Miss Thing is turning 13!

Miss Thing is a self-proclaimed tom boy, so when she asked if we could have a "spa day" for her birthday outing I jumped at the chance to do something girly and booked a mani/pedi at a local salon/spa.  After a bit of back and forth to pick a date (her actual birthday isn't until after she returns to school but I wanted to do the outing while she's on Christmas break) we settled on Saturday morning.  After work on Friday I met BBS and Miss Thing at the mall where they were doing some Christmas exchanges and Miss Thing went home with me to start her birthday outing with an overnight.  We stopped at the grocery store on the way home to buy her donuts for breakfast (yes, Auntie Karen likes to spoil her monkeys) and some stuff for the family Christmas party the next evening.  We went home and Miss Thing instantly got attack lovins from the pups.  She's come so far with them and as I saw her fending off slobbery Lolly kisses, I remembered when I first got Wolfey and all the monkeys were scared of dogs.  Any time Wolfey would jump or lick, they would all freak out.  It was so great to see Miss Thing standing her own.  The next day I let Miss Thing sleep in while I got the goodies ready for the party and did some housework.  When Miss Thing woke up we headed to salon for our girly afternoon.  My girl couldn't stop smiling the entire time.  We both picked shimmery, glittery nail colors to be all sparkly for New Year's Eve (I'm spending it with Man and his daughters while Miss Thing will be at her first big NYE party) and we had so much fun.

On the way from our outing to the family Christmas party Miss Thing was grilling me about Man.  I finally got it out of her that she has worries about Man's daughters taking up her space in my heart.  I reminded her that it doesn't matter how many other kids there are in my life, Miss Thing will always be my favorite girl in the whole wide world and her brothers and sisters will always be my monkeys.  I think she felt better about things after that, and she admitted that she really likes Man and is happy to have him around.  She even harassed me about "screwing up" her chance to be a flower girl, but told me she'll be happy to be my junior bridesmaid when the time comes.  I really am lucky to love my silly, sweet, generous little monkey!