A Special Day for a Special Lady

Today was my Great-Aunt Mayme's 95th birthday! We have a 3-day annual meeting at church this weekend, so we threw a surprise birthday party/card shower for her this afternoon between services.

Earlier I told you a little bit about Aunt Mayme. At lunch we recalled some classic Aunt Mayme garage sale moments. Aunt Mayme could have been a professional garage sale holder. As a matter of fact, the family feared the authorities were going to show up some day and require her to get a business license; her sales were so frequent and lucrative. I would love to know how many thousands of dollars she generated for the family over the years out of her garage. Once, a lady was having difficulty finding her purse to pay for her purchases. Aunt Mayme had sold it to another customer, who was in the process of driving away with it.

The sweetest thing for me was communion this afternoon. I took communion with my great-aunt and my 7-year-old daughter. What a treasured moment in time to wash the feet of family representing both my past and my future. Aunt Mayme commented on how special it was for her as a 95-year-old woman to be able to take communion with her great-great niece.

Here are some photos of the day, including my Great-Aunt Mayme, Aunt Linda, and I; and the one on bottom also includes my dad and as many of my kids as we were able to grab at the time.

Sweet 16

Henceforth, my fifteen-year-old son will be referred to as my sixteen-year-old son. We had so many things to do on his birthday Thursday--last day of homeschool co-op, chorus classes, baseball game--but I always take the kids out to eat on their birthday. We were so busy getting the other kids taken care of after co-op that he forgot and ate two hotdogs, so all he got was a birthday ice cream cone. I owe you a lunch, Stack!

Isn't he cute?

Happy Birthday, Honey!

Hubby Dearest celebrates the big 40 today! I am one year and five days older than he is, and this is the first year in... well, the first year ever that he hasn't rubbed in our age difference for the entire five days. He put a new pump/motor in my washing machine last night (we haven't been able to do laundry since last Wednesday) so this is a happy day for everyone! Bun, we have dinner reservations for 6:00. If you have trouble finding me, I may be passed out from exhaustion in the laundry room floor. I love you!

Happy (belated) Birthday, baby!

I almost did something that I haven't done since starting this blog: miss a child's birthday. Although at an interesting age (remember, he inspired this post?) he's a super-sweet and helpful son. Somehow, I even talked him into sitting in my lap during prayers tonight, even though the child weighs 80-something pounds. It's nice to humor the old mom every once in a while.

Happy 12th, baby!

The Birthday Tea, Part 2

Here is the follow-up to Part 1.

One of the first things we did was decorate cookies. We used sugar cookies and gingerbread men, and decorated them with icing, sprinkles, and colored sugar. It was messy but fun!

All of the little girls had such a good time at the tea! You could tell they felt very grown up with their cups and saucers, eating their little finger sandwiches - so sweet! Some dressed up, but brought play clothes, too.

Look at this cute little "tea for one" set: it has the cup on bottom and the teapot on top.

We put ten candles in the cake, and after they were blown out we put in seven and did it again!

After the eating, cake, and presents, everyone went outside to play in the beautiful 70 degree weather. Who could have guessed we would have that for our December party? We have a large Little Tykes playset beside the house, which we were amazed to see in the front yard. Apparently it took four little girls to push it around the house. [I need to go move it before the homeowners' association Nazis drive through the neighborhood this week. Apparently children playing happily on play equipment in their front yards is detrimental to property values - at least in our neighborhood. {meow} ]

I was greatly assisted by the other moms; I expected no less from such a fine group of friends. I think the party was a big success. The most important thing to me was not disappointing my girls, and they had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing this big event with us!

Happy Birthday, Angel!

Our second daughter, known as angel or sometimes drama queen on this blog, turned seven years old last week! She is a beautiful little girl with a flair for the dramatic - highs or lows, you just never know.
She has a precious little voice, and I remember how my mother always loved to hear her talk. She is very Southern and drops her r's. She just showed me a gift from our neighbor, a necklace with "an angel full of glittah" (that's glitter, by the way).

She is her daddy's angel and a sweet sister, too. Happy Birthday, Angel!

The Birthday Tea, Part 1

Saturday was the big day - the birthday tea! My two oldest daughters celebrated their 10th and 7th birthdays last week. I appreciate all of the encouragement and suggestions you gave and now I want to share the results, which I will divide into two posts: party prep and the party itself. Now for the preparation phase:

I stayed up late the two nights before the party baking. I wanted to make goody bags for the guests, but I needed to fill them with the fruits of my labors rather than my pocketbook. I baked batches of snickerdoodles, gingerbread men, and sugar cookies, as well as shortbread.

We bought little white sacks (to look like tea bags) for goody bags, which my kids decorated with teapots which were printed on colored paper and then cut out and glued on the sacks. I found colored markers which were shaped like letter stamps on the ends, and the kids used them to stamp "Tea Time." I wasn't sure all of the girls would drink real, hot tea, so we served Russian Tea and lemonade. We printed cards with the Russian Tea recipe and included them, and an individual bag of fruit-flavored tea, too.

We turned our dining room table sideways and were able to fit two tables in the dining room, which worked out just perfectly!

Last but not least: the cake! Those of you who are experienced cake-decorators might not be impressed with my efforts, but this was my attempt at a teapot-shaped cake. I baked two cakes in my big Pampered Chef glass measuring bowl and stacked them on top of each other, iced in the middle. In the fabric and crafts section at Wal-Mart, I found a foam heart. Unfortunately there wasn't pink, so the red had to do. I was having trouble cutting it in two, so my husband had to do it with a utility knife! One half is on the left, as the handle; the other on the right, as the spout. I stuck toothpicks in the ends to attach it to the cake. I'll give my husband credit: he was having trouble understanding how I wanted him to carve the spout, so I said, "Just make it jaunty!" I think he did a fine job.

I couldn't have pulled this off without the assistance of my ever-helpful retired neighbor, Miss Ann, a true Southern lady. She offered her assistance from the beginning, and arrived on our doorstep that morning with beautiful platters of cream cheese and pineapple finger sandwiches, and small wedges of banana bread. While I raced to Wal-Mart for last-minute supplies, she helped my kids bring over so many cups and saucers that I never even got out my own.

Next will be Part 2: The Party!

Happy Birthday, Princess!

My oldest daughter turned 10 years old on Monday and entered the much-anticipated double-digit status. I am very proud of her and the little lady she is becoming (when she wants to be!).
Last night she decided to actually try her brocolli instead of just saying she didn't like it. She declared it to have a bad taste at first and a bad aftertaste, but to be "just right in the middle." It was an amazing site to behold my pickiest eater putting away her veggies.
She showed another display of maturity when she asked me to prepare warm salt water for her to gargle for a sore throat. My mother was a firm believer in this and I have many unpleasant childhood memories of gagging while gargling the nasty (but effective) stuff. We came down with sore throats at the same time last night. While she was asking for warm salt water, I was mixing up some hot Russian tea. I was quite surprised when I realized she had taken the more hard-core approach!
She is a wonderful big sister and a helper to me. I'm proud of her for the skills she is learning, such as knitting, quilting, cooking, and violin. We love you, Princess!

tea party ideas, please!

Two of my daughters are having birthdays next week (turning 10 and 7). I would like to throw them a tea party birthday party. There are some moms who are incredibly creative with birthdays and manage clever cakes, activities, etc. Unfortunately, I am not one of those mothers. My niche is teen boy slumber parties, which only require: a PS2 or GameCube; cookie cake (preferably baked during the party from a tub of store-bought cookie dough); copious amounts of coke and chips; hot dogs and burgers or pizza.

Although I love hot tea and my girls will drink it, too, I'm thinking Russian Tea might be a safer bet with kids this age. Chloe wants us to make muffins. I'm also thinking about making a big batch of cookie-cutter cookies - gingerbread and sugar - and letting them ice and decorate them. This is the point where I run out of inspiration. Has anyone ever done this or have any great ideas or suggestions? 

September Birthdays

Since starting school last week, I've gotten behind on lots of other things, including updating the blog. I had two children with birthdays last week, and I would certainly hate for them to look at this blog one day and see that their Mommy had missed their birthdays (especially after blogging about the other two kids' birthdays that we've had since starting this in May).



Clayton turned five last week - FIVE! Here he is with his monkey, and below with part of the Diego toys he picked out for his birthday.







Felicity had a busy week last week, too. Not only did she turn three, but also she started potty-training (yes, I put it off as long as possible)and went to our church Labor Day picnic, where she loved playing on the waterslide.






Clayton and Felicity love getting to watch a recorded episode of Wonder Pets while their brothers and sisters are starting their school days in the morning.

Birthday Cake!

Tonight, Lily Rose was introduced to the magical world of chocolate. She had lots of help blowing out her candle!
You can see a touch of ice cream on her mouth. She was not particularly excited about it, I think because of the temperature.
Hmmm... good stuff!
Content after her first experience, Lily has now been initiated into the mysteries of the female obsession with chocolate. It is really strange that even as children, there seems to be a difference between the sexes and their love of the stuff, or at least this is what I've observed with my clan.

While we were eating cake, there was a deluge outside which hopefully will help conditions in metro Atlanta, where there are severe watering restrictions due to a substantial drop in water levels at Lake Lanier. While some may say it rained cats and dogs, for us it rained little frogs (that rhymes, doesn't it?). Hayden, Christian, and visiting Andrew Corbitt took off through the neighborhood on scooters as soon as the rain slowed. The streets were full of water, and just looked too fun for the boys to resist. They came home with three very small frogs, which now reside in an aquarium in Hayden's room.

Birthdays

This lovely birthday tiara was passed along to me yesterday and I was told that Miss Fran wants to see a picture of Lily Rose wearing it. It is really difficult to get pictures of her with her eyes open and/or her tongue in her mouth, so one out of two isn't bad. I think she looks quite regal, tongue and all. We were late getting home from the ballpark last night, so we are saving the eating of the birthday cake for tonight when her Daddy's home. I think it is a right of passage of motherhood that we meticulously plan only the best in the way of infant nutrition for 12 months, then we hand them a piece of cake on their birthday. If it's only me doing this, don't tell me - I don't need the guilt. Watch for pictures later of this life-changing event for Lily Rose!

I love this picture of Jacob which was taken last week when we went out to eat on his birthday. It says, "Mom, are you really going to take my picture here in this restaurant?" Hey - you only turn twenty once, and I'm the one who's going to document it!





As Carolyn would say, this is my Happy Birthing Day picture with Jacob. I told him some of his birth story. I think I am going to write them down to share with the kids. On my birthday Jacob told me I was getting old. After he picked himself up off the floor (just kidding - we were on the phone), I reminded him that when Lily is his age, he will be about the age I am now. Think about that one, kiddo!

Happy Birthday, Bunny!

Lily Rose is 1 year old today, and what an interesting year it has been! Even after having 7 other kids, Lily introduced some new firsts: first baby with colic (I honestly didn't think colic was a real thing - WRONG!), and first baby to need physical therapy (for torticollis, a new word for me). We moved when she was 6 weeks old - which, by the way, I don't recommend! - and truly it was this precious little one who anchored me amid the choas and confusion which was our life.
Lily isn't walking yet, but she certainly gets around; I am always shouting, "Where's Lily?!" She seems to gravitate towards Christian and Clayton's room. Yesterday she was trying to climb the stairs to the girls' room, which is soon to be her room, too. I performed a Superman move and swooped in and caught her just as she fell backwards. I guess it's time to teach the crawling-down-stairs-backwards move.
Lily is the source of constant attention; there's always someone trying to entertain her. I found out yesterday that Clayton expected Lily to suddenly start talking to us today, since she's a year old now. Kids have so many ideas and expectations surrounding birthdays. Our young ones have always been confused because I'm a year older than Bryan, but he's bigger than I am. For kids, age is about size, so this just doesn't make sense.
Lily has lots of big things on her little horizon, not the least of which are walking, and moving into the girls' room (I'm hoping she'll sleep later in that room than in ours). I'm looking forward to the years ahead with my little "flower child." She is such a blessing to us all!