Natalie's Birthday Surprise

      On April 3, 2013, my little sister, Natalie, turned eleven years old.  She was so excited about this because when the kids in our family are eleven or in fifth grade, we get our first cell phone.  Natalie started the countdown until her birthday in January, and when the week before finally arrived, she was overjoyed.  Natalie looked online at all the possible phone choices for her. My family doesn’t let any of the kids have iPhones, so Natalie was looking at all of the other possiblilities.  She knew that she wanted either a blue or a black phone, and she wanted a full keyboard.  

Natalie’s birthday finally arrived on Wednesday, and Natalie was super excited.  Before school, Natalie went to get a bagel with my dad.  When she got home from school, all she wanted was her present.  Being the older sister, it’s one of my many talents to pester my little siblings.  I told Natalie that since I had been home sick from school, I knew what her present was. I then went on to tell her not to get her hopes up because it wasn’t a phone.  Natalie knew I was trying to mess with her, but she also began to believe my words as the night went on.  At around five o’clock that night, we all went out to dinner at Panda Express because Natalie really likes that place.  Then, we went to Coldstone Creamery to get ice cream. It was there that we gave Natalie her present.  

Natalie's new phone

Natalie was getting a phone.  My mom had it in her purse, and when we were about to give it to her, my mom had her best friend from California call her on it.  The phone started to ring, and my mom took it out of her purse and gave it to Natalie.  Natalie was so excited especially when she answered the phone and her best friend sang the song “Happy Birthday” to her.  After dinner, my parents, my brother, and my older sister went to mutual where they played dodgeball.  I stayed home because I wasn’t feeling good, and my little sisters and I watched a Barbie movie.  My youngest sister, Brigitte, loves them, and Natalie said that even though it was her birthday, she would let Brigitte watch it. 

Every night before my little sisters go to bed, I read them a book and sing them a song. On Natalie’s birthday, I read her the end of the book The BFG written by Roald Dahl. I then sang her two songs. The first was an original song of mine, and the second was a lullaby my grandma always sang. The lyrics are:

How I love my little (insert name here)

Sweet and tender little (insert name here)

How I love my little (insert name here)

Honest and truly I do.

Sleep tight, Sandman’s a comin’ 

And he’ll be here mighty, mighty soon

And if you don’t cry,

He’ll be coming by,

with the great, big yellow balloon.  

After I sang that song, Natalie looked at me and said, “This is the best birthday ever.”  When I went back to my room upstairs, I texted Natalie. She responded very quickly with a “Thx.”  The last thing I thought before I went to sleep was, “My little sister is growing up.”