Happy 17th birthday Zari!!

These birthday posts are always bittersweet and nostalgic. Zari's birth seems simultaneously like it just happened, but also as if I can barely remember it.

Halloween was freezing...literally! It was snowing when we went out the door to take pictures. We put on as many layers as our costumes would allow but still came home with numb noses and fingers.

Zari = The Darkling / The Black Heretic / General Kirigan

Dio = Kaz Brekker

Inga = Inej Ghafa

Ivy = Toothless (from "How To Train Your Dragon")

Ivy's costume was the only recycled one; I made it for Dio several years ago. The rest were Freeze Family Originals from Shadow and Bone! Except for the decorative elements, all materials were thrifted or repurposed. Most I found during the $0.75 sale and a few I had to custom order (Zari's black tunic sweater, Dio's black button-down shirt) from secondand clothing sites. Inga's overcoat was made from a tablecloth.

Zari and Dio begged me for a ride to school this morning. I relented because Zari wanted to wear her costume to school, and biking with her long wool coat would have been tricky. We're still driving around on our spare tire as we wait for the new tires to arrive.

After trick-or-treating, we came back and had a delicious birthday dinner cooked by Eric, then birthday cake made by me. Zari was a bit puzzled why I made a cat flag (from "Our Flag Means Death") but I think it made more sense when she opened her presents and saw a custom hand-printed t-shirt, made by a friend of our family's. She also got two nice shirts from Eric and a jeweler's loupe from my mom. I have a few more presents for her on the way, somewhere in the postal system.

We had time to watch one episode of Star Trek and then measure all of the kids. Zari has only grown 1/8" since last year. She is officially done growing. The other kids are still going up up up!

And if that weren't enough for one day, Dio shaved for the first time today! He had a good amount of long moustache fuzz so he asked Eric to show him how to shave. STOP GROWING UP SO FAST!

If you want to go waaaay back and read Zari's birth story, it's here: https://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2006/11/birth-story.html. Be warned that you will see a (gorgeous IMO) post-birth picture!