Minions!

(A) Princess' birthday celebration was done in three parts --
First, *on* her birthday, she wore a crown all day (she called it her "Princess Crown"). Her friends decorated her locker (inside & out!). I took her to lunch at DQ (yes, I pulled her out of school). We also took her to Mongolian Grill for dinner (but no singing; she HATES that!).
Then, on Saturday, I treated her to a massage (by Hallie, the massage therapist at my salon), and a gel polish pedicure (done by me, of course). She didn't want sushi, as we had planned, so I gave her money to go get a Subway sandwich while I cleaned up my studio. We picked up KC on our way home, KP walked over soon after, and KH got dropped off about an hour later. My friend, Jessica (who runs a small cake-making business), dropped off the Minion-themed cake I asked for; the girls absolutely LOVED it! There were gifts, pizza, and a lot of giggling! All but KH spent the night.
Last, on Friday of the following week (rescheduled from Friday, Nov 8th, due to Princess' migraine), she had dinner with her Mimi at Red Robin, along with a few gifts.

(B) Our water-logged floors have been completely redone; they look beautiful! Charter Construction did a WONDERFUL job; all their subs/guys are super detail-oriented. These were the first contractors who did things like we wanted without us feeling we had to babysit them. While they were here, we also had them install a new house-to-garage door, and fix the front door's install (on our dime, of course). We liked their work so much, we'll also be having them install our new back door soon, too.

(C) Two *WEEKS* after her birthday (I was taking bets... We were all way off.), the Wildebeest dropped gifts off for her at our house.
.1. Why does SHE do this? This is one of many things that piss us all off; HE is perfectly capable of doing this himself. They live 10m or less from us! OR, maybe they can respect Princess's wishes to STAY THE EFF AWAY FROM HER & HER HOUSE (yes, this applies to the Wildebeest, too!), and (if you insist on giving her stuff) do it on time, and send them in the mail?!?!
.2. When she dropped them off, she didn't ring the bell nor knock; just dropped them on the porch & left. To me (& Princess, when we told her), that is sneaky. We can only assume that Wildebeest was trying to catch a glimpse of her coming home from the bus, as she did last year (scared the crap out of her last year, btw; she ran home shaking after Wildebeest honked at her!).
.3. Wildebeest also included a card (sappy - which Princess hates), in which she wrote something about "missing" Princess and "looking forward to the day" she "comes home" to them (HAHAHAHA!! Never going to happen, Wildebeest), and pics of two of the three girls; LL's senior pic (she graduated last June), & little MG's 2nd grade pic. None of the littlest, LG... to be sent "later"; no idea why. However, I *do* know that Princess doesn't want these things. To her, it's a slap in the face. She literally rolled her eyes, tore up the pics, and threw them & the card in the recycling bin!
If you want to look for *good* news out of all of this: the sweater (it was on her wishlist) was only one size too big, and the phone case & lanyard were also on her wishlist (although the case was a crappy, China-made, ill-fitting one). She also got some Minion-themed Duck tape (although cute, she doesn't Duck tape much anymore).

I know I've been saying this stuff for years (did you guys know it's been SIX YEARS since MG & the Wildebeest kidnapped Princess?!?!), but apparently, they have a hard time hearing the words from me. I will tell you one new thing... Princess has said that if her bio ever tried to take me back to court, she'd testify loud & clear how she really feels about them & this whole situation... then, maybe they'll finally get it, and leave her (& me) alone. But, we're not holding our breaths. Four more years, and counting!