Christmas!

Ballet pose in front of the
Christmas tree Christmas
Eve.

At our house, Christmas lasts a full month. It's more fun that way, plus there's no way we could pack in all the crafts, projects, caroling, shopping, reading, wrapping, decorating, baking and general celebrating in just one day. Or even one week. Barely in one month, in fact.

First, we decorated. Tossing any romanticism of the holiday aside, we decided to get our tree from a hardware store this year. Matt, who would rather have a fake tree but was outvoted 4-1 (I'm assuming Naomi's vote until she knows what voting is), took charge of choosing the perfect one. And for $20, we actually did walk out the door with the perfect tree--one that I thought would be too large, but Matt was sure would fit. Astonishingly, it did, as long as we didn't top it with a star.

Many hands make light work?

I was thrilled to see the girls take charge with decorating this year. Before
 I could get my bearings around the new flora in the living room, they had two nativity scenes unpacked and nearly set up, and were well into the "When are we going to decorate the tree? Can we make Christmas cookies?" All in good time. The tree got decorated within hours, and the Christmas cookies were finally made once everyone was done with their 4-day December fevers, none of which overlapped more than a day or so.

Crazy ballet pose in front of
the Christmas tree Christmas
Eve.

We wrote very reasonable letters to Santa, and illustrated them as well (Elise wanted to be certain of receiving the exact coloration she was looking for in a stuffed kitten). Santa wrote back and sent books of stickers to each, which immensely impressed Elise, especially. She figured she must have been especially good this year (she was). She continued to be good by very sweetly helping Naomi make a sticker picture.

We looked through catalogs and decided that for Christmas, Kalina wanted: a zipline, a real kitten, a tree swing and a real fairy. Of these, she received...0 (our yard not being ideal for a tree swing nor a zipline). Fortunately, in her letter to Santa she wrote that she wanted tubes for her mice and Rainbow Magic books (the Jewel Fairies, to be exact). Elise wanted a weaving set from Santa as well as a Molly kitten (exactly like Kalina's). Elise added plenty of things to her mental list throughout the seasons, from beads to clay to candy to a real fairy, and fairy garden things.

Of course, Mommy always makes us think of others at Christmas, so we caroled in the neighborhood with friends and attended a craft night at church to make decorations and cards to brighten the holidays for those in tricky circumstances. We also made scarves...soooo many scarves...for friends and family members and precious part-poodles to warm their hearts and their necks. Each girl contributed some help (Naomi handed me the right colors, while Kalina could make a scarf from start to finish in less than 20 minutes, and Elise could complete one over several sessions), and also decorated the wrapping paper for each scarf. Although Matt has banned me from taking on such a biggish project next year, I insist that it was fun, and the girls seemed to enjoy the enormity of it. Especially Kalina, who could work as fast as I could cut them out, and who really hung in there.

Elise enjoys her cookie
creation.

Just ask Elise and she'll remind you that it's not really Christmas without treats, so in several baking sessions we produced enough for Santa's entire workshop. Baking session #1 produced so many queries of, "Can I have a taste? How about this one, it fell on the counter? When can I have a taste?" that baking session #2 came along with a few extra rules about tastes and, more specifically, asking for them, that were actually followed quite well. Kalina volunteered to take on some of the (to me) less-desirable tasks, like spreading frosting, and again stuck it out to the end, while eventually Elise, unable to handle any more sprinkles without tasting them, declared her part of the project done and joyfully started nibbling a festive cookie. Naomi ended up decorating cookies just for herself, as her methodology seemed to include a "one for me, one for the cookie" mindset when it came to sprinkles, resulting in cookies that were a little damp for anyone's liking, although her coverage was generally excellent. They were segregated into a plastic baggie within the general cookie tupperware. Well done everyone!

