I"m due in the office in just a bit, and it's a busy morning recovering from all the fun of yesterday and last night but wanted to share just a few quick pics from our triple whammy Birth~day celebrations. We as a family, (hubby included!) successfully completed baking all the cupcakes needed for Ava's class. I was a little disappointed when we were half way through putting the ingredients into the mixing bowl and realized that we had ZERO vegetable oil! Some Betty Crocker, I am! lol.
One quick trip to the store later, we were back in business and soon had several dozen cupcake cones nearly complete. We frosted a few, sampled our goods, shared some with our neighbors, and decided that it would be better to frost them all in the morning. I woke up to a sheet of unfrosted cupcakes, Allie calling from the school to say that oops, she forgot her homework and needed it asap, and a lunch date at 10:30 am with my pre-kindergardener who specifically requested a chicken nugget happy meal for her Birth~day lunch.
All the sudden, it became crunch time. At that point, I hadn't exactly figured out how I was going to carry all of these cones of frosty, sprinkled perfection and manage to get them to the school unharmed. My angels whispered, "carton of eggs" & viola...my problem was solved. I was like a clown at the circus, carrying the carton of cupcakes, balancing them while I gently tried to open and close the door with my foot so that the cat wouldn't follow me out. Still in my pj's I placed them on the floorboard of the car, and hurried back in to the house, hoping that no-one caught a glimpse of me this late in the morning not yet fully dressed.
With little time left and my lunch date quickly approaching, I threw on a baseball hat and bounced over the the nearest McDonald's. I swear, it's only because it's her birthday that I would allow her to eat such "food". Once I was in the drive-thru, I almost cried when the lady at the window told me that it would be at least 10 minutes before the food would be ready. I guess not many people order chicken nuggets this early in morning. Now, I know why the girls are so hungry and want to eat everything in sight when they come home from school, because they are forced to eat so early and have "lunch" when most people are still having breakfast.
After waiting and watching the clock, the minutes were rolling by before I was finally able to grab the happy meals and run. As a vegetarian and relatively healthy eaters, David & I both feel guilty about feeding the girls such trash. With a car full of sugary cupcakes, and two sacks of what they like to call fried "chicken", I happily made my way to the girls elementary school. I was about 8 minutes late getting to the cafeteria and as I opened the door, I saw Ava's little head lift from the table and heard her happy voice shout out..."There's my Mommy!!! She's here! She's here!" You'd think I was Santa Clause or something hearing how excited she was to see me. She was sitting at the end of the table, patiently waiting for me to arrive and probably wondering if I had forgotten about our plans to have lunch together. As I opened her lunch, and began squeezing the 6 little packets of ketchup upon her crinkled sack, she said "Mrs. Smith said I had to wait 10 minutes and if you weren't here, I'd have to go get into the lunch line and buy my lunch." The look of relief in her eyes was an expression that I will never forget!
For the next 22 minutes, we sat next to each other in complete bliss and I watched her kick her little feet under the table with total happiness, unable to sit still from all the excitement. She proudly reminded her friends that she was 5 years old, no fewer than 10 times during the lunch period. Her friends gathered around her like a little goddess circle, and showed their love and support in honor of her special day.
She held her head high as she proudly informed me that she was the line leader for the day. As the children lined up behind her to follow her back to class, I gave her one last kiss and watched the trail of children disappear down the hall. It's moments like these as a mother, especially having met so many who no longer have the privilege of touching their children in the flesh, that I feel so blessed.
I stayed through one more lunch period to spend it with my 2nd grader, and man was that ever different than sitting with a table of sweet, innocent little pre-kinder-gardeners who still like to follow the rules. I got an ear and eye full from the boys who sat at our end of the long plastic table. From busting up crooked hot-dogs after dropping it on the cafeteria floor, to trying to impress the girls by eating the core of a pear, it was indeed insightful. One sneaky boy, decided to load up on several packets of ketchup to later use as little red bombs that would squirt the tomato paste at unsuspecting "mean" kids. Hearing and seeing this made me incredibly grateful for the soft and mostly gentle nature of having all girls.
Later that evening we had dinner with "GJ" and "Poppa", Uncle Louie and Miss Gina too. After dinner we made our way to the bowling alley and had tons of fun meeting friends who were also celebrating a birthday. My soul sister, Judy (she is worthy of entire post all of her own...now in her last month of chemo & a total hero in my book) gave birth to my God~daughter, Vincenza Louise, aka Vinny Lou, on the exact same day Ava was born. Our little girls are more than best friends, they are little soul sisters of their own sharing the same birthday, and loving one another to no end. So, we had 3 birthdays to honor...Ava & Vinny turning 5, and "GJ" (my mom) turning 30 something-again! :-)
It was a ton of fun...and I am happy that we all were able to share the joy together. It's time for me to bolt. I must take off my birthday blogger/mommy hat & proudly put on my psychic medium/ healer hat and make my way for an appointment with some one who is looking to connect with their loved ones on the "other side".
I hope you have a beautiful day, celebrating life...even if it's not your birth~day.
All my best,
~Elizabeth x3
