Our youngest daughter turned 10 during our vacation. It was the second year in a row that her birthday fell during our vacation. At first she wasn’t very excited about having to celebrate her birthday away from home….but turns out a Caribbean cruise isn’t too bad a place to celebrate ones birthday.
She has told me in the past that SOMEDAY, she would like to have an ice skating party. Um, Ice skating parties in July can be a tad tricky….
My daughter turned 7 last week. She wanted a gymnastics party with her friends. I had no idea how to throw a gymnastics party. Turns out if you invite 10 gymnasts over to your house, you don’t have to do anything to turn it into a gymnastics party. They do it themselves. We picked the girls up from practice and brought them to our house for the party. Minutes after walking in the door, they were on the bar downstairs, then the trampoline, then doing their routine in the back yard.
The plan for today was to wake up and prepare to catch a ferry to Boston Harbor Island to begin the camping portion of our vacation.
However, we woke to this.
And after checking the weather saw that the day was going to be off and on rain showers for the remainder. This seemed like less than an ideal setting to haul all our camping gear onto a ferry, off a ferry, onto another ferry, to our campsite AND THEN set up a tent… a tent with a screen roof none the less.
…she is fierce.”
That William Shakespeare quote has always reminded me of my oldest daughter. She’s small in stature but strong in will and spirit.
She turned 8 this week. I am proud of the girl she’s growing up to be. She’s not much like me. So many of her strengths are my weaknesses.
She’s logical and practical. She tells things like it is and is a no nonsense kind of gal.
This weekend we celebrated our youngest daughter’s 6th birthday. Since her reoccurring theme of the year was all things feline, it came as no surprise to me when she requested we have a cat themed birthday party. Because she doesn’t like cake, she requested brownies with little plastic cats on each one. (For real, those were her exact words) I was more than happy to grant that simple request. (hands down easiest birthday cake I’ve done for one of my kids)
Our littlest man was so, so excited about his third birthday. I wish there was some way to truly capture his joy and eager anticipation. He talked about his party daily since his brothers birthday in April. He’d tell me the date of his birthday and that he was turning “free” and that he wanted a choo choo cake, and a choo choo balloon, and a present, and a party. Then after his Daddy had his birthday in late May and had to leave to go to a meeting on his birthday, he then would add that he wanted a meeting on his birthday too.
We celebrated my Dad’s 60th Birthday this week with a party at Hershey park. Dad, Mom, their kids, and their 8 grandkids.
We had a blast riding the rides, but truly the best part was being together as a family and enjoying watching relationships grow.
When you’re the oldest cousin sometimes you have to do time in the kiddy rides. He was quite the sport… and was rewarded with roller coaster time in the evening.
When you have a baby people offer you all sorts of odd, unsolicited, terrifying, and often contradictory pieces of advice. One that I have heard over and over the past 9 years is “Don’t blink.”
And I have tried really hard not to.
I have tried really hard to savor the chaos. It’s a large part of the reason why I blog. I want to record the every day. The funny things they say, the crazy outfits they pick out, the battles we engage in, the toys they love… and yes, even the unending laundry pile, and the sink overflowing with dishes… Because I know what those who have gone before me have told me is true… the days are long, but the years are quick.
We celebrated our son’s 9th birthday this weekend at the Shire. Our son has been quite taken by The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings this year. His attention was sparked by the Lego LOTR game, then Scott and him read the Hobbit and he is now reading The Fellowship of the Ring. For his cake, he requested a volcano to look like Mt. Doom.
The kids pulled together some costumes… We have from left to right, Gimli, Frodo, Samwise Gamgee, and Aragorn.
Sooooo much life has been happenin’ round here these past few weeks, I honestly don’t know where or how to start with chronicling it all. But, lest he get ANY older, I thought I’d pause in the midst of unpacking to comment on the birthday of my youngest. Because folks, sometime in the midst of packing, remodeling, moving, and unpacking… this little guy turned 2!! But, more than that, just like I feared, the little man grew up when we moved to the new house.