We visited Santa during a magical afternoon in which the children did not act like crazy monkeys in the mall (maybe they knew he was watching?), and we waited in line only behind a really cute baby that cried through her pictures, and whose parents didn't seem to see the humor (we did, in a very good-natured, "we've totally been there" kind of way). We ogled Christmas ornaments at Macy's and dolls at the American Girl booth, rode escalators with me only freaking out a little and only handing down a few rules about what to do if you feel yourself falling or get separated from the group, and spoke with the jolly old elf himself so that Elise could relay very specific requirements regarding her Christmas kitten and Kalina could learn a little about elves. Naomi eyed Santa suspiciously at first and stayed near Mommy, but was interested and probably would've warmed up if we'd had more time.

The obligatory Christmas
morning tree shot.

Extra holiday entertainment included a trip to the Nutcracker with a friend, several Christmas TV specials, and performances, both official and unofficial, from all the girls.

With Daddy finally off of work for 2 weeks and Christmas looming, Kalina came down with a fever and spent the better part of four days on the couch. We had high hopes for lots of family fun, but narrowed it down to driving around seeing Christmas lights, as this would neither wear Kalina out nor infect anyone. She was better by Christmas Eve, and we spent a lovely morning at the zoo.

Elise is knee-deep in a
potholder just minutes after
pulling off the wrapping. Check
out the concentration on this
girl's face!

We also decorated a gingerbread house, with the reasoning being that you don't eat them anyway, so they're not technically contagious.

And then it was Christmas! The girls dutifully let us sleep until their clock turned green at 7:00, but Kalina later confessed she had been awake since 5:30. We found that Santa had, indeed, visited! Each girl received the exact gifts she was hoping for, and dug right in (it helps to ask for reasonable things). Elise had most of a potholder finished by breakfast, and soon after we were digging into other gifts.

Poor Uncle Tom & Co. couldn't make it for Christmas due to a stomach virus (or, rather, politely offered to not come, which we took them up on due to impending travel to Matt's family, who we'd already given the stomach virus to in a Christmas past, and who had a new baby), but Grandpa soon showed up and we celebrated with dinner, more presents (including a video chat with Aunt Nancy and kind of with Uncle Tom & Co.), treats and lots of excitement.

This was the year of the "wow" for Kalina, as she seriously contemplated with sheer wonderment the amazingness of her gifts. Most notably from Christmas morning was the lap harp, as it brought the number of instruments she could play up from three to four. Plus, it totally sounded magical.

I have no idea what these reactions were
specifically related to, but it was
certainly a joyous morning for all!

Possibly one of the most enjoyable, yet slightly frustrating part of the holiday was watching Elise use up all her gifts. Being who she is at age 5, most of her presents were the consumable type--and we're not talking candy canes. She plowed through a whole pack of air-dry modeling compound, handfuls of beads and at least half of her loops for her potholder loom. The next day she continued to whittle through her modeling compound, her beads and her loops, plus cracked open half her geodes. This trend has continued, to the point that a disproportional chunk of her year's worth of Christmas presents are virtually finished. She's designed a plate, mined minerals, built and rebuilt a Lego set, made all the potholders she can make and used most of the modeling compound from two separate kits. But the girl is happy!

Kalina in total awe at her lap
harp.

Naomi totally understood presents and was eager to help with any and all she was allowed to. She also gave a cute little gasp of excitement whenever anyone told her that one was for her. Naomi: Is this one for me? Us: No, that one's for Daddy. Naomi: Is this present for me? Us: No, that one's for Kalina. This one's for you, Naomi. Naomi: *gasp* For me??! *big smile* *busy fingers* Repeat. She also seemed to think that presents should continue to show up all day long. Us: What would you like to do, Naomi? Naomi: Open a present.

A little fairy girl in a big new
princess tent. Aw!

Two days after Christmas, we were on our way to Minnesota to continue the festivities. The trip was uneventful in a good way. We had an extra passenger who helped lighten the mood, plus a book of Mad Libs, so we were set. The time almost flew by, except the last 30 minutes which were considerably improved by the handing out of m&ms.

