My baby girl is 9

A quick one to celebrate a fun and successful day.

Ms A is 9 today! She celebrated by having a sleepover last night with her two best friends, and then had 5 more friends join for a casual party today.

I admit I was concerned about how smoothly it would go, as I hadn't had the time to prepare as much as I had wanted. It was also a little sad as DH couldn't be with us.

The party went fine. It was refreshing to see that a "no frills", "back to basics" party is still OK. It seems that birthday "events" are "de rigeur" ... at least here, where expats tend to have high disposable incomes, and (as much as we don't like to admit it) get sucked into that whole "kiasu" mindset that is prevalent in Singapore.

One of the funny things was hearing the girls have their midnight chat. There was already "boy talk" ... who do you like, etc. It was still tinged with the whole "boy germs" thing, but it's a bit scary to think that Ms A is getting to that stage in her life already.

The cliche is so apt - they DO grow up too fast.

Our other news, DH bought Ms A a HUGE bday present: our new home! Yay! Offer has been accepted. Things are starting to fall into place.