Happy Unbirthday!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to go cheer Bert on as he ran in his first 5K. I went into Ariana's room and began looking through her backpack for clothes to wear. It was quickly apparent to me that she had packed for herself and no one bothered to check to see what she had packed. Most of the decent items were clothes Bert and I had purchased for her. She confirmed my suspicions as she told me that she had indeed packed for herself.

Think about what you would've packed for yourself at seven years old.

Anyway, I put the warmest clothes (although mismatched) on her that she had brought, and we headed out the door. We cheered Bert on, and were so very proud as he came in 8th place out of almost 100 runners! That afternoon, we headed to the Old Navy because I told Bert she needed to have some kind of cute sweat suit to keep at our house so that she would always have something decent to wear.

I picked her out a cream-colored velour sweat suit with a t-shirt that would transition well through the seasons. She has a strict dress code at school, so we also bought her a few items that she could take home and wear to school.

"Even with a dress code that doesn't allow pink or sparkles, my daughter must be in fashion," I told her. She nodded in complete agreement.

We then stopped by the mall because I was out of concealer, and then we told Ariana we had a special surprise for her. There's a fantastic cookie store here that lets kids decorate their own cookies, so we figured we'd finish off the day there.

We went to the car and then she asked, "What's an unbirthday?"

Surprised that she had even heard of an unbirthday, I told her that it was simply what someone might call a holiday when there is none. It's just an excuse to celebrate something.

"Well, this is the best unbirthday that I've ever had," she replied.

She's not one of those children that thinks she deserves anything. She truly is grateful for each and every thing we give her. And more than anything material, we strive to give her much love and attention.

And Sunday morning, I found that she had thrown me and Bert our very own unbirthday party.

"Today is your special day!" she exclaimed, as she handed us stuffed animals and books as our gifts.

But I don't think she realized that the most special moment for me was Saturday morning when she informed me that she had two mommies, one daddy and one stepfather.

I guess somewhere along the way, Anisa became synonymous with Mommy. And it feels really good.