My favorite little five year old was born on September 11th… on the 5th anniversary and it’s hard to reconcile the two days. I thought all day yesterday about posting, but I didn’t know which part to blog about. The part where I was a senior in college and watched the world change in the printmaking studio with fellow artists who were just as confused as I was or the part where a precious little girl made me a mommy. They are both such poignant moments in my life, game-changers, “marker” days as my pastor called them on Sunday. Both days, one ten years ago and the other five, left an indelible impression on me and will forever profoundly affect my future.
So instead of attempting to tell two stories that are so very different, I devoted the majority of my day loving my little birthday girl and letting her enjoy the day. I watched 9/11 coverage when I could, prayed for our country and remembered what those solemn moments felt like so long ago.
We started off the day with a little package of love for our five year old — who declared that she looked bigger and longer when she woke up. She opened her presents at her party, but I couldn’t let the morning go by with no reward! Instead of another big gift, she got four Junie B. Jones books to add to her collection. Another tradition in our house is picking meals on your birthday. As usual, Ella wanted pigs in a blanket for breakfast. We all piled in our bed and watched Mickey Mouse while we defending our breakfast from Beemer.
When we told her she could pick any restaurant for lunch I really expected her to be creative! I should have known she would choose McDonald’s and she decided to get an Angus Burger, just like her daddy.
Because she isn’t technically a kindergartner, we can still get away with cupcakes for her school birthday snack. I was so sad that I couldn’t be with her at school, so instead of ordering cupcakes from a bakery, we decided to make them together so that I could have some part of the celebration. Molly spent Sunday afternoon with us and was a huge help. You will see from the pictures below, that I got crafty and put the cake batter in a {very well cleaned} squeezy mayonnaise container so that the girls could help fill the baking cups. It worked so much better than I expected!
I sent her off to school this morning with Gran and the cupcakes, in a PRECIOUS new top from Cozumel that my parents bought her last week. I also made sure to send my camera so that Gran could get some good pictures for me. This is what I found when I downloaded them this afternoon.
Gran was not at fault, I completely didn’t realize the flash was turned off so every picture is horribly blurry and whirly and crazy. AND you probably noticed that she isn’t even wearing the shirt! She spilled water on it before lunch and changed into a t-shirt. Hey, thanks. Much to her dismay, I made her have a brief photo shoot in the yard when we got home today so I could remember how cute she was “supposed” to look at her birthday snack today. Tis the life of a five year old, fashion and all.
