rainbow birthday

this weekend was one of "those" weekends.  (and "those" was supposed to be a link to an april 2010 post titled "chronicals of easter" which didn't work.)  but please...if you have a minute...go there.  because it was a weekend that i think of on a fairly regular basis.  because it was one of those "rainbows and daisy's" weekends.

to be clear...i took 208 pictures this weekend.  so...in the name of keeping a blog post readable for people other than the writer or the writee (that's the people featured)...we will have to break this one up into 3 parts:

aiden turns 7; mother's day sunday; and the house that built me.

and trust me when i say...

there are nothin' but perfectly arched rainbows with all colors a-blazin' and huge white daisy's with perfect yellow centers representing this weekend.

so...please stay with me while...

aiden turns 7.

the boardwalk might as well have rolled out a red carpet for her...

as the people that love her most in this world came from far and wide to watch her make the 6-7 transition.

the boardwalk has been good to us over the last 11 years.  i remember taking colt there as a baby.  (here is where another link would be nice.)  i don't think it has ever let us down.

memories are made at places like this.  make no mistake...annslee will never forget that honey took her for a ride on the train.

whether 2 or 92...magic can be found here.

and let it be noted...that if face painting is ever a possibility...

it's an unspoken rule that you must experience it.  it's one of those things that you never outgrow.  it's magic at it's finest...transforming 7 year old little girls into things like fairies, butterflies, flowers, kittens, or puppies, in this case.  she was never wavering in her "puppy face" decision.

boys become men with rides that make mature adults squirm.

she received her first "real" Bible.

and did things like make pancakes all by herself...flipping the flap jacks and all.  (the flipping is what made her the most proud of herself.)

happiness lesson:  whenever there can be candles involved...it's best to just go ahead and experience them.

the same goes for long, flowy skirts...

and swinging...

didn't i tell you??

rainbows.

of the most magical kind.



birthday eve

7 years ago, tonight...i was in labor.  i was waiting to meet my girl.  my first daughter.  i could not wait to see her...hold her...smell her.  and just after midnight...she came.

tomorrow she will officially be 7...an age that doesn't sound so young anymore.  and it is hard to not feel sad about that.  i don't want to be sad.  growing up is a part of it.  it's not like i thought when i birthed my children that they would stay babies forever.  but...7??  already??  colt was just 7.  and now he is 11 and almost in jr. high.  surely, the next 4 years will not pass as fast as the last.  surely.

****

she insisted on cupcakes for her class.  little did i know that she was 1 of 4 kids celebrating birthdays in mrs. singleton's class today.  FOUR.  that's a lot of cupcakes, people.  i personally apologized to her teacher.  we did have fun making them, though.  the girl wants to be a chef, after all.  the practice, itself, was worth it.  well...that and the licking of the icing bowl.

we also put together some cowboy cookies for teacher's appreciation.  although...i'm not entirely sure they will turn out like they are supposed to.  which sort-of may send the wrong message.

we did some wrapping of my favorite kind.  there is something about a brown, paper package...tied up with string that makes me very happyish.  i guess that's why there is a song about that very thing.

this is headed to ankeny, iowa...in the hopes of making one, 11 year old tween neice very happy.  it involves the hunger games.  shhhh.  don't tell.

aiden asked to have her hair rolled for her birthday eve.  she also wanted to wear her finest dress to school.  even though it wasn't her actual birthday today...she was taking cupcakes, after all.  one must look one's best when passing out pink, birthday cupcakes.  everyone knows that.

and as i rolled her waist length hair onto those pink, sponge rollers...i had all kinds of flashbacks.  i slept on these very rollers when i was her age...every saturday night so that my curls would be perfect for sunday morning church, or any other time that my mother decided we needed dolling up.  which was a lot, i think.

there was something about the combination of those pink, sponge rollers and her soft, cotton, country pajamas that melted my mama-ness right into a "proud, honored to be her mother" heap.

she climbed in my bed, snuggled up next to her sister...

watched a little sprout...

and cuddled one, tattered bear.  when i look at her...i see beauty.  i know i've said that before.  however...there are times, like last night...that i can't take my eyes off her.  and isn't that how it should be between a mama and her child?  i feel that feeling...at certain points...with all the kids.  like, when colt is handling a basketball; when chase is telling an animated story; when annslee looks at me with great understanding and says, "ok, mama."  and when aiden is wearing pink, sponge rollers.

the cat likes to fall asleep next to trout.  and trout gently puts his paw over the cat's paw...as if he is assuring him that everything is alright and that it's ok to sleep.  he's got things covered.

it reminds me of how i feel when i have a new born and my mother tells me that she will hold the baby while i sleep.  it's the most peaceful sleep that i get during that time.  because i know...

she's got this.

tonight...we walked down the street to get the mail as a family.  i was a little side tracked by this beautiful sight.  it's the silver lining.  just in case you thought that those things didn't exist...here it is.

i promise i didn't draw that.

and to what did her wondering eyes should appear....but her very first birthday package of the year.

i see lots of cupcakes in our future.  thank you gramma sue.  that's the look of one, happy "cooker."

****

this picture is one of my all-time favorites and really just explains annslee so perfectly.

i like to call it...

"alrighty boys.  where we headed?"

she was as serious as she could be, too.  oh...she was goin' wherever they were goin' alright.