Ballet and Balloons

Ella's birthday was (to me, at least) everything you would imagine a little girl's birthday to be.  Pink and purple.  Tutus and tea.  Ballet and balloons.  Princesses and ponies.


While I know Ella had a great time, a lot of this is for the parent (i.e., me (yikes!)).  Four year olds would probably be happy with anything.  But how fun is it as a parent to get your little girl all dressed up and let her pretend to be her favorite princess.  These birthday parties are almost kind of a hobby for me.  A way to be slightly artistic and a break from my very by-the-book, serious, life as a lawyer.  So, yes, let's be honest here.  Much of this is for me -- I love picking a theme and running with it and thinking of fun new ideas.


This party was not in my house, so I had to give up creative control.  I thought I was at least in charge of goody bags and balloons, but when I found out they covered that too, I had to keep myself from requesting that they pick out balloons that matched the purple and yellow theme and only give out cute, handmade Rapunzel-themed-favors.  I have to admit it was SO nice not to have it in my home and the studio was wonderful -- they took care of everything!

I did get to take care of the cake, though!

One of the best parts of the party was watching Cooper in the middle of it all.  Fearless, enthusiastic, and ready to be part of the group.  He epitomizes "dance like no one's watching."  Which is refreshing, because with Ella and me it's more like "dance like everyone is watching...and this is the national competition...and if you mess up your life will be over."

The boys were such troopers!  They danced, they made crowns, they even painted their fingernails.  I originally was just going to invite the girls, but Brian insisted boys should be invited too.  I am so glad he did!

 Happy birthday to my sweet Ella.  I am sure I will say this with every birthday, but four seems SO OLD.  Your words, your expressions, all of it seems so grown up to me.  You are too old and mature for the silly humor that used to make you laugh and laugh.  But you still have that sparkle in your eye, the impish grin, and the drive and dedication that has been there since you were a baby.  You still amaze me EVERY DAY with you kindness, compassion, wit and your mega-watt smile.

More to come...

State of the Family

So, what I should be writing about is that Ella turns F-O-U-R tomorrow.  The real deal.  Hardly even a toddler anymore.  But in fact, I've been meaning to write a little "State of the Family" post for a while.  So the Ella birthday update will have to wait.

The problem is, about a zillion things happen everyday that I want to "capture" so that I never, ever forget E & C in their pint size form running around saying the silliest things.  But of course, by the next day I've completely forgotten and life has moved on.  So, I figure I'll just write whatever is in my head right now.  Something is better than nothing.

But first, a picture of my little rascals at "Nana school" in the sunroom.

Ella:

1.  Every day, when you ask me to do something for you ("Mommy, can you bring my shoes down here?") I respond that you are four and four year olds can do these big girl things themselves.  And you always tell me "Mommy, I am NOT four yet."  Well guess what kiddo, you have about five hours left of being four, and then guess who will be fetching everything for herself? (Yeah, not really everything, but no more excuses!)

2.  You say the BEST things.  The other day you ran in so excited and told me, "Mommy, I am going to tell you something that is gonna freak you out of your pants!!!"  I almost choked.  I am assuming this is a hybrid form of "freaking out" and "scared out of your pants," but whatever it is, I just loved it.  You also told me, "Mommy, do you know Emma loves me because I'm me?"  I'm not sure you grasped just how profound that statement was, but it is a life lesson.  Dogs do love you just the way you are -- just because you are you -- and hopefully you will find people in your life who love you the same way.

3.  Your imaginary horse Philip is still going strong.  I think he's been with us for about a year now.  We get periodic updates on him.  Just today you told me that Philip had been bad, but then you talked to him and now he understands how to be good.  When we were fixing up the basement you were very concerned that we make sure there was still a place for Philip.

4.  You still eat nothing.  You basically live off cliff bars and chocolate nutrient powder that we put in your milk.  Thank goodness you will eat that.  We were at a friend's house for dinner the other night and they put a piece of chicken on your plate, and you burst in to tears right there at the table.  You started sobbing and trying to crawl in my lap and saying "Mama snuggle Mama snuggle."  It's beyond bizarre.  It's like PTSD or something.  I don't get it, but I realize it's more than being stubborn.  We're still working on this.

5.  You still love love love your brother.  I don't know how long it will last, but for now, it's going strong.  You occasionally lose your patience with him (join the club) but for the most part you adore that little guy.  It's hard not too :)

6.  You are beautiful - inside and out.  Everyone can see the beauty on the outside, but I also get to see so much of the beauty in you.  You are especially kind to little kids, always wanting to take care of them and help them.  Some of it may be a tendency to boss people around, but I'm choosing to view it as compassion :)

Cooper:

1. Yes, you and I still need to be surgically attached.  It is all mama, all the time.  Dad can't pour your milk (you scream, "Nooooo, mama do it!!").  You laid on the couch snuggling with me for an hour last night -- not even sleeping, just snuggling.  I rock you to sleep every night and we sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," "You Are my Sunshine," "Goodnight Cooper" (my own remake of a Tom Petty song), and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (when you want that song you ask for "Chimneytops").  Last night for some reason you said you wanted Daddy to rock you.  I was totally shocked but went and told Brian to rock you (he was equally shocked).  But apparently it was a joke, because Brian went in to rock you and within three seconds you were screaming bloody murder.

This is typical.  Me trying to focus on Ella, and you having none of it.

2.  You ask a zillion questions.  And it is in the sweetest, inquisitive voice.  And your favorite is "Why?"  All day.  No, Cooper, we can't eat cake now.  Cooper, in the sweetest voice ever, "Why Mama?"  I don't remember Ella doing this -- at least not over and over.  And I really thought it was too early for this??  You even ask Ella sometimes.  Today, on the way to a birthday party, we had to turn around because I, of course, forgot the presents.  Ella told you we had to go back, and without missing a beat you asked "Why Ya-Ya?"  Sometimes, when you want to tell me something, you put your hand on my cheek and look into my eyes and say "Juice, mama."  Yes, mundane as juice, but it's as if you just told me you loved me. 

3.  I heard you quietly singing your ABCs the other day in the back of the car.  I couldn't believe it!  Yes, you're still fumbling over many of the letters, but you're getting there.

4.  You have to do EVERYTHING yourself.  Really.  I love your dedication, but goodness it takes a loooooong time to get stuff done.  You had a waffle on your plate the other morning, and you would not let me cut it for anything.  "BOOPER DO IT" you screamed over and over.  And heck if you did not manage to mutilate that waffle into edible bite size bits.  Same dedication with putting on your socks and shoes.  I love it -- my 22 month old is determined to put on his own shoes and my four-year-old, in two seconds, sighs and says she just can't do it.  Ella gives up before she's even started and for Cooper, failure is not an option.

I am one lucky lucky mommy.  Love you both to the moon and back.