A sweet day

Today was a little bit of a hard day. A reminder that life isn't always fair. So I'm going to write about a good day. Which was Saturday. Nothing special, just one of those days that was fun and I wanted to last for a while.

I took the children to the grand opening of a new bakery, which had free cupcake decorating and face painting. It was such a gloriously amazing fall day, and it was just a lovely afternoon.

On the drive into town the trees and mountains looked so lovely, I tried to get a few shots-

The face painting was among the most artistic we have seen; I was most impressed and the children were in love with their results-

Decorating and enjoying cupcakes-

We had a fun shopping trip to Hobby Lobby. Yes. Fun in a store with four children. It's not always like that, but it sometimes happens. I am entering a booth at an upcoming craft fair (first time) and needed some supplies. I don't know why I felt like recording that but I just did. So there.

We stopped on the way home and did a little hike. This would have been a good picture but the sun was blinding-

Connor is always about a quarter of a mile ahead of the rest of us, hence the difficulty in getting a shot of all 4 en route-
Isabel was beyond thrilled to spot a bald eagle sitting in a tree! It was so awesome.

Thrive

Somewhere in the paper files that are Connor's history is a diagnostic sheet of paper, on which a health-care provider had written the words, "failure to thrive."

As a stay-at-home mom, I have chosen to sacrifice such things as big paychecks and performance reviews. But life has taken on a new sort of performance review, and it's through my children. So being told your child is failure to anything is like a jab through the heart, a demotion, a pay cut and anything else that could suggest you aren't succeeding as a parent.

Not that I could totally disagree with the diagnosis. He had a kidney disorder that prevented him from growing, and had to be on medication for a year-and-a-half until the kidneys decided to fully function on their own. At age 2, he wasn't speaking or communicating really at all. He was locked in his own world in pretty much every way. And I was terrified that we'd never find the magic key to unlock his autistic door.

So imagine, if you will, what it was like to sit at his 3rd-grade parent teacher conference a few weeks ago and have his teacher call him "a delight," and say his 4 main strengths are "reading, being respectful, being kind to everyone around him, and loving to learn." I would say we have blasted failure to thrive into oblivion. Which is right where it belongs.

We can chalk it up to a whole bunch of factors: therapies, preschool, extra support in elementary school, some great teachers, and simply maturing and growing up. Connor's brain just has to figure out what to do and then do it - and he always manages to find a way to make that happen. And maybe to some small extent Brian and I, as his parents, have helped him. There certainly are things we do wrong, but hopefully some things we have done right. This parenting stuff sure doesn't come with "do-this-and-things-will-be-perfect" instructions. So we bump along.

I was in the school shortly after his glowing conference, and ran into the music teacher, who's been the music teacher for Connor's entire elementary school career. Thus, this is the 4th year she has taught him. Imagine the change she has seen. She stopped me in the hall (I was walking with the children) and exuberantly said, "Do you know how proud I am of your son? I am just bursting with joy over the progress he has made! He used to not participate, and now he sings, moves, everything!" I got misty - because that's how I roll - and told her she's making a mama melt, then kissed him on the cheek; she asked me to kiss the other cheek for her. And don't you for one second think I didn't just soak up that moment.

It doesn't mean we are free from struggle (is any of us, ever?). He is so literal that he prefers non-fiction books and has a bit of a struggle with fiction reading comprehension, so we try to work on this. He often prefers to be alone at recess, a fact that has troubled me until his 3rd grade teacher pointed out that he interacts beautifully in the classroom and contributes much, and if he prefers some down time at recess, why should it matter? Light bulb went on for me. Yes. He is CAPABLE of interaction. If he CHOOSES times he'd rather be on his own, it's OK. This I have fought against for years, and have now accepted. That's how he rolls. We have much to learn from one another.

Last week he brought home this seemingly out-of-the-blue note from last year's teacher. You know how you can have a string of really great effective teachers but there are always a couple who will be miles above the rest? That's Mrs. Randolph. I still miss her.

