Four

So, I know people all over the blog-world love to post pictures and updates like "X years ago you came into my life, look at you now"  on their child's birthday... and the post comes chalk full of photos of said child frolicking around, eating cake and the flash-back pictures of birthdays past...
Are you kidding? Who has time to edit and post entire blog entries on their kid's birthday? The people on my facebook were blessed with a few instagram pics I snapped from the iPod, but other than that - it was all birthday business.
And by the end of the day, I was wiped out. And no way was I going to stay up late editing pictures and making new blog entries.
Aaaaaannnnddd, now I'm digressing.
So. M's birthday.
HUGE success. I did NOT go into labor (and still haven't, obviously). M got exactly what she asked for: "a purple bicycle, a blueberry strawberry cake and to go see a movie called Brave. Oh and hamburgers for dinner." It was awesome.

last moments of three-dom
So in our house, we are late sleepers. And huge believers in Gentle Mornings. For M this means instead of barging in her room shouting, "Move it, move it, move it maggots! Time to get out of bed!" as my father did for me ("maggots" was a term of endearment, I'm sure), M gets woken up with snuggles. Usually I just crawl in bed with her and ask her if she's ready to get up. It takes anywhere from .5 seconds to 10 minutes for her to fully awaken. When she does, tho, she gives me this smile. It's a much better start to the day than if I just yank her out of whatever sleep cycle she happens to be in. On her birthday, Pops did the crawling in bed with her since he wasn't quite ready to be up and about himself.

M opening her presents with her Morning Hair
After she woke up fully, we informed her that there was something for her in the living room and that she could go open the packages she'd received in the mail the day before. When presents and packages are on the line, there is no time for getting dressed or hair combing. This is the amazing Morning Hair my daughter rises with if we don't braid it the night before.

M and Pops with her only birthday gift request
M kept it simple (as she is want to do) with her gift requests. Just a purple bike this year. Of course she had to get a helmet to go with it (which was adjusted properly before riding. I'm aware it's too high on her head in this picture). She also received a used copy of The Tale of Desperaux and a little Hurdy Gurdy music box, both of which were purchased for her while we were on our St. Augustine trip in May (or was it April?).

Learning to pedal...not as easy as I remembered
 So, after taking this bike outside it occurred to me that M has never ridden a bike before. Not even a little tricycle. I know. I am the worst mom ever. And apparently there is a bit of a learning curve with pedaling. And I have absolutely no idea how to explain pedaling to a four-year-old. So. I let Pops do it. He wasn't totally successful and we're still learning. But, she seems to enjoy the learning process up to a point.

And then she decides it's time to call it quits after about 40 yards or so.

For once, the eggs in the batter were pasteurized... not a common occurance
After our short bike ride, it was time to prepare the birthday cake. Now, most moms would probably have already done this the night before and I was going to! Honest. But then I became fascinated watching my dear husband attempt to put together M's bike without any sort of instructions. It was cute. And my procrastination was a boon to M - she got to lick the beaters and add the food coloring to her cake.




Um... she hams it up when I have a camera pointed at her.
While the cake was baking, M talked me into a fun game of Princesses. I decided to bring my camera in to document it and she turned on her fake smile.

Princess Pogo and Princess Cinderella are sisters.
First rule of playing princesses with M - you must build them a house. Preferably out of Mega Bloks with wooden block accents.


And then this particular game of princesses included teaching them about Dragons. Because M loves dragons. And she loves her books about them. Especially this Dragonology book.

After princesses, we took the cake out of the oven and then headed to the movie theatre while it cooled. You're just going to have to pretend that I have a cute picture of her hanging out in front of a huge cardboard cut-out of Princess Merida from the movie Brave. She seemed to enjoy the movie and only had to climb in my lap out of fear at one part.

Check out the awesome headband, Mom. Burgers at 5 Guys.
The movie was promptly followed by a late lunch/early dinner at 5 Guys. Marley got her cheeseburger and french fries that she had asked for.

"Take a picture of my smile." She is quite the art director.
 She had fun being silly and when I took out the ipod to take a picture, she wanted to make sure that I got a picture of her smile. This is her camera face...


M and Pops waiting for our food to arrive
 Of course I have no pictures of me and the punkin head on her birthday, but I guess that's all right. She's got plenty with Pops and I prefer to look at him anyway.

"Perfectly" decorated cake
 After lunch/dinner we came home to decorate the cake. I have no idea how to properly make a cake I only know that you can't frost it when it's hot. I completely fudged up the middle stuffing bit, so when I went to stack the cakes together, I completely cracked the first one in half. However, apparently frosting will act as a sort of glue. Only cracks take a LOT of icing to fill... so, the result was a lumpy little concoction with half-iced sides because we ran out of icing as it all fell into the cracks. However - enough sprinkles make anything okay.
And the stuffing in the middle? - totally worth the cracked top.
And that was M's day.
It wasn't overly exciting. There was no huge party or fanfare. Hell, we didn't even have balloons... BUT - she had a lot of fun and enjoyed her day.
And did I mention I didn't go into labor?
So - YAY!
Four years have passed since this little kiddo made me a Mom and the thought of that warms me right down to my toes.
She's growing so fast, learning so much and I'm thankful daily for everything she brings into my life.









2 comments :

  1. I just want to say that, that was amazing...I really love your inthusiasum and I really look up to you. I just thought id let you know that.
    Love your niece-in-law(I think that's the right term lol.)
    Shianne

    ReplyDelete

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