The Krause Bears: Happy 14th Birthday Alexandra!!

Wow - our daughter is now 14 years old! It is hard to believe it has been that long since she was the bundle of joy in our arms. I still remember being in the hospital with her in my arms as if it was yesterday. She was so perfect in every sense of the word. Our hearts exploded with joy and we thought we would never love that much again. We were wrong - we've loved that much and so much more four more times. With each day our capacity to love grows, but it did all begin with the first sight of Alexandra - truly love at first sight!

And here she is today - amazingly beautiful at her statuesque 5' 9" slender self. She is smart, she is funny, she is sensitive, and compassionate. She cries for those hurt, and laughs at silly faces. She makes mistakes, but she learns and moves on. She is a daughter, a sister and a friend. Alexandra brings us more joy than we thought imaginable back on December 12th, 1994 when we held her for the very first time.

Friday we followed Mortimer family tradition - pulling everyone else out of bed in the dark. With gifts in hands and sleepy faces, we trotted into her room singing happy birthday! We watched Alexandra uhh and ahh at her gifts - but most impressive was her true joy at the "coupon book" Michael made. We have dubbed him "wonder thumbs" because of his masterful back massages. Thoughtfully he cut several pieces of paper in the shape of his hand. He stapled them together and made a coupon book for Alexandra to get the back massages she begs for daily. The off to school she went. Friday night we enjoyed a raspberry ice cream cheese cake (if that made sense) and then she curled up in front of the TV and finally watched Narnia's Prince Caspian.... thank you Tia Brenda for knowing exactly what Alexandra wanted!

Our family tradition is to let the birthday person pick a favorite restaurant for dinner. Since we don't eat meat on Friday's she decided to wait till Saturday. When the time came we went to a small local BBQ restaurant named Slaytons. She enjoyed her teriyaki wings, onion rings and a 1/2 slab of ribs she shared with Michael. The atmosphere was very relaxed, and honestly a much needed break from the normal hustle of the bigger restaurants. She had ice cream and peach cobbler with a candle for desert and then we came home.

Today Alexandra and Michael Altar served at the 11am Mass. Shortly after that we went to a mother-daughter tea at the house of our friends the Ambuul's. Veronica has led the Leaders Now program that Alexandra enjoyed - and today was their graduation. It was so nice to relax, share some laughs and share yummy yummy goodies!

We love you Alexandra! We are so proud of you princess!!

love,

mama & papa

ps. Other notables this week - Jack lost his first tooth. The Tooth Fairy brought him a buck since it is his first - he feels rich because that is 100 horse rides at King Soopers! Jack was most excited that when he smiled at his girlfriend Elizabeth that she noticed the bottom tooth missing. Jack & Michael both performed at the Corpus Christi School Christmas program. Peter's passport arrived..... so we have 3 weeks to keep him healthy so that he can go to Peru!

Jack sans bottom tooth!