Happy 9th Birthday Josey! It's amazing how time flies! We had a great weekend prior to Josey's birthday. Ken took Josey & Kenny to Higgins Lake on Thursday night along with Josey's best friend Tessa. 
They had two full days until Tessa's parents and I came up after work on Friday. We had nice weather Friday night and then again on Saturday afternoon so it was great! The girls & I made a sand castle cake (thanks to Family Fun mag.)
and we had slow roasted ribs on the grill. It was yummy! We got Josey a dark purple pillow to go in her bedroom for when we paint it purple soon. We also got her a bathing suit and Hannah Montana pj's. On Sunday, it was a bit windy for boating, so we played lots of 4 square.Then the big day, July 15th, was a beautiful Tuesday night. We had great weather for the picnic we had planned with Ken's family to celebrate. We met them in Portland at a park near the river. We had a cook out with all the fixin's! The best, of course, was the Ipod cake that Josey also picked out from the magazine.
We got her a camp chair for our many fires we have in our back yard! The other great gifts were a backpack full of school supplies from Josh, Kris, Leah & Logan, money from Great Grandma & Grandpa Kohls for which she has already bought a new lilac color comforter and sheets for her new room (rest went into her education savings :), a shopping trip to Michael's with Grandma Pontius to buy scrapbooking supplies and another shopping trip from Grandma & Papa for clothes shopping for school. Then she opened cards she received in the mail, one from Grandma Curtis with money for which is burning a hole in her pocket :) and a funny card from Great Great Uncle Walt & Aunt Rosemary. To top it all off, she & Kenny got to spend the night with Papa & Grandma.
I had a hard time with my "little" girl turning 9! She is almost as tall as me (which, granted, isn't hard) and she's almost wearing the same size shoes.... But even as many times as her Daddy and I say to her that she's not our little girl anymore...she still says back "I'll always be your little girl, no matter what". We love you Josey! 
