The Big 5 Birthday and Some Random Happenings

It's hard to describe in a few concise sentences the emotional energy that Hannah put into planning her birthday party. I can only stress that SHE was the one who planned it, the plan changed daily, and if things didn't go the way she imagined in her head, it was my fault and she was crying uncontrollably. Somehow we made it through the big day and I think she was quite pleased--and overwhelmed--with the whole day-long event.

Having a 5 year old makes me feel old and mourn the loss of her babyhood, even though she barely reached 40 lbs. 

She opened a few family gifts in the morning. A bike from me, a stroller and handmade diaper bag (and clothes) from Grandma, some earrings and a Barbie from Auntie Jen. This picture shows Leah  suffering a severe case of jealousy. 


The birthday part was a Ladybug theme and Hannah wanted all the kids to dress up. Only a couple of them would. I made this bug cake and think it turned out pretty cute, considering I'm decidedly NOT a baker. 



Friends, friends, friends. I didn't get really good pics of the party guests since I was busy being the ringmaster/wild animal tamer. Somehow we all survived the mayhem that is a 5 year old party. Most importantly, Hannah had a great time and enjoyed her special day. 






In other news, if you haven't been on Pinterest yet, don't. I don't recommend it for a number of reasons. One, I think it's another way we are wasting time online (because blogging is totally legitimate...right?). Two, I think it gives us some unrealistic expectations about stuff. I've tried a few of the things that didn't cost much money or a lot of time. 

For example, this:


Also, a sock bun for Leah's hair for Valentine's Day:



Valentine's Day was lovely and uneventful. Just my style :). I got the girls these owl pj's and tried to take a picture. They showed me their rears instead:

Pills.

Anyway, the long weekend was quite fun and as usual, I didn't really get any pictures of it. My niece came from Logan to do Pinterest crafts with my mom and me. Plus also my sister from Washington showed up for a brief visit (yay!), plus also I dog-sitted for the neighbor's pooch. 




I took off on Monday afternoon and took my niece home, then stayed overnight in a hotel for some alone  time with my chicas. Here there are cheesing it up on the way to the pool:


I *might* have forgotten the swimming suits and had to make an emergency trip to Old Navy. Luckily, everything in Logan is 5 minutes away. Crisis gone. 

I love this pic. We swam in the morning when no one else was in the pool (who swims at 7 am?). It was nice a toasty in the pool and, in typical Logan fashion, snowing outside. 


I lounged by the poolside and stitched.


And here are my laundry piles:


Comments

Jennifer Walker said…
The ladybug cake turned out cute! I think Hannah had a great party--you're a great mom no matter what she says! Thanks again for everything you did to help Rachel have a great weekend! (Which also makes you an awesome Aunt!) I'm wondering if we should trade kids--you take Rachel and I'll take Hannah. Deal?
February 25, 2012 at 1:54 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NYE

New Year’s Eve 2009: Mapleton, UT I left Brian  in Logan and took the girls down to visit my parents for the new year. I felt bad and I felt relieved. I needed a break from him. We didn’t have money for food. He spiraled and never climbed out.  New Years Eve 2014: Mapleton, UT I went to Utah with my girls and left Jacob in Miami. He could have come but made up an excuse about studying and visiting his dad instead. Always talked about visiting his dad—alone— when I talked about a family visit. New Year’s Eve consisted of me, my parents and Stephen and laurel. There might have been some others that left earlier. I took no pictures. The new year rang in and felt so alone and empty. Did Jacob even care?  New Years Eve 2015: Vancouver, WA Pregnant with Lucy, unable to work, Jacob had just failed the most important test that would allow him into residency, I decided to wait out the remainder of the pregnancy at my parent’s new house. This move was one of the most humiliating ex...
Read more

Parent Teacher Conference

Dear Mom, You left 4 months ago. You clearly didn't mean to leave when you did, with your shoes sitting by the door and your unfinished paper boxes of chocolates for Relief Society. No one else wants to hear how the girls are doing. No one else has lived with us for so long and understands them and the dynamics of my family like you do. I've retreated into my own silence and my own world, desperately trying to survive each day--sometimes each hour--knowing that although so many friends and family care (and I couldn't survive without their support), there is really no one left that has experienced firsthand the horror story I'm starring in. We had parent teacher conferences last night at Leah and Hannah's school. We had to bring Lucy, who wet her pants twice and cried to go home. Here's a summary of teacher comments: HANNAH: *a natural leader *most well-liked student *grades range from 85 (one class) to 93-99 (every other class) *no missing assignment...
Read more

3 Years

Image
The social media version: “A new burger place in Park Slope— pretty good but girls still love Black Tap better. I love the exposed brick and VW van counter.” The reality: We were supposed to go to burgers last night to remember Dad on the 3rd anniversary of his death. I was very sick this weekend. Leah had a fever of 105— I’m gonna day that again— 105 and Lucy was being picked up by her clown father. No one was ok. We somehow made it out of the house today but we could hardly talk about Dad/Grandpa. Hannah regrets that she doesn’t remember much. Leah is deeply grieving a very special connection they had. She cries silently. I am physically wasted with a chest cold, anxious about how Lucy is doing at her dad’s house and too broken to help anyone. Our world went dark three years ago and the light hasn’t come back on.  The social media version: I can’t even write it because it’s not in my nature to sound so fake.  The reality:  Her clown father took her to a party for the g...
Read more