Isabel's parent-teacher conference was great, too. She has taken to school like my hair to humidity. Thriving. Her teacher said she is incredibly fun, an awesome girl, and already ready for 1st grade because she already knows everything she'll be "learning" in kindergarten. She is one of the top 3 readers in her class. Her teacher told us that she can already see that Isabel is the type of student who will always excel and do well because she loves school and learning and likes to please her teachers. Yep and yep. I was pleased when her teacher told us that she plans to pull Isabel and two or three other students for challenge time each day to build upon her skills and keep her challenged and from "treading water all year." She loves school; every project she does is the most exciting ever, each homework is the best homework assignment ever, her friends are the most fun ever, you get the idea. That's how she rolls.

Today she was bursting with excitement at having received this reading certificate, the first in her class to do (along with Nate and one other boy; at least she goes for the smart ones). They were rewarded with a recognition trip to the principal's office to select a new pencil.

And Lucas loves preschool. His teacher said he is a good, well-behaved boy. He has already learned so much, and each morning asks if it is preschool day. I love watching his early reading skills emerge as he practices his letter sounds and has taken an interest in how to spells things, what words mean, and the like. I have to keep reminding myself that he will start kindergarten in 10 months! He's had some fun field trips, made some new friends, loved the projects he's created. He's kinda my down-the-middle sort of child. Kind, confident, helpful, thoughtful, laid-back and easy-going unless his temper flares. He takes things at his own pace. Because that's how he rolls.

So there we have it. Thriving. Each of them, in their own ways. Doesn't mean they're without fault, or the best at everything. Doesn't mean they don't have their own challenges. But to me, it does mean that they are happy for the most part and advancing and contributing in positive ways to their worlds. A more rewarding experience I have not known.

Can I please get a raise?

Isabel turns 6

Isabel turned 6 on Oct. 11. (The party deets are in the previous post.)

Since she goes to kindergarten on MWF and her birthday was on T this year, we brought treats to her class on M and they sang Happy Birthday to her. Yes, she and Nate sit at the same table. Isn't that convenient?

She requested pancakes with berries and whipped cream for her birthday breakfast, so that's what we had.

She opened family gifts. She's been asking for the purple unicorn Pillow Pet since last Christmas. I finally gave in. She literally cried tears of joy when she opened it and thanked us profusely. She and I both choke up and get teary when we are overcome with any number of emotions.

While Connor was at school and Lucas at preschool, I took the birthday girl and her unicorn - who has been named Rainbow (because you know, she is so multicolored?) to a local cafe for a sweet treat birthday outing. She ended up with cotton candy gelato and coconut Italian soda. Because you only turn 6 once. And she still has a pizza party with Brian's parents to look forward to.

Isabel is such a joy. I am eternally grateful that she entered my world 6 years ago. A more fun and full of life person is hard to come by.

She loves school, dancing, singing, reading, playing and writing/coloring/drawing (she spends most of her time taking writing utensil to paper). And Nate. Let's not forget Nate. And her family, her girlfriends, Primary, movies, shopping, clothes, jewelry, playing a pretend game she made up for her and her brothers called the sneakykins, animals, birds, owls, going on adventures, and sweets. Having 3 brothers, she's well rounded; she's not afraid to get dirty and touch bugs. Except spiders. She has a scream-producing fear of spiders. And she hates heights.

We all love her so very much and are so proud of the girl she is. Happy Birthday Isabel Charlotte!

Isabel's birthday party; tangled up in some serious fun!

For Isabel's 6th birthday party we decided on a Tangled theme. And then she decided to invite 17 girls and 1 boy. I told her she was going to have to add a couple more boys or rule out boys altogether. She added two more to the list. She ended up with 15 girls and 1 boy at the party. No matter. It was THE boy. More on that later.

Let me just state up front that I totally copied ideas I found online for the most part. How ever did we event plan before the Internet, I ask?

Invites for the girls were embroidery thread braids coming out of a tower window. Boys' invites were Wanted Flynn Rider posters, on the back it read "You are WANTED at Isabel's 6th birthday party."

I saw this darling idea to make a 14-foot-long braid out of yarn, and I just HAD to do it. Funny thing is, the instructions said to use 3 people to make it, and it would take 10 minutes. I thought, surely I can handle this on my own. So 2 1/2 backbreaking hours later I finished it.