And then we got to spend the better part of a week with Matt's family, which included more treats, more Christmas stories, more decorations, more crafts, more celebrating and, of course, more presents. The girls were all silenced (hard to do) by beautiful jewelry and jewelry boxes from Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Brian, and immediately busied with a couple additional craft sets from Aunt Laura and Uncle Chris.

Elise sneaks her reindeer antlers into
the traditional family photo (notice
the scarves!).

Even better, they met their baby cousin for the first time! They all agreed that Dean was adorable, and Naomi seemed grateful to not be the youngest. "I'm a big girl now," she commented at least once. Kalina amazed everyone with her baby-whispering as she helped play with and care for Dean, Elise eagerly pitched in with some entertainment, and Naomi happily shared toys with him. It helped that he was generous with his smiles and super-cute, too.

Wow! Elise opens an awe-inspiring
jewelry box from Uncle Brian.
Moments of silence followed, which
is a lot for Elise.

Minnesota delighted us with the perfect amount of snow, and weather that wasn't too cold for lots of sledding. The girls (and Daddy) sledded as though they might not again until 2017 (entirely possible) and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We also adventured a little bit at an indoor playground and through the Minneapolis skywalks, where Naomi threw a giant tantrum it was pretty impossible to escape from (where do you go when your toddler tantrums in the skywalks?). Grandpa Les kept stealing kids' toes (which delighted especially Naomi to the point that she stuck out her foot every time he walked by) and Grandma was prepared with not only the gingerbread and cranberries we were hoping for, but wool fairies and crafts.

The grandkids all show off their new
jammies.

The girls slept well, ate like birds (I think Elise ate more snow than anything else), behaved quite well, actually, remembered pleases and thank-yous, didn't dawdle nearly as much as usual and had lots of fun. We were sad to leave, but handled the drive home really well, which speaks well for their chances at returning sooner rather than later.

We have yet to undecorate, but serendipitously received the Rudolph DVD from the library after the main event, so the girls are looking forward to our Rudolph-themed undecorating party planned for this weekend. We're all also looking forward to next Christmas and, until then, whatever the new year brings.

Matt and his sweet little girls in
Minnesota.

Kalina is soooo sweet with
babies, and especially her
cousin!

The cousins meet for the first time! As
Grandma noticed, Elise is entertaining,
Kalina is adoring and Naomi is ignoring.
They are all blessed to have each other

The long-awaited gingerbread house!

Naomi finally has her own
umbrella, Elise finally gets
to crack open something shiny,
and Kalina finally gets to
read...more...just as she was
hoping to do!

Uncle Tom happened to be visiting the
Twin Cities when we were, so we got
to celebrate a little Christmas after all!

Elise soaked up all the
Grandma cuddles she
possibly could.

Naomi made it to the very top of the
indoor playground with Daddy! They
were both a little nervous.

We finally made cookies! The
"chocolate" ones are Grandpa's because
he kind of likes them burned. Oops!

Showtime!

Picture this: You've been given a hand-drawn, slightly misspelled ticket. You've been led to a seat and given very specific instructions on where, exactly, your feet can go and where, more importantly, they cannot go. You're instructed not to look at Elise, because she's "backstage." Music may or may not begin. And then...with as much fanfare as a 7-year-old can muster with nothing more than enthusiasm and a smile...the show has begun!

The announcer talks about the amazing Elise and what she can do. You sneak a peak at Elise (if you're spotted, the show might start over) and see that she's covered in fairy wings, crowns, necklaces, bracelets, tutus, princess dresses, extra skirts underneath to make the princess dresses fancier, clothespins and paperclips. The announcer goes on about the magnificent dances and stunts Elise will do. Elise performs the magnificent dances and stunts, all while humming a made-up song if there's no music. Naomi tries to copy them.

Then, as the announcer prompts the audience, it's time to applaud! Another spectacular show is at a close!

