Saturday, April 25, 2015

Sunshine girl

From the day Susanna was born, I could tell she was sweetness. It is so funny to see little personalities unfold--I really feel like I could see the beginnings of each girl's personality even in their newborn little selves. But boy was I right about Susannie. She just loves to be happy. She does fuss heartily if she has a legitimate complaint, but she loves to have a good time. She will look at you, squinch up her face into a delighted flirty smile and laugh, just to make a little joke. You can have whole conversations with her that are just, "ha ha! ha ha ha hahaha!!" She is our little sunshine girl who just seems to love life and laughter. I can't wait to know her as a more developed person. I think she's going to be really fun.














Arty Party!


We had Ella's 5th birthday party at Bull City Craft. We love that place--they were our business buddies with Stay & Play and the owners are just great people. Also they throw a great birthday party, especially for a budding young artist like our darling Ella. It may have been the most enjoyable party I have ever hosted, partially because I felt like I was attending rather than hosting. It was so easy. And fun. The store is so cute, the kids all loved the crafts, we just brought coffee and cake and hung out with Ella's friends, and then we got to go home to our house which was just as we left it. Ahhhh. The ease of the party away from home. : ) The most complicated piece of the whole thing was the cake. Ella had been describing and drawing me pictures of what she wanted, which was basically a wedding cake, for months. I do what needs to be done in the kitchen, but am not a natural cook, and this was a bit out of my league. Thankfully my friend Kelly passed me a recipe and some tips and I was able to make something that Ella was happy enough with. (Thanks Kelly!) Clearly I am not ready for Cake Boss, or whatever that show is. But I did make a cake with two tiers. It's a first step. The decorating of the cake actually proved to be the most tricky part. Icing a cut cake edge is no joke. Also, strawberries are slippery (duh, how did I not realize that would be a problem?). But it did taste good. Here are the photos of the whole event. I think the birthday girl had a blast too.














Saturday, April 11, 2015

The cold does bother me.

This winter, I bought myself a sweatshirt that says "The cold never bothered me anyway, just kidding, I hate winter." My evolving relationship with winter is a thing going on in my life right now. Growing up in South Florida, I imagined winter to be like a magical fairy-land. The idea of snow and wearing boots and sweaters and having a fire in a fireplace and drinking hot chocolate were so romantic to me. I could not wait to get to the land of the north and live the life of coziness and adventure and lack of sweatiness I imagined.

So I went to college in Chicago. The first few years it could not get cold enough for me in winter, though I was a little challenged by what to do with a scarf, how to deal with hat hair, and not liking frozen nose hairs on especially cold days. But year by year winter got a little less exciting and a little more annoying. It was hard to see people when everyone was huddled inside, it is boring to wear a coat every.single.day. for months, and arghhh static electricity and dry hands.

I landed in NC, which by Florida standards, is still the frigid north--it SNOWS up here after all. But the thing about this brand of winter, is that while it is not so nostril freezing cold, it winds up being dreary and brown and gray with less of the excitement of intense winter. Thankfully it only lasts about four months. But still, I have now learned that it is indeed depressing to deal with gray skies for months, and that truly, you get sick more when it's cold. I didn't believe that for years, but now especially as the mother of three small children, illness is my absolute biggest complaint with winter. If my kids get sick, it also means I don't sleep and worry and can't go out. So it's like I get sick four times as much as I used to. If I am the one actually sick, I can't rest either. So. Yuck. For dreariness, illness, isolation, and lack of sleep.

But then, every now and then in winter it snows, and as I suspected all along, it is absolutely magical.






Praise the Lord I am writing this in the early, life affirming days of Spring and it will be a while 'til we deal with all grumpy old winter again. But here was a happy, snowy day. Maybe one day I will be able to appreciate the rest of it too.