All Freaked out for the Big 10

Some creepy party-ghouls. That's Kiersten in the middle if you couldn't tell.

Kiersten turned 10 yesterday. As she likes to say, she's finally a "double digit". To celebrate we had a costume party for her on Friday night. It was a big success. We had a total of about a dozen kids there. Friends from church, school, and elsewhere.

We partied in recently added dungeon.

We'll use this as the family game room after Halloween.

The best suprise of the night came in the un-auspicious form of a shoe box. One of Kiersten's friend's brought her a kitten (which she had the thoughtfulness to ask us if Kiersten could keep - even though she didn't have the foresight to call ahead). Aaron and I decided before Kiersten had any awareness of its being present (no pun intended), that we'd let her keep the cat.

Shadow and the doting new mother.

Aaron wanted to call the cat Fuzz-bucket - thankfully the she has been saved from that fate. I insisted that since it was given to Kiersten, she be allowed the priveledge of naming the cat (and didn't need to consider anyone else's input unless she wanted to). So our new addition is "Shadow". We've been pretty short on funds of late and have been wondering how to foot the bill for essential kitty items such as a litter box, litter, and food. The answer came in the guise of pennies from heaven. Ok, actually birthday mail. We realize that Kiersten is actually vested with the funds to take care of her cat (at least in the immediate future) herself. Thank you grandparents. Don't worry we'll pick up the slack as soon as we can, and Kiersten will still have money left over for the usual 10 year old fare.

Elijah (on the left) and a few of his friends -

a doctor, race care driver, and cowboy - of course.