it’s always so hard for me. I want my babies to slow down. I don’t know how these years can fly by so quickly. Every picture I took of her on Monday looked much older than her nine years. Other than that, I am so blessed to have this child in my life. She is the kindest human being. She radiates love and patience for everyone and she is truly beautiful, inside and out.