It was my daughter's birthday yesterday

She turned nine. The last of the single digits. She was pretty excited. Yesterday was one day she didn't have any problems getting out of bed!

Her mom got her a little heart necklace and I (we) got here a Sansa Clip Mp3 player. (To see Please type "Sansa Clip" into the Amazon search function at the top of the page) and she got a Monster Truck game for the wii that came with a FREE steering wheel. (four pieces of snap together plastic)
Sadie asked for an iPod like her mom and i have. It was just the small iPod that has a built in clip and you can get free engraving on it. So I went to the Apple website and they have changed the basic iPod so it would have required another cord and it it is also more money and doesn't look like it would be all that great.
I did a search for the best Mp3 player and came up with the Sansa Clip. We got the 4 gig version for something like $25-$30.  It has a built in FM radio and it will take additional memory cards which you can get preloaded with music and radio programs and stuff. (I don't understand that part yet)
Best of all I found this website called www.booksshouldbefree.com which has books in Mp3 or Podcast format. I downloaded Alice in Wonderland, Anne of Green Gables, F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories, Rudyard Kipling,  and several radio episodes of Dragnet. I put a bunch of music on it as well. I think I even got some banjo music on it-just to scare away potential thieves.
I am not so sure Sadie was totally happy not to have an iPod as it is the whole  brand label sort of thing that is important at a certain age. We told her, ok look... All your friend's will not be impressed by this not being an iPod-but, this is better. More memory, an FM radio, a screen, and cheaper... So tell them your folks are kind of strange and buy stuff at GoodWill and act a little disappointed so they won't bug you. But....inside you know you are superior and best of all-someone will not be tempted to steal this from you if it is not super popular!
I think that worked. She thought our explanation was funny and she seems happy with the Mp3 player.
After school we went to the Asia Buffet for dinner. She picked the restaurant although we do not get our money's worth with her at an all-u-can eat. She does love steamer clams and they have them there.
Following dinner she invited her three cousins over from across the machinery lot to play monster truck Wii games. I went back to work and came in at dark. They were all still there. I guess wife had retreated to the bedroom and gone to sleep. Some kids were late for their bedtime yesterday. Nice to seem them play well and take turns. Probably means they will get into a lot of trouble together as teenagers... I shouldn't wonder.
In a side note I wonder if reading the "Silver Chair" as a youngster did not make me somewhat negative. Puddleglum the Marshwiggle was my favorite character...