Gwen is FIVE!

Here are the promised party pictures! Here's almost the whole gang... I didn't realize until I started posting these how few really good pictures we got. Thus, I'll just explain what transpired in words rather than in photos as I normally like to....

We had several kids over, with siblings and some parents, too. I think the total was only seven kids and five parents, including our family, but in this tiny house, it seemed like much more. We had make-it-yourself personal pizzas (remnants of which you can clearly see all over Gwen's birthday face in all the pictures!), the previously mentioned homemade Diego and Dora carrot cake, and Neapolitan ice cream. The kids decorated their goody bags while the pizzas baked, then we ate and ate and ate.

Then came the presents....

We had specified in the invitations: 'no gifts, please', but our generous relatives sent LOTS of presents so we were just happy to have the kids over to play and sing and celebrate. A few of them stayed a little late to help Gwen open all her gifts. It was a really fun day.

BUT WAIT! There's more!!

At school that morning, Gwen's classmates also helped her celebrate her special day! In fact, the pink birthday crown was given to her by her teachers, and Gwen wore it all day. And the next day too, while we were grocery shopping, so she got birthday wishes and greetings everywhere we went. Anyway, here's how the kids at school do up a birthday:

Cupcakes, snack, candles, singing...a fun, active activity with the rainbow parachute... note the little sister close by at all times.Building forts....In conclusion, I give you this.....

She had a SUPER day!

Anatomy of a Cake

OK, so Gwen turned 5 on March 16th. I know - I can't believe it either! What a big kid! Seems like only a few moments ago we were going through the trauma of her birth and all those issues, and well, it turned out to be only a blink and now she's 5 years old. Do you hear me, people?! My baby is 5 years old!!

Deep breaths. In. Out. Sigh.

Alrighty, here's the cake. Gwen requested a "Dora and Diego carrot cake made from scratch, not bought at a store". Go, Mommy, Go!!

Let's go in for a close-up. Have you ever had these chocolate candy rocks? Oh YUM! You should find some at a tourist outlet near you. They are super good.

And NO, the brown trail is NOT bacon, as Gwen told her friends, but in fact it is cake crumbs. It was a really tasty cake...no sugar, no artificial sweetener, just concentrated apple juice and mashed pears. And lots of carrots. The uber-sugary canned frosting was more than adequate in the sweet department, thank you.

Stay tuned for party pics!

Moguls Are Us

Well here we are at Juneau's Eaglecrest Ski Area. Gwen's first lesson went really well. She went for an entire morning with her preschool in late January. Here are a few of the girls (L to R: Kelsey, Becky, Amelia, and Gwen) getting ready to go out for the first time. We are just waiting for the Tiger instructor. Apparently, Amelia thinks she is going too.After a brief orientation, they had the kids walk up this turf/carpet and then scoot over to the "slope", and go!The kids didn't use poles, but they did learn how to use their pizza slice to stop. I was a little lax on taking pictures because the whole thing just scared me; I can't zoom, focus, and keep my hands out to catch her at all times, can I? It was a fun but exhausting day. We took lots of breaks.Rubbing elbows with the likes of Hilary Lindh, we left contented, excited to ski another day.

Birthdays, birthdays, and more birthdays

Did I mention the birthdays?

This time of year were are inundated with birthdays. While yes, that does translate into lots of cake, it also usually translates into lots of work for Mommy.

My most recent birthday however (a precursor to a milestone... doesn't that make it a milestone in and of itself? Felt like it...) was a bit of a departure from the normal workload for Mommy. In fact, Greg and Gwen made a cake for me. All by themselves. (Except that I bought the mix and the frosting - it's an old family tradition, yellow cake, chocolate frosting). But they baked it and decorated it. It was very yummy. Plus the girls directed Daddy in the placement of crepe paper streamers, both on the ceiling and on the "birthday girl's chair" (that was Gwen favorite phrase of the evening) and how the table should look.

I'm here to tell you it all looked amazing!We had BFD for the evening meal. That's "Breakfast for Dinner" in case you didn't guess. Scratch waffles, sausage, home fries, and cheesy scrambled eggs. It is always a big hit in this family.That's right, I'm officially 39. I believe I will add "and holding" to that next year.Not a fantastic picture of me, but a wonderful shot of the cake. They made green sprinkle mountains and a blue sprinkle "big-wide-open-ocean", even though according to Gwen it was supposed to be my name. Good recovery, guys!

Amelia helped with the candle blowing. She's a natural. Plus, she had wee little pig tails for the festivities. Can you see them?

The next birthday in our house is Gwen's fifth, coming up in mid-March. We are going all-out with Dora and Diego, balloons, cake, kids, pizza... Gwen has it all planned out. There will be crafts and music. It's bound to be a blast. She tells me some new addition every day. She dreams about it in technicolor. Pretty soon there will be real live ponies for everyone and a drive-in theater in our backyard. And a rock band. With authentic mullets. Wow- this sounds like a great party! Why didn't Mommy get rock mullets? Stay tuned for pictures.

So anyway, between Greg's immediate family and mine we have nearly all of the birthdays in January, February, March and April. Two in January, four in February, six in March and then Amelia and Cori in April (they'll be two already this year!). Out of all our immediate family, only three birthdays are not in those months. We have two in September, and one in October. Oh, wait - Greg's is in late December, but he was a preemie and was actually due on my birthday. Does that still count?

In any case, let the cakes begin!!