I made paper lanters, hung with fishing line to give the appearance of floating. I found the actual golden sun medallion from Disney and made them for the lanterns. Hanging near the light actually gave the a slight glow, as shown in the non-flash picture.

For a take home goody, I bought watercolor paint sets, removed the packaging, and added a line from one of the songs. I also gave the guests some sweet treats.

I printed out several Tangled coloring pages for the guests to work on while everyone arrived and got settled. This was especially helpful as it was pouring rain and freezing the day of the party. This is when I was grateful it was mostly girls, who were perfectly content to talk, color and listen to music for a bit.

The long braid hung perfectly from the loft. It was so much fun seeing the guests' eyes light up when they walked in and saw it.

We did a craft, making Pascal the chameleon with party-blower tongues. This.Was.A.Huge.Hit. HUGE! I had cut out all the adhesive-backed foam pieces prior to the party (yes, I might be a glutton for punishment), which included mirror-image heads, 2 eyes and 2 eye centers for each Pascal. Of course, since he changes color, they could make red, blue or green. Then you use a pink party blower for the tongue, which of course makes it look as though he's flicking his tongue; this is stuck between the two heads. This was a very simple and manageable craft that only involved removing the paper from the back and assembling the pieces. I can't even tell you how much fun they had with these.

One of my original ideas was to play Pin the Frying Pan on Flynn Rider's head, which as I researched for ideas, turned out to be not so original. Oh well. I knew if I tried to draw a Wanted Flynn Ryder poster it would look more like a potato we were going to cook in the frying pan, so I turned to dearest husband and asked him to give it a go. He's got decent skills (almost went into architecture, didn't ya know). But I was astounded - astounded, I say! - with what he produced. He did this all free-hand, no ruler or anything other than a pencil and the image on the computer as a guide. Impressive, no?

I printed out a frying pan for each child, blind folded 'em, and let 'em at it. Very entertaining.

Per Isabel's request, we had a dance party to the Tangled soundtrack. Now, let me take a minute to bring you up to speed on something. There's a boy. His name is Nate. They have become best friends. Everyone in their kindergarten class knows they are Isabel and Nate. Even the teacher. I don't know, but I honestly think she is seriously crushing on him. Maybe it's the fact that she told me they pretend to kiss each other. Or that she told me when she marries him her name will be Isabel Charlotte R_______. Or that his was the first gift she opened, the only thank you she has written so far, and her favorite gift of the day. And it is freaking me out. Seriously, in kindergarten? I am not prepared for this. When I met Nate's mom, she told me that they hear about Isabel from the time Nate wakes up in the morning until he goes to bed at night. So, um, at least it's mutual? And, it must be said, he is the sweetest, cutest little thing ever. So I guess I approve? You might notice the situation as you peruse the dance party pictures. I mean, can you see this look she is giving him? I dunno, you tell me.

We had lunch at the Snuggly Duckling. I had visions of making a fun sign, but all I was able to do was print this snuggly duckling template and throw it as Isabel before the party started with instructions to color it. We served what I thought was apropos for lunch at the Snuggly Duckling: grilled cheese sandwiches, chips and grapes. And I made individual blue jello cups with orange slice sailboats, to represent when Rapunzel and Flynn went sailing. This was also a huge hit. And, I knew I wanted to make Hazelnut Soup, Rapunzel's favorite that she always had on her birthday. I found an actual recipe from Disney, but it required such ingredients as squash and apples, and I just wasn't sure how it would be received. So, I took it down a notch. A lot of notches, actually. Since it was a cold, rainy day, I decided to make hot chocolate with hazelnut syrup and call it hazelnut soup. They loved it, and ate it up. Or rather, drank it up. And the cake was made to look like Rapunzel's tower along with cupcakes decorated with purple and yellow flowers.

We had our very own ruffian working in the kitchen. He was so very helpful, cooking the sandwiches and hazelnut soup and cleaning the entire restaurant after the party.
And then there were presents.

And of course, singing and cake-

She declared it the "best party EVER!" And they all lived happily ever after. The end.