Cristina's Birthday from way back in March

It's quite late, but here is Cristina's birthday pics.

Cristina decided that she didn't want a party this year. She wanted to go to Rain Forest Cafe. We let her invite two friends, but the big problem with a birthday over spring break is that everyone is busy. So it was just the four of us for lunch.

Before we left she opened her pile of presents. 

She wanted the Poly Pockets that attached to the wall. She already had a few of the smaller pieces.

We got her several more.

She has continued to add to her collection since her birthday. My favorite thing about it is no toys end up on the floor so there is no clean up involved. We have a small table that we keep next to the wall where she can put the small pieces that move around, but other than that it all stays on the wall. Another plus is no other storage place is required. Once we found the wall space for it we didn't need a shelf or cabinet to store it in.

 The main thing Cristina wanted was the chocolate volcano dessert. Last time we were here she saw someone else get it. She couldn't wait to get it herself. Victoria enjoyed the Wiki sticks. 

Cristina's favorite part of her birthday was getting sang to. The waiters at Rain forest Cafe sang to her, then the workers at Build-a-Bear sang to her. She is every bit of an extrovert that I am an introvert. 

The Bombardment of an Introvert

    I am an introvert. My favorite things to do are stay at home with my family and read books on my kindle. In general I don't like people. It is really hard to find people that I feel comfortable with. Kids I like. That is why I love my job: lots of kids, few adults. I am very blessed to work with two of the few people in this world that I do feel comfortable with (On a side note, one of them surprised me tremendously. I am learning that you should not judge a person by other peoples opinions of them) One of the things I hate more than anything is defending myself or debating an issue because I usually feel like I can't get the other person to understand my point of view. I'm not necessarily even trying to change their viewpoint, just show that another valid viewpoint exists. Because I can't get them to understand my viewpoint on a particular matter I often feel like they dismiss my viewpoint altogether and I go back to wondering why I spoke up in the first place.
Today I felt bombarded by the need to defend my viewpoint on a situation that I am dealing with. I was told what I needed. (Please don't tell me what I need. I may be quiet but I am actually quiet capable of meeting my own needs, and my needs may not be the same as yours. Just because you need something does not mean everyone needs that. - Not to mention the difference between a need and a want but that is a different matter) I was told how much could be handled (Again please don't tell me how much can be handled. If a person is choosing to take on a certain amount only that person can decide if it is too much. Maybe others can handle more than you can. Don't put your limitations onto other people. They may be striving to achieve more than you are). Lastly, the situation was judged to quickly. I understand that changes and doing things differently can be uncomfortable for people (they usually are for me) but you cannot judge the validity of something before it has been given the time to succeed. Successful people don't quit after the first attempt and being forced to quit before a full first attempt has been made makes all of us failures.
      I live by the motto that things will work themselves out (again so that I don't have to talk to people to makes things work out) and I am sure this will work itself out also. I also believe that everything happens exactly they way it is supposed to happen even if it is not the way we want it to happen. I am quite sure all my stressing on this matter won't have any effect on the final outcome. However I do wish that people not involve in the matter would stay out of it . . .