Inspired by ballet, performing arts class, music lessons, a friends' garage/driveway circus and Elise's desire to be famous, the girls have been putting on shows all the time. They're equal parts impressive, adorable and hilarious.

The shows always require a lot of setup. They can spend hours rehearsing, dressing, re-dressing, and re-rehearsing, and then even longer setting up chairs for the audience so that the audience won't be in the way of the performers, the audience will have a good view and everyone will get the color of chair they most want. Occasionally the girls ask for audience participation, or insist on it, which can require grown adults to don fairy wings and possibly sing or dance.

And there are a lot of rules:
1. No feet on the rug (we might mar the fen shui, apparently, of the performance, or trip the performers)
2. When Elise is performing, especially a solo, your eyes must not leave her. When she's performing as part of a group, your eyes must be on her a fair portion of the time. She will check.
3. No singing along unless you're invited.
4. Naomi must sit quietly, preferably restrained (and by the way, those two things don't mix), until she just can't anymore, and then it's her turn to perform. Sometimes she is allowed to preemptively perform.
5. You must sit in your assigned seat, or have a very good reason not to ("I can't fit where you put my chair.").
6. If you're also a performer, you must wait your turn and not perform in any numbers that aren't yours to perform in.
7. No looking backstage, even if it's in plain sight.
8. No laughing at the wrong time.
9. Please hold your applause to the end, and try to figure out when the end actually is so that there's not a long pause while you decide whether to applaud or not.
10. Re-dos are allowed if a trick doesn't go as planned.
11. Attendance is required for everyone in the house.
12. Audience participation is at times mandatory.

In this way, shows can be almost as stressful for the audience as they are for the performers, but shows are also a big deal so that's okay.

Overall, though, we've greatly enjoyed the piano, singing, tap-dancing, ballet, "rock and roll" dancing, plays, soliloquies about rocks, puppet shows, tricks and much more that the kids dream up.

But wouldn't you rather I show, not tell? I braved video editing to bring you a couple clips from Thanksgiving weekend (thanks to Uncle Tom for recording them!):

Random pictures from the fall, because there is no time to organize them but they're cute:

Elise takes care of her little sister.

Kalina and Cupcake the mouse.

We love to ramble around the Bird Sanctuary near our house. Once Elise found a marble. A second time, Elise found a marble! Now she hopes to find marbles every time.

Coming to a Christmas card near you...

Naomi makes breakfast. She even cracks the eggs (actually, she usually cracks them to make either cookies or egg soup).

Elise performs in "When You Wish Upon a Star." She was super excited about the "golden" wand, but never quite forgave the teacher for not letting her keep it. I have a feeling the teacher may have been a victim of Elise's lawyering, based on the extent to which Elise seems to have thought the problem through ("Couldn't she just make more wands?").

The kids' table at Thanksgiving dinner, with Lenorea!

Elise trying her hardest not to show her teeth. Why won't she show her teeth when we get professional pictures taken? 

A fox den with two baby foxes! We were learning about foxes that day.

Naomi loves the attention from Aunt Debbie over Thanksgiving, and vice versa!

Halloweening

It was Halloween! There were costumes! There were treats! It was sweet! Here's the rundown:

We were super excited about pumpkins this year. In Elise's little home-grown preschool we dissected a pumpkin (who knew all the icky pumpkin strings are super important to bring nutrients to each and every slimy seed???) and we grew pumpkins in  Grandpa's garden (pictured later). We also stopped by the farmer's market to get some carving pumpkins. Elise really wanted a big one--"as big as the one from Grandpa's garden," she said--so we agreed she could carve that one and pick out a gourd instead to pair with another one Naomi and Grandpa had given her. Elise thinks gourds are the coolest things now. Also, she loved learning "Five Little Pumpkins" from memory along with a fingerplay, planting pumpkin seeds in her fairy garden, reading the book "Too Many Pumpkins," making pumpkins out of play-doh and even drawing her own "Five Little Pumpkins" picture.

Naomi decided she needed to hold her pumpkin, too.

One of the garden pumpkins ripened in time to carve, so Naomi traded her Farmer's Market pumpkin in for an upgrade. Elise, who was initially enchanted by her pumpkin's grandeur, soon got tired of scooping out its massive amount of guts. 

"My pumpkin? My pumpkin!" -Naomi

After seeing her normally squeamish mom go after pumpkin guts bare-handed, Kalina decided it might not be too bad. She liked squishing the pumpkin slime between her fingers.

Elise carved her pumpkin's triangle eyes herself, with a safe pumpkin-carving knife, of course.

Naomi's puppy pumpkin and Elise's smiley pumpkin. It's so big the light gets a little lost.

Kalina's traditional cat pumpkin. 

Weeks ago, I decided Naomi would be a pink kitty for Halloween in a costume that was a little to big for Kalina at 16 months, but I figured would be about right for little Naomi at 26. Independently, Kalina also decided she wanted to be a pink kitten, using her pink cat stocking cap and pink gloves and various articles of pink clothing, plus a fuzzy tail we picked up. Elise's dearest wish was to be a ghost with a sheet over her head, and I managed to scout out a slightly tattered sheet for free on a Facebook swap site. We then cut it to size and added eyeholes while Elise very patiently stood still underneath. We decided to add arm holes later when she realized she wouldn't be able to very easily get candy (the whole point of Halloween).

Elise's very elaborate and highly detailed plan was this: Kalina would go up to a house and say trick-or-treat. Elise would be walking directly behind me, so as not to be seen by whomever we were approaching. I would flash her a signal (a "v" in sign language--not sure why) when the time was right, and then she would jump out and say "boo!" I think there was at one point a song to go along with it. Everyone we "tricked" acted very scared and surprised, so the ghost costume must have worked! They also laughed heartily at the jokes we told in accordance with St. Louis tradition. Success!

The girls made it around the whole block, a family first! The weather was drizzly but not too cold, and Naomi caught on quickly to all of the Halloween traditions. She could be convinced to say trick-or-treat and Happy Halloween, and she insisted on carrying her pumpkin full of treats all by herself the whole way. Maybe she was nervous I would sneak something from it? Elise's costume needed another trim around the edges and Kalina was worried about getting her tail wet, but it was a fun night all around. By the end, Kalina would've kept going, Naomi possibly had another house or two in her, but our candy-loving Elise was tired of too much walking and not enough munching, and was ready to call it a night.

Afterward, the girls pawed through their candy and each enjoyed a treat. Naomi loudly voiced her disagreement with my "just one piece" rule (they'd already attended a Halloween party earlier in the day), but Elise proudly set a good example by not even asking for more, even though she wanted more, as she told me later. 

A few days later, Elise generously gave her friends each a treat from her own pumpkin. The girl loves treats, but she also love to share the joy of them. I briefly considered not replacing the candy she gave away, but as we had plenty of extra and she put me in a sharing mood, I couldn't help but replenish her stash. She'll discover them next time she digs through her pumpkin, which should be any minute now....

The independent phase

I climbed a ladder all by
myself!

While I'm pretty sure Kalina and Elise went through similar phases, albeit short-lived, Naomi's declaration of two-year-old independence caught all of us off guard. It happened overnight, and led to lots of shrieking before it was fully understood (most Naomi's, some mine).

All of a sudden, Naomi wanted to do certain tasks herself. "Self, self!" she'd chant. I've documented her experiments with independence and our collective results for your reading pleasure:

Stair-climbing. Swatting away my hands as I tried desperately to hold one of hers up and down the stairs, Naomi instead opted to steady herself solely with the too-high banister. She would not consent to be carried, either, and liked to savor her independent stair-climbing, with the result that descending or ascending would take 10 minutes each way and I cringed at the thought of changing levels in our house. Diaper changes became a ground-floor endeavor, as it's much easier to haul diapers up and down than it is to escort a toddler. For her safety, I insisted on remaining one step ahead or behind, ready to catch, which Naomi seemed okay with for now, as long as there's no physical contact. She'll also occasionally let me carry things for her if she has "a big load," as she calls it. Of course, I only figured out this system after lots of panicked protests as Mommy got it wrong time and time again.

Proud in pigtails!

Cereal pouring. Kalina and Elise pour their own cereal, so why shouldn't I? Naomi wondered as she fetched a plastic bowl from the plastic-bowl cupboard at breakfast time. She was soon merrily dumping raisin bran into her bowl and all over the floor (a two-year-old's table), and I could only watch, because it's bad luck to fight any non-essentials with a two-year-old before breakfast. Instead, I simply cleaned up and planned strategies to better divert Naomi in the future. The next morning, after a bit of a tussle, she poured her cereal while I directed the back corner of the box a bit. If she noticed, she didn't seem to mind, but pouring cereal takes a lot of focus when you're two, so she might not have detected my guidance.

Shoe management. Naomi decided that she should be the one to manage the onning and offing of shoes, and as nothing more than a schedule can be hurt or mussed when she takes charge or her footwear, I embraced this streak of independence. After some frustration, Naomi managed fairly well. I decided that as long as she can take her shoes off and put them on, she can also put them away by herself. It's a work in progress (independence is only fun if it's on her terms).

Carseat entering and exiting. This is all fine and good, until we're in a hurry, and then we can't hear the radio over Naomi's protests that she wanted to "get in carseat self!"

Practicing for the real thing.

Egg breaking. Naomi loves to choose the egg and help me break it, preferably by squeezing it until it explodes in her hand. Mommy only learned this lesson the hard way once. Naomi, however, would be happy to do it "all by self" again. Fortunately, she has accepted that this is a together-task.

Turning on and off lights. To be completely independent, Naomi needs to find a stool or chair, drag it across multiple types of flooring and position it close enough to the light switch that she'll be able to access it. As it turns out, the task can be insanely frustrating. I've learned not to jump in until Naomi asks for help, lest I get my head bitten off in toddler-ese, and sometimes she can manage surprisingly well. Other times she ends up a puddle of tears. And still other times, she nicely comes and asks for help, and doesn't resent me for providing it.

Dressing. At first I thought, "poor Naomi, she's not even close to having the skills she needs to dress herself! As it turns out, she is close to having the skills she needs to dress herself when she's motivated enough and when Mommy lines everything up perfectly without her noticing. But still not there yet.

Pottying. While it's only an occasional hobby at this point, at least she can do it and is proud of it.

Gluing, cutting, taping. Thanks to so much insistent practice, Naomi's not half-bad at these skills and also likes to hang her pictures up on the fridge and the walls so she can admire them later. She also has an excellent pencil grip that I'm never going to let her lose.

And lots more tiny, random, things that mean a whole lot to a young two-year-old but not much to anyone else: "Naomi put diaper in trraaaashhh!!!" she sobbed not long ago after I tossed a particularly stinky one. Insignificant as they are, these bouts of independence take me completely off guard, especially when I can't understand her through her raging emotions.

The best part is, Naomi is so proud about some of her pint-sized accomplishments, bolstered by the fact that her big sisters are usually more than willing to cheer her on. "Yay, Naomi!!! You got in your carseat!!! What a big girl!!!"

Unfortunately, however, Naomi soon picked up on the fact that it's much easier to have Mommy take off your shoes than to do it yourself. Same goes with cleaning up your spills and picking up your trash, and much of the rest. *sigh*

Other cute things Naomi does:
- Repeats everything I say as a question, as though whatever I've stated is incredible. Me: "I'm going to go wash dishes." Naomi: "Wash dishes?!" Me: "There's the brown stool if you want to help." Naomi: "The brown stool?!" Me: "Let's put on an apron so you don't get all wet." Naomi: "Get all wet?!" And so it goes. It's really cute, but sometimes it annoys Elