We had a birthday party for Sarah last Saturday, at the park across the street from our house. Sarah invited her best friends from school, and the family that lives next door. It was a gorgeous day, and just felt wonderful to be out and having a good time. Here are some pictures from the event:
Sitting in the park shelter with a birthday cake and our neighbors (we have three children next door who like to play with our three children... rather handy, eh?)
Gennie takes a walk on the soft, green grass.
Chasing bubbles!
My exuberant youngest daughter catching bubbles in the sunshine. What could be better?
A newly 10-year-old Sarah with a view of the mountains and lake behind her.
Getting out the croquet set...
For a game of free-form croquet! Who needs rules? Okay, maybe we don't need rules... but we might need helmets!
The lake and mountains behind it... a beautiful day to be in the park.
Opening presents with friends.
Our neighbors' beautiful family.
Throwing fancy footballs
Grandma Jean looks on with a smile.
We headed home with cake leftovers and helium balloons that had started to sag and some very happy and tired kids. (Their mom's been starting to sag a bit lately, too... but we'll leave that topic alone for the time being). I spent the next day helping Grandma Jean rip junipers and evil metal edging out of her yard, and put up shelving in her basement. I would say that she owes me big, except that Grandma's babysitting for us tonight. (Oh my goodness... a DATE OPPORTUNITY? Can we even remember the last time that happened?) We're discovering that it's really nice to have Grandma in town! I should be studying for my neuroscience final nonstop, but I'll try to let that go for one night to have fun.
I have one more week of insanity at the university before I can relax a little and then start a new lab manager job this summer. I'm hoping that after managing a huge class of undergraduates that managing a laboratory will be relatively simple (she said glibly). I'll give it my all, in any case (just hoping I don't run out of "all" to give in the meantime)!
In kid news: Sarah recently built Mesa Verde out of Sculpey for a school diorama project (didn't know the ancient Puebloans had Sculpey, you learn something new every day). I will be hot-gluing miniature log ladders for her this weekend. Genevieve loves life. She loves it so much that she forgets that she has to pee in appropriate places. She is also very determined that it will happen her way, and therefore is pretty sneaky about peeing in her pants. Her mother is equally determined that it will go Mommy's way, and is resorting to strict potty schedules, sticker charts, bribery, minor punishments and whatever else she can think of to get this now 4-year-old little girl to go where she needs to go. After all is said and done (which usually involves some degree of whining and groaning and "if you don't choose soon, Mommy will choose for you"), we still end up with at least one accident a day. I have a feeling the poor kiddo's troubles are related to the arrival of Eleanor and the stress that goes with it - Gen is grabbing control wherever she can find it. So is Eleanor at times, but Eleanor is relaxing more and more as she gets used to being home. She is gaining English proficiency at an exponential rate, and I love her excitement at everyday things. She does a happy dance when we go to the grocery store, and loves to show me her homework, and squeals with glee when going outside to play. Eleanor LOVES that we're planting tomatoes and peppers and strawberries in the back yard - she helps me happily in the garden, and points at the plant labels and says, "Yum, Mommy! YUM!!" Genevieve follows Eleanor around trying to do everything she does, and I inevitably have to mediate "but that was MY pile of weeds" sorts of battles. So, I make sure to snuggle both of my youngest girls as much as possible before bedtime (they both seem to need me a lot these days), and squeeze Sculpey with my oldest (another kind of therapy!), and I love them all like crazy. Life is good.
