Back to regular life this week, with one tame (compared to last year) birthday party to cap it off.
It was so fun to watch this robin building her nest literally right outside the window in Ella and Claire's room. Although it's a little depressing writing about it now after finding a smashed egg on the ground yesterday (almost two weeks later) and no Mama Bird in sight.
Lucy is not quite the clingy mama's girl she was as a baby, but she still insists on being held often… especially around dinner time. I have learned to do many things one handed. She reminds me of a baby koala bear clinging to a tree trunk the way she holds on to me (I can't even attempt to put her down).
Claire's favorite lunch: a cheese sandwich cut into tiny hearts.
Ella celebrated her birthday in school on Friday and she had a very specific request for the treat she wanted brought in to her class: red and blue Italian Ice. I was so relieved to find these at the grocery store.
She also had a very specific cupcake request for her party on Saturday: chocolate with orange and blue frosting. When she saw these she said, "Well, I didn't ask for sprinkles but I guess it still looks good that way." Phew.
Party favors.
Ella had her party at our local paint-your-own pottery studio. I almost convinced her to skip having a birthday party this year (I am still recovering from last year's bowling party… and heaven help me because Claire has already decided that she wants a Hello Kitty Princess Bowling Party – with rainbow cupcakes – for her 5th birthday next year), but this girl couldn't pass up an opportunity to be the center of attention… or to get all those gifts. We compromised on an all girl party just to make the size more manageable. It turned out to be a great party. The girls all seemed to love it and I told Matt and I could throw a birthday party like this every day of the week.
This week was all about vacation, with Ella's 7th birthday thrown in the mix as well.
The kids never quite adjusted to Central time, so they were up extra early every morning. Claire loved all the sundresses I packed for her and so she would waltz into our room every morning at 6am fully dressed, even though she would inevitably just be changing into a swimsuit a few hours later. We started calling them her "morning dresses."
One day at the beach we caught a bunch of these tiny clams.
The best time to find them would be right as the water receded… you could see them trying to dig themselves back under the sand.
Ella and Claire observe the clams in the little habitat they created for them. Ella was disappointed that we couldn't bring them home with us to keep as pets.
Ella is very adventurous at the beach. She loves getting in the ocean as far as she can go and riding the waves. She spent a lot of time with Matt in the water.
Claire kept busy at the beach, but didn't really like to get very close to the water. That's why she was always absolutely covered in sand by the end of the day.
Claire spent a lot of time making various sand pastries, like this cake.
Due to her continued sand phobia, Lucy spent most of her beach time sitting in a chair and eating snacks. The first thing she said every day when we got to the beach was: "Want sit down. Want snacky!"
She did have a few brave moments when she ventured out onto the sand, with her shoes on of course.
Lunch break.
Sandcastles.
In the afternoons, we headed to the pool. Lucy insisted on carrying this thing with her to the pool every single day, but never actually used it. By the end of the trip it was completely mangled and deflated from being dragged on the cement.
Matt and Lucy took turns blowing bubbles in the pool.
A little bubble blowing video. My favorite part is when Lucy pats Matt on the head and says "Good job Daddy!" You can also hear Ella giving Claire a swimming lesson in the background.
We didn't see many seashells at the beach except on the last day when it seemed like they all decided to wash up on shore at the same time. Matt, Ella and I had a great time seashell hunting…
… while Claire was in charge of carefully cleaning and organizing them.
I also managed to catch this crab on our last beach day. He was not pleased at all about being trapped in here. I let him go after just a few minutes when I was pretty sure he was going to jump right out of the bucket and claw my eyes out. The sea star that a fellow beachgoer found and gave to my girls was more our style.
A great way to end our final day at the beach.
Of course, our vacation would not have been complete for Ella without a trip to the go karts.
And here is the girls' favorite vacation restaurant. Apparently, they make the best spaghetti with butter around.
An evening walk on the beach… Lucy has to be carried the entire time.
Some family shots on our last night.
The day we flew home also happened to be Ella's birthday. The same thing happened last year and I was starting to feel a little bad that her birthday was being overshadowed by traveling for a second year in a row (even though she did have a birthday party planned for the following weekend), so I did my best to still make her day special. The night before, Matt and I blew up a bunch of balloons and put them in her room to surprise her when she woke up.
We also got birthday doughnuts from our favorite local bakery, The Donut Hole. We sang Happy Birthday (adding "cha cha chicken" after each line, as requested by the birthday girl) before she blew out her "7" candle. Then to top it off, we stopped off for one last go kart ride on our way to the airport. We got there right as the place was opening and we had the entire track to ourselves.
Then we got on a plane and reluctantly headed home (I was truly not ready to leave). Matt and I were really nervous about flying with Lucy after our experience flying to and from Disney last September. Matt will freely tell you that it was one of the most stressful experiences of his life – Lucy can put the fear of God into you when she decides to scream. But I have to give Lucy credit; she was a great little traveler this time around. Maybe we will attempt that West Coast trip this summer after all.
This week started with Easter and ended with the start of our spring break trip to Florida.
For the third year in a row, we spent Easter with Matt's brother and his family in New Jersey.The Easter Bunny didn't deliver the baskets first thing in the morning since he (she?) knew the kids, ranging in age from 1 to 13, wouldn't all wake up at the same time, but he did leave a note. When everyone was awake the girls – all seven of them – went down to the basement to try to encourage the bunny to return more quickly with the baskets. While they were down there they worked hard on creating an Easter cheer. Their efforts paid off and the Easter Bunny did in fact return with baskets full of goodies.
Next it was time to head to the backyard to hunt for eggs.
After Easter the focus turned to preparations for spring break.
Packing for four people takes a great deal of planning and organization. Thankfully Matt knows how to fend for himself in that department.
Saturday was our first day at the beach.
I think this was the only time during our trip that Lucy voluntarily sat on the bare sand. It looks like she is playing in the sand but she actually never touched the sand with her hands; she is splashing in a giant bucket of ocean water here.
She asked Matt to stand at the ocean's edge while holding her, then promptly fell fast asleep.
A late lunch break back at the condo before heading down to the pool.
Claire and I during dinner in Seaside.
For better or worse, plenty more vacation photos are coming up in week 16…
We couldn't totally escape real life on our spring break vacation last week.
There was that first day, after we had already spent four carefree hours at the beach, when Matt mentioned that my back looked a little red and then asked "Wait, did I ever put sunscreen on your back this morning?" Um, that would be a no. Too bad I don't have a picture of my face when that realization sunk in. I'm sure it would have been priceless. If you talk to Ella, she'll be happy to tell you all about Matt putting cool paper towels on my back that night as penance.
There was the one morning when it rained.
On the last night, after we had promised Ella a special shaved ice treat after dinner (it was her birthday the next day), it turned out the shaved ice place was closed. You better believe there were tears. It didn't help that Matt and I had talked this place up to her all. day. long.
My stomach didn't enjoy eating out every day quite as much as I did.
No, those moments weren't perfect, but all the moments in between came pretty close.
There were lazy mornings spent playing card games (Old Maid was the family favorite) until it was time to head to the beach.
I was able to finish reading two great books in one week.
The hardest decision we had to make every day was where to eat dinner. Pizza Bar won out most nights because the girls loved their pasta with butter and cheese. (Apparently one of the charms of vacation is paying eight dollars for something I can make at home for one.)
We built sandcastles, hunted for seashells, caught a crab (and let it go), and spotted dolphins out at sea. Lucy even ventured out into the sand a time or two (with shoes on), and let the ocean waves lull her to sleep four out of five days.
At the pool, Matt and Lucy took turns blowing bubbles while Ella played "swimming teacher" with Claire.
And it turns out that homemade birthday cake ice cream on a cone from Blue Mountain Beach Creamery can make you forget all about shaved ice.
"Ooooh, pwetty!" (She always notices when somebody is dressed up and/or wearing something new.)
"I coming!" (Said as she is running in the opposite direction with absolutely no intention of coming.)
"TOP IT!!" (As in, "STOP IT!!" She's always yelling at the top of her lungs for this one, of course.)
"Mommy-ah" (Her pet name for me.)
Ella has decided it's finally time to learn how to ride a two-wheeler. A couple of weekends ago Matt took the training wheels off her bike and brought her to the school to practice on the grass field. She caught on really fast. On Tuesday after school I took her back to get in some more practice. I was so impressed with her determination. She fell down a few times (see the dirt on her elbow in the first picture?) but never gave up. By the end of the afternoon I told her I thought she was almost ready to try on the blacktop. Her response? "When we do, we should bring a whole box of Band-Aids!"
Something I love right now: the way Lucy reads sitting perfectly upright with a book on her lap and her legs sticking out straight in front of her.
Local Easter egg hunt. (Click through to this picture to see Ella and Claire at the same event – and on the same stone steps – two years ago.) Those scabs on and around Lucy's lips are from a tumble she took on our driveway this week. The poor thing managed to chip a small portion of her front tooth in the process; I'm just grateful it wasn't worse!
We spent Easter weekend in New Jersey and the girls (all 7 of them) spent most of their time outside on the hammock. Claire was too scared to actually get on the hammock so she ended up being the unofficial "hammock pusher" for most of the weekend instead.
After looking through my pictures for this week I noticed a disproportionate amount of photos of Claire. Sometimes this happens – when I focus on one child more than the others during a certain time period – and when it does I try not to worry about it too much. I generally find that it all tends to even out in subsequent days and weeks. When I do notice a disparity, it's a good reminder to make a conscious effort to focus on capturing more diverse moments that include the other girls (and me and Matt too). It also makes me really grateful for Ella's teacher, who shared some photos this week of Ella in the classroom during "Bear Days" that I plan on using in my Project Life layout for the week.
Onto the photos for Week 13:
Reading together before bedtime. I just happened to capture the moment right after Lucy scooted over and laid her head on Claire's shoulder.
Afternoon itinerary according to Claire: "First we will read two books. I will read them to you and then you will read them to me. Then we will color."
It's been a while since I captured a picture of Claire sleeping. They never get old. In this case I walked out of the room for two minutes and saw this when I came back. Like father like daughter… Matt falls asleep on the couch like this just about every night!
"Mom, when you love your blanket, it gets holes in it."
Springtime blossoms.
A couple of iPhone snaps: (1) Claire at her 4 year well check. Few people could pull off a Cat in the Hat gown like she can. She is growing perfectly and weighing in at 35.5 pounds (50th percentile) and 41 inches tall (75th percentile). She took her shots like a champ, redeeming herself for the breakdown she had over her flu shot last fall. (2) I have developed a minor Pinkberry addiction (my drug of choice is Original with strawberries, mangoes, dark chocolate crisps, and honey). The kids think Matt and I are the coolest parents ever because we keep taking them there, but what they don't realize is that these outings are completely selfish on our parts. We just can't get enough.
After our unusually mild winter, we could not have had a more glorious start to spring. The weather was warm and almost summer-like this week. I cannot believe the forsythia is already in bloom. I normally associate these yellow flowers with Ella's birthday, not Claire's!
Claire playing with the new American Girl doll, McKenna, that she got for her birthday. Aside from the doll, one of the only other things she asked for was a crown.
On the actual day of Claire's birthday, I took her out on a special mommy/daughter date. We got our nails done and then went out for lunch, just the two of us.
Lucy absolutely loves dogs. She always sleeps with this stuffed dog tucked under one arm, she will kiss pictures of dogs that she sees in books, and if she sees a real dog? Forget about it. Our babysitter Diana took her to a pet shop this week where they let Lucy play with one of their puppies. She was in heaven.
Fun at the playground. I absolutely love Lucy's face when she laughs.
Some of the work Ella brings home from school is priceless, like this particular word study sentence (#6). For the record, Matt does not have an ear wax problem. She was just trying to figure out how to incorporate her spelling word into a sentence, and it just so happens that she likes to use Dad at the beginning of the majority of her sentences (6 out of 10 on this sheet).
I just have a few things I want to say about Claire before her 4th birthday is eclipsed by the next birthday on the calendar (spring is birthday season in our house). I think I say this every year, but in some ways I feel like she has already been four years old for months. And then in some ways I can't believe she's not "Baby Claire" anymore. Many of the friendships I formed after we moved here happened right around the time Claire was a baby and so for them – and in turn for me – she is frozen in time as a round-faced, big-eyed baby.
But there is no doubt she is growing up and starting to come into her own. Some may call her the more reserved sister; the one who will stay snuggled up on the couch while her older and younger sisters put on a dance show for the rest of the family. But lately I've been catching glimpses of her coming out of her shell. Like on the day before her birthday when she took off the dress she was wearing (but left on the striped tights), and came out of her room wearing her new leotard, a crown, and a wooden bead necklace. Normally she is shy in front of the camera, but this time when I asked if I could take a picture of her in her ensemble, she did this:
She was giggling. Swaying her hips. She was working it. (And then she asked if I would please print out copies of all these photos for her to have.) I love seeing this unexpected side of her.
Claire is such a perfect combination of smart and independent beyond her years, yet still so very sweetly innocent. I think a great illustration of this is my favorite little quirk of hers. She has always been extremely verbal with an expansive vocabulary, yet she has a knack for always mispronouncing certain words by just one letter or sound. For example, the Muppets movie we watched last Friday night was called The "Muffets." The other day she told me she was brushing her hair to try to get all the "nuts" out of it. And she will ask me how to "smell" a word instead of how to spell it. (No, she's not writing novels. I think she just likes to pretend to do homework like Ella.) The examples are endless, and it makes me smile each time I hear one.
Here's a little interview with the birthday girl at 4:
My favorite fruit is: strawberries. My favorite TV show is: Max & Ruby. My favorite thing to eat for lunch is: a bagel & cream cheese. My favorite outfit is: my rainbow dress & silver shoes. My favorite drink is: lemonade, of course. (This was her verbatim answer; I would have guessed milk.) The toy I love to play with most is: Hello Kitty. Something that makes me scared is: monsters. My favorite animal is: a pig. My best subject in school is: painting. The thing I do the most awesomely is: clean things up at school. If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go to: Disneyworld. My favorite color is: pink. My favorite thing to do on the weekend is: read books. The snack I could live on is: gummy fruit snacks. My best friend is: Hope. If I had one wish it would be: to stay with my family. When I grow up, I’m going to become a: mommy.
Ella attempts to teach Lucy how to write. She takes her big sister role very seriously. On another ocassion she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, it's hard work teaching a baby to count!"
The one snack we always have on hand. Goldfish crackers were one of my favorite snacks as a kid too.
Claire & Lucy's kitchen fort. My favorite part is the collection of knick knacks lined up in the corner of the wrapping paper "room": Pez dispensers, colorful rocks, a plastic doughnut, and a Hello Kitty figure, among other things.
A few iPhone shots: 1) My rainbow cake helper. 2) On Thursdays Ella has her Mad Science program after school, so Claire, Lucy, and I pick her up afterward and we all walk home together. 3) Elementary school bingo night. I *may* have gotten just a little overly competitive. Thankfully Ella is still too young to be embarrassed by me. And besides, that competitive spirit managed to win her a prize!
Our week was capped off by Claire's birthday celebration.
Ella helped Matt put together the rainbow fruit skewers.
I was just trying to get a picture of Claire with her balloons, but Lucy saw the camera and immediately came over and put her arm around Claire so she could be included too.
Blowing out the candles. (Note that I am usually never in "blowing out candles" birthday photos with my kids beause I am always the one behind the camera, but this time I purposefully turned the camera over to Matt.) I especially love the photo on the bottom right. Even after everybody else was done with their cake, Claire just sat quietly at the table by herself and kept on eating her giant piece of cake. I honestly don't know how she fit all the cake into her little body, but I'm just happy she enjoyed it so much.
Claire and her party guests. (Note the outfit change into her new "princess" leotard.)
When Ella turned 4, she had her first big party (a million preschoolers running around Kids U). So to be fair, I asked Claire if she wanted to have a party somewhere for her 4th birthday. "No," she said. "I just want a party at home with my cousins." For the record, that's all she wanted for her birthday last year too. Sometimes I wonder if she is for real, or if this whole sweet and innocent thing is just an extremely convincing and highly effective act?
Since Claire's birthday requests are so simple, I always feel like I have to do a little something extra to make her day special. This year, since she loves drawing (or having me draw) rainbows and her little party just happened to be planned for St. Patrick's Day, I decided to have a rainbow theme. Nothing too fancy, just rainbow balloons, a rainbow candy jar, rainbow fruit skewers (thank you Pinterest), rainbow party hats, and the crown jewel… a rainbow cake.
If you happen to follow me on any form of social media, you probably saw (and probably got sick of) all my Instagram photos of the cake-making process. Now, I know the last thing the world needs is another rainbow cake tutorial (there are already about a thousand and one online), but here are my novice cake-maker steps for making a foolproof rainbow cake. Mostly I'm just documenting this because I can't believe I managed to make this without any major mishaps like the overflowing cake pan incident of 2010.
First, take two boxes of white cake mix (I used Betty Crocker SuperMoist Vanilla) and mix according to the directions. Of course, you can go the Martha Stewart route if you want and make your cake from scratch, but my primary goal was to have the cake look good, and I wanted to accomplish that in the easiest possible way. Thank you Betty Crocker.
Second, divide the cake batter evenly among six bowls (I just used six cereal bowls and they were the perfect size). I used a measuring cup to divide the batter and there ended up being about 1 1/2 cups of batter per bowl.
Third, add gel food coloring to each bowl. I used a toothpick to take a glob of gel out of the container and add it to the batter in the bowl. These were the colors I used:
and this is what it looked like when I was done mixing all the colors. Obviously, if you have an aversion to food coloring this is not the cake for you.
Fourth, add batter from one bowl to a 9-inch round cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Repeat for all the remaining colors. I only have two round cake pans, so I could only bake two colors at a time. Now, here is my secret weapon. Instead of greasing and flouring your cake pans, use this:
I have no idea what is in this, but it's magical. The directions say to use a pastry brush to spread it but somehow I have managed to reach 32 years of age without owning a pastry brush. I just used a paper towel and it seemed to work just as well.
Fifth, allow the cakes to cool. Then wrap each layer individually and put them all in the freezer for a while. I left mine in there for a couple of hours, but you probably don't need to keep them in there for that long. I'm not sure if this step is really necessary, but it didn't seem to hurt and I think it helped a bit with the assembly. When you are ready to assemble, take each layer out of the freezer (starting with purple) and carefully cut off the domed top of each layer with a serrated knife so that the top becomes flat. Then spread a layer of white frosting on top (I used Betty Crocker Whipped Fluffly White Frosting) and repeat for all the remaining layers.
Finally, you are ready to frost the outside. I did one thin layer first (a "crumb layer" – look at me getting fancy and using official cake baking terms like I actually know what I'm doing), and then added a final layer on top. I used an angled spatula like this one and it was really helpful in spreading the frosting. By the time I was finished, I ended up using four tubs of frosting. It was a lot. If I ever do this again I may consider making my own frosting. Maybe.
When it was all said and done, the cake ended up looking like this. Claire had been talking about this rainbow cake for weeks and the final result did not disappoint. She asked if I would make her a rainbow cake for every birthday, which I believe means that I can officially call the whole experience a success. And for the record, I told her I would make her a rainbow cake every single year – even when she is a grown up if that is what she wants – and I think that pretty much blew her mind (but I totally meant it).
P.S. If you happen to borrow a cake stand from a friend for this project, make sure the stand doesn't have a lip around the edge. Because if it does, you might realize mid-assembly that this lip will prevent you from cutting and serving the cake so that the inside stays perfectly intact (and of course, the whole point of a rainbow cake is the presentation when it's served). And then you might have a minor panic attack and send your husband to the mall at 8pm on a Thursday night to buy you a new cake stand. Just a little public service announcement. You can thank me later.
