Dana Turns 5

Dana turned 5 on March 26!

This lucky kid got to celebrate 4 times in one week!

Kevin had to be out of town March 25-27, so we started the festivities off on Wednesday night, March 24.

We had cake, which I bought.

Then she opened her gift from us: a puppet stage. Here she is putting on a little show. Do you see the tiny couch and armchair? She made her own audience using the finger puppets that Nora gave her.

On Friday, Dana's actual birthday, we went to pick Nora up from school so we could get right to the partying. Dana dressed herself. Please note the plastic saw and the blue vampire teeth on the floor near her feet. Also note the fairy wings. Dana really loves Nora's principal, so she ran into her office to tell her it was her birthday. The principal sang "Happy Birthday" to her and held out a basket of Tootsie Rolls so she could choose one. Dana chose six of them, which the principal thought was really funny. Then she gave Dana a Happy Birthday pencil. She took a good look at Dana and began to comment on her ensemble. It went a little like this:
Principal: "Wow-look at those beautiful wings! Are you a fairy or a butterfly?"
Dana: "Those wings are just pretend. I'm just a kid."
Principal: "And look at those teeth! Are you a vampire?"
Dana: "These aren't my real teeth. They're just pretend."
Principal: "Is that a saw you're carrying?"
Dana: "It's not a real saw. It's just pretend."

The principal and I were cracking up at her. It was pretty sweet that she felt she had to clarify that everything was pretend.

Party #2 was at Great Grandma's house. Here, Dana is waiting for Grandpa to open the garage and reveal her birthday gift...

...a big girl bike! She was over the moon! We love to ride bikes, and with the 12" wheels on her old bike, it took an entire lifetime to ride the 1.5 miles around the block. This is going to change our lives!

Of course, we went inside for cake and ice cream. And then Grandma and Grandpa took us out for dinner.

Even the rain all weekend couldn't stop Dana from breaking in her new wheels.

I don't know what to call this invention, other than "awesome". It's sort of like a vacuum that doesn't actually pick up dirt. Hmmmm.....

Here's the cake for birthday #3. Dana invited her cousins and our close family friends to celebrate with her. She selected this cake, which is the same cake I made for Nora's first birthday. While not my best work, it was still pretty cute.

At least, it was cute, until we put the candles in. Then it looked "fweaky."

A bit of sisterly affection while waiting for friends to arrive.

Finally, party #4. Grandma and Grandpa got her a stroller and a high chair for her Bitty Baby, Dizzy. These have seen a ton of use by both girls already.

Phew! Birthday Week was a crazy time around here!

Thanksgiving 2009

Our Thanksgiving started out with a really cute turkey...

Actually, it started the night before, with the pie baking activities. I like to make things as complicated as possible, so we started by roasting a sugar pumpkin. And then we had a marathon of apple peeling, which the girls absolutely loved. We have one of those apple peeler/corer/slicer things, and they love turning the crank and grabbing the spiraled apples off the end when they're done. Fun times.

I tried a new recipe this year: maple pumpkin pie. It sounded divine, but in reality was awfully sweet.

And a new apple pie recipe, too, in which you cook a caramel sauce on the stove and then pour it over the lattice top so it soaks into the top crust and goes into the filling as well. This one was pretty nice.

Nora made placemats for everyone and proceeded to re-set the table at Grandma and Grandpa's house when we arrived.

Nora thought basting the turkey was really fun, and she helped Grandma with this task.

And then some wrestling ensued. Notice the pizza paddle. I am not sure what Kevin said or did, but his parents team tackled him. Ah, the holidays.

We ended the night with some salon time. Dana soaked my entire head with detangler and then brushed it. Nora brushed out Jan's hair and put on some lipstick.

Hope your holiday was as fun-filled as ours was!

Oz

Our friend Ayla is really into theater. She is always singing show tunes and dancing, and is frequently in costume. Last year, when she turned 4, she had a Peter Pan birthday party, complete with a special visit from Captain Hook.

This year, the theme was the Wizard of Oz.

As I was washing my hair one morning last week, I was thinking about the upcoming party and what kind of bag to sew for Ayla's gift. I knew there was red Fairy Frost fabric at the store, which would be perfect since it's shiny, and I was trying to remember if there was blue and white gingham. I was toying with this idea when it hit me: cupcakes!

I am so happy that Tara, Ayla's mom, accepted my offer to handle the cupcakes. She acted like I was doing her a favor, when really she is the one who was doing me a favor by indulging my cupcake crazy. Do you see the sparkles on the ruby slipper cupcakes?

Callie, Tara's sister, made this amazing rainbow pinata. She is so talented! Ayla looks so cute in her Dorothy costume and purple camo, doesn't she?

And really, what Wizard of Oz birthday party is complete without a visit from the Wicked Witch? Someone pointed out last night that Captain Hook and the Wicked Witch must have the same hairdresser...

I never did make the Dorothy bag. Ayla had fallen for a cherry bag she saw at my Fall Fest table, so I gave that to her instead. But the Dorothy bag is still percolating in my brain.

Celebration Week

The last week of August is a busy one at our house. I turned 32 on August 23; Nora turned 7 on August 29; and Kevin and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on August 30.

I feel I am a bit old to require a party, but we did celebrate at Sunday barbecue. Nora got an actual party, because 7 is plenty young for that.

She selected this funny panda cake. I baked the cake the night before her birthday, and when I woke up in the morning, I found it had broken into six pieces as it cooled. So I had to run to the grocery store for more supplies so I could bake her a new one. At least I hadn't frosted it yet!

She had her party at a gymnastics studio. Of course, I was too busy running around to take photos. Mother of the year! Mother of the year!

On Friday night, we had dinner with Kevin's parents as well as Jan and Ross, our cousins. Grandma Bev and Grandpa Jerry got Nora an American Girl doll named Elizabeth.

Can you tell how thrilled this little girl is? As soon as we got home, she found a tote full of other doll clothes. She emptied them into a cardboard box and turned it into Elizabeth's dresser. Never mind that she only has the dress she came in and a dress we bought her. Each night, she carefully undresses the doll, folds her clothes, puts them in the tote, and returns Elizabeth to the box she came in. I have never seen her treat anything with such care.

Grandma Inese and Grandpa Don got her a really sweet fleece pea coat to match Daddy's. She really loves to match Daddy, but it's getting trick to match 7 year-old girl clothes to grown man clothes. The coat is hot pink, but it still looks like Daddy's black wool coat. They also got her a couple of outfits for her doll, a messenger bag for school, a bug house... all sorts of good fun. And I won't begin to discuss everything she got from our friends. Nora is one lucky little girl!

Except...she's not. Remember how I said Sophie was here last week? At one point, I was sitting somewhere with Jessica, and Sophie came up and asked her mom, "Where is that really big girl I was playing with?" And she was, of course, referring to Nora, who is really big compared to her. So bittersweet, this growing up business. I can't believe my tiny girl is actually a really big girl.

Indoor Summer Fun

This is quite the summer we are having! Last week it was in the 90s pretty much every day. This week, it has been cold and wet. They predicted a high of 46 today. On July 1. I know. Don't get me started! Needless to say, we have been playing inside a lot.

Here, Super Girl Nora has set up a surprise wedding for Princess Dana. I love the details, from a stuffed animal audience, to the pink furry stole around her neck, to wildflowers grabbed from the woods.

Here, the girls took four chairs from the dining room table and turned them into a cozy bed. Nora is on the right, but only her hair is visible.

I took the cold weather as a sign to bake. I made carrot cake cookies, which sounded awesome, look tasty, but were unimpressive. They are kind of flavorless. Even with cream cheese frosting sandwiched between two cookie layers, they are disappointing. I guess I will have to try something else today! Darn!

Happy Birthday, Kevin and Grandma Bev!

April 19 is a day of celebration around here as it is both Kevin's and Bev's birthday! Isn't it cool that Kevin shares a birthday with his mom? (Even stranger, I share a birthday with Bev's mom, and Kevin's brother David shared a birthday with my Grandma Emma. And my dad and Grandpa Adonis shared a birthday, too. Are we codependent or something?)

Nora took this photo of the birthday kids. Not bad camera work!

Nora and Dana made birthday crowns for Kevin and Bev, and party crowns for the rest of us. They even have our names written on them! Handmade personalized party hats-awesome!

Did I mention somewhere that Jan and Ross invited us over for a birthday barbecue today? It was amazing-Ross has a way with that grill. My job was to bring cake. Kevin requested white cupcakes with buttercream frosting: plain but delicious. Blue is his favorite color. Not powder blue, but it was the best I could do.

Bev and I both love Bridgeman's Raspberry Fudge Torte ice cream, so when she said she wanted chocolate birthday cake, I knew this was the cake for her. I myself was a little diasppointed with the cake itself and will work on a better chocolate cake . However, the chocolate orange ganache and the raspberry cream on top were both divine. If I do say so...

Jan set up a tea party for Nora and Dana in front of the fireplace. How cool is that? She set out tiny teacups and saucers and a pot of hot cocoa. I believe they drank THREE pots!

Nora took this shot of dinner from the balcony upstairs.

I couldn't capture every piece of the fun on camera. Jan and Ross threw a fantastic bash for our blondes.

Happy Birthday, Dana!

Dana turned FOUR on Thursday, March 26!

I can't believe that my tiny baby is starting preschool in just a few months. How did time go that fast?

On Thursday, we went to Great Grandma Gloria's house for pizza, cake and ice cream.

Before we could enjoy our food, though, we had to open gifts. Dana is absolutely thrilled with the keyboard she got from Grandma Bev and Grandpa Jerry. She loves to make music and sing songs. Mama, Daddy and Nora got her a swimming doll, something Dana had been asking for for months. It is incredibly creepy. It looks like a normal doll, but when you put it in water, it automatically does the front crawl, including turning its head to "breathe." Dana, of course, thinks it is fantastic! Great Grandma got her three puzzles, which have been a lot of fun, as well as "tickets" (also known as money).

Blowing out candles proved to be tricky. They were not trick candles-I swear! Dana just could not blow them out! It took her several tries, and she finally blew them out, one at a time, in a decidedly juicy fashion. Poor Grandpa was showered throughout this event.

I am not sure what to say about this. On Thursday morning, Dana and I pulled out my entire collection of cake pans. People, I have about a billion of them, so this took a while. After sifting through hearts, flowers, stars and the like, my little princess selected this beautiful skull pan. I am pretty sure she chose it because it reminds her of Scooby Doo. I thought it was particularly amusing because she told me the pumpkin pan was "too Halloweenie", yet the skull apparently was not. I have to admit I kind of love that she picked this.

Tomorrow morning, Dana's cousins and little friends are coming over for cake and ice cream. I was wandering around on the World Wide Web and found this. I showed it to Dana and she got so excited! I have attempted to recreate it for her friend party. I realize it is not as cute as the professional one, but I think it came out OK. Plus, none of the guests have seen my inspiration, so they will think I had this wonderful idea all on my own.

We will be celebrating a third time tomorrow evening at Grandma Inese and Grandpa Don's house. I am already exhausted from all of the partying!

Happy Half Birthday, Nora!

We don't actually celebrate half birthdays around here. At least, we didn't. I'm not even sure the girls knew what a half birthday was until Nora started school. Apparently, the school principal passes out small gifts on your birthday (I think a pencil and a Tootsie Roll). If your birthday is in the summer, you win on your half birthday instead. Well, yesterday was Nora's half birthday. Sort of. Nora's birthday is August 29, which means her half birthday is February 29, which only happens on Leap Year. On non-Leap Years, March 1 is her half day. And since we had Sunday dinner next door yesterday and I had to bring something to contribute, I figured a nice half birthday cake would do just fine. I will admit that I had been craving chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for a few days.

I haven't used my Tupperware cake tote for a long time. It is very handy to have! I own about 100 cake pans in various shapes and sizes. While searching for my 9" rounds, I came across the heart pans. Rather than searching all day and making a ginormous mess, I decided half birthdays deserve heart cakes. Wasn't that convenient? In my defense, Nora does love hearts, and I had forgotten I had these pans. That is how many I have.

I made a little mistake in my head though. I whipped up a batch of French Silk Frosting from my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook because I think it is delicious. Unfortunately, you can't exactly decorate with it. It is too soft to pipe. Nora was disappointed, but she soon cheered up when she realized she could throw some plastic Easter eggs on top. Isn't is lovely? I think it is pretty cool that she came up with a plan on her own.

Despite the fact that we don't really celebrate half birthdays, Nora found a new nightie on her bed after she hopped out of the tub. I had gone to Target with my mom earlier in the day and I grabbed this while I was there. See, Dana and I were at Target on Thursday and we bought this nightie for her. She didn't have a single nightie and Nora has a few, which caused much angst at bedtime. In fact, Dana would often sleep in a dress and call it a nightie. Anyhow, when Nora saw Dana's nightie she was oh so green with envy. We thought the Easter Bunny might bring her one, but her mom came through instead. The look on that little girl's face when she saw her very own chick nightie was worth way more than $14.99.

Doesn't she look so grown up? She's officially 6 1/2 now! And DYING to have a loose tooth. I love her tiny baby teeth and hope she keeps them for a while yet. Time seems to be flying by so fast lately! Then again, I have two living, breathing time markers walking around my house in green chick nighties. I am so lucky!