Six

It seems like only yesterday she was this girl

or even this one

but somehow, in the blink of an eye, she vanished.

Monday she was this girl:

Six.

She who is the very best surprise of my life.

She who promised to never leave me.

She who did.

We had a Hello Kitty party to celebrate with family. A skating party with friends will come later.

Her sisters worked hard to decorate above the table. Her Grama made a cake. I made treats for her class at school, and wrapped a present to tuck in her lunchbox.

We made memories.

But none of us was able to make the clock stop.

Six-thirty brought six, like it or not.

She’s going to be an awesome six, I know – just like every year before.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pie Pie Girl.

To the moon and back.

A special day for a special girl

She was the baby I didn’t even know I needed, and now she completes me in a way I never knew possible.

From the day she was born

she has held my heart in her tiny pink hand.

She mesmerized her GG.

And other people were ‘impressed of her’ too.

They are the sweetest of sisters

and the best of friends.

They share everyday moments

and extra-special adventures

and they don’t even mind when she hogs the spotlight.

She does that quite a bit.

This little girl is friendly

and adventurous

and silly

and one day she will change the world.

I know this because she has already changed mine.

And it’s an exhausting task.

But I know she’s up for it.

She can do anything.

Baby Mine.

There is a little girl in my house who is growing way too fast. And today that girl is 4.

Happy Birthday pumpkin. Sweet Petunia. Silly Lilly.

Happy Birthday to my baby.

I love you to the moon and back.

Easily Amused

I’m busy-busy-busy, but lest you think I’ve forgotten you forever, I wanted to share a few things that made me chuckle this week.

We’ve had 4 snow days already this season so I’ve been enjoying more time than usual with my school aged daughters. I love to listen in on their conversations with each other. There are definitely ugly, fighting moments, but thankfully those are few and far between.  I mostly hear loving exchanges – compliments shared, secrets whispered. The kind of sister memories I’ve always wanted my girls to have.

And then there are the funnies. Funnier still because they don’t intend to be funny at all.  A few recent examples:

Annie: That is the Hispanic Barbie.

Catie: What’s ‘Hispanic’?

Annie: It’s fancy for Mexican.

—————————————————————–

In the car, Lilly talking incessantly over the Christmas CD

Catie: Shush!

Lilly: Hey! I’m trying to talk!

Catie: Well I want to hear the music.

Lilly: That’s rude!

Catie: Christmas is about the birth of baby Jesus so shut your mouth and celebrate Him!

—————————————————————–

I’ve tried to explain the concept of personal space to the girls using a hula hoop as a visual. ‘Imagine everyone is wearing an invisible hula hoop, so you can’t get closer to them than the hoop would allow.’ (Genius right?)

Lilly: You’re in my bubble.

Catie: I was trying to give you a hug!

Lilly: Then hurry up and give me a hug and put your hula hoop back on!

———————————————————————-

Annie, singing It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

“Peace on the Earth and good will toward man, from heaven’s outrageous King…”

———————————————————————-

Catie takes a turn playing teacher

Catie: Who was born on Christmas?

Lilly: Baby Jesus

Catie: And why did baby Jesus come to earth?

Lilly: To save us from Satan’s power when we were going to play.

{God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – ‘to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray’}

———————————————————————–

Lilly only ever refers to Jesus as baby Jesus. I think she must be the offspring of Ricky Bobby.

“Baby Jesus loves us”

“Baby Jesus died on the cross”

I’m just waiting for her to pray ‘Dear 8 pound 6 ounce baby Jesus in a manger…’

————————————————————————

I didn’t laugh nearly as much before they came along.

I love these little people.

They complete me.

{We eschew the natural smile in this family. Clearly.}

Answered Prayer

“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted what I asked of Him.”

~1 Samuel 1:27

Eat, Drink, and be Glad

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun. ~Ecclesiastes 8:15

Handy Manny Birthday Cake

As I mentioned earlier, my youngest daughter turned 3 last month. 

This is where I’d like to talk about how beautiful she is – because she really is gorgeous.

(She also refuses to look at the camera for pictures)

I’d like to tell you how smart she is, what a quick sense of humor she’s got, how she posesses a God-given ability to entertain herself quietly for hours.  I’d like to tell you how bittersweet it is to watch her grow up, knowing that she is my last baby.

But since I just said a blog shouldn’t be all about ‘me’, I can’t.

So instead I’ll tell you about her Handy Manny Birthday Cake.

The kid is head over heels for Manny these days.  I have my concerns, but whatever.

She got the Handy Manny Talkin’ Toolbox for Christmas, so a toolbox cake seemed appropriate.  It also seemed easy, since I could just steal borrow the plastic tools from her set.

My mom was kind enough to bake the cake and fashion the handle for me – my only task was frosting it.  You’d think I’d be able to handle that, but actually not so much.  Cake decorating is so not my thing.  Pardon the rough splotches.

The design on the front was meant to make it look like her toy toolbox.  My dad printed the image off and laminated it and then I just stuck it in the frosting.

(You might notice here that I said ‘my mom’ and ‘my dad’ and not ‘my husband’.  That’s because he did nothing.)

Lilly was a happy camper.

And a good day was had by all.  Even by Mommy, who cried a little when she tucked a 3-year-old baby into bed that night.  Bittersweet, I tell you.

Lilly’s First Haircut

As I have mentioned before, we support Locks of Love in this house. 

Well, those of us with hair do. Ahem.

Annie has donated twice.  Catie has donated once.  I have donated 9 times.

About a month ago, Lilly decided that her time had come as well.  It was her first ever haircut, and she got it just before her 3rd birthday.  She was delighted about the outing and sat very still, patiently waiting.  I think she was just delighted at the prospect of a short bob that would mean no more fending off Mommy wielding a hairbrush.

Here she is before:

The first cut:

And the end result:

11 inches gone!

She looks older which I don’t like, but the cut is adorable and it suits her perfectly.  Short and spunky, just like my girl!

Wordful Wednesday – Lilly Wussell

My little Lilly Pie turned 3 a couple of weeks ago, and I didn’t blog about it yet.  Shame on me, I know.

Anyway, Catie is in preschool 3 hours a day now so I have had more time to spend with Lilly all alone, and it’s been amazing watching her grow and develop into such a unique little person.  She’s so spunky and funny and smart, and just a delightful little girl.  And she entertains herself exceedingly well, which is a quality any mother will tell you is a blessing beyond measure.

Her given name is Lillian Russell (after my great-grandmother, my great-grandfather, and my father – not the actress) but she prefers to talk about Lilly Wussell and Pappap Wussell.  They are very good buddies.

Last spring when we went to Disney she got sick.  Very sick.  Barfed in line at Toy Story Mania – barfed pretty much everywhere actually.  Among other things.  She was so sick, in fact, that she was hospitalized the day we returned home.  Poor dolly. 

But when she first got sick, I packed her up and left the park to take her back to the resort to rest.  She had other ideas though; as soon as we got back to the Polynesian she felt strongly that we needed to eat.  I guess having an empty stomach and all…  So my girlie and I hit the Kona Cafe, and had a lovely little lunch together.  Which as you might guess, didn’t stay down for long.  But it was good while it lasted.

And in that brief interlude, between episodes of vomiting, she turned on the charm as she always does.  I sat laughing and in awe of her, wondering where the sick little girl I’d seen an hour ago had vanished to, and hoping that she’d stay well.  And I couldn’t resist snapping this picture, which in retrospect is not only a cute memory, but the the very essence of Lilly.

Adorable - check.  Ornery grin - check.  Food nearby - check.  Mommy’s heart in her hand - check.

Love you, Silly Lilly.  Thanks for completing me.

*This post is part of the Wordful Wednesday carnival.  If you have a moment, swing by and check out more pictures with a story over at Seven Clown Circus.

Makeover Monday – Lilly’s room

Finally, the saga continues.  We’re still upstairs in solid kid territory and Lilly’s room was next to get a facelift.  It was painted a nice golden camel color which I really like in our living room, but not so much in the kids rooms – it looked so dull and dreary.  You might recall that I had already done one lovely lime green room, and as luck would have it there was a whole gallon of paint left over (huge shout-out to Wal-Mart for their one-coat coverage paint which actually does cover in one coat!)  So guess what color Lilly got?

I timed her new paint job to coincide with the switchover from nursery to big girl-room, so it was very easy to pull out the crib, changing table, etc and paint in an empty room.  Definitely made the project go faster (which is awesome since I do these things all by myself) and felt like a more dramatic change.  I also replaced the basic light fixture in her room with a ceiling fan.  I know they aren’t the most attractive things in the world, but they are functional, and I’m a practical kinda gal.

If you knew me 20-odd years ago, then you have probably seen this daybed before!  It used to be back satin (wow – what a look) and fit in perfectly with my Chicago Bulls themed room.  When I moved out my mom recovered the bed with this tone-on-tone stripe.  Looks pretty good for its age, doesn’t it?  I like it because it sits nice and high so there’s plenty of storage underneath.  Though we’ve actually kept it empty because it’s a pretty cool place to play, too.

The bounce and spin zebra has been re-homed now as well.  See that huge Mickey over there?  He’s sitting in a high chair that belonged to my great-grandfather when he was a baby.  How cool is that?  I only regret not taking a picture of each of the girls in it when they were still small enough to fit.  I’m terrible about remembering things like that.

I really hate these ugly stuffed animal nets.  My kids don’t even like stuffed animals and never, ever play with them.  Unfortunately though, people keep on giving them to us, and I feel rude immediately chucking them.  I think there must be a polite waiting period before you get rid of a gift, right?

And this is the room entrance/closet door.  As you can tell from the pictures, it’s still not done.  The problem is that I can’t figure out what to hang on those bare walls!  I can’t find anything that matches the bedding nicely, so I’d love to hear your suggestions!  My sister offered to paint a mural while she was here this summer but I felt bad having her do that on her vacation.  I now wish I hadn’t been so polite.

That’s it for this edition of Makeover Monday.  Stop by next week for the girly chic makeover I did on the kids’ bathroom.  I think it might be my favorite new room upstairs!

And of course, if you’d like to play along I’d love to see what you’ve been up to!

A very Disney halloween

For the first time ever we used these really cute Disney jack-o-lantern patterns. They are cute, and surprisingly easy. Nest year I’ll buy a battery powered cutter rather than doing it all by hand though.

The last one was after trunk-or-treating. Yes, I know, I still haven’t posted pictures. Behind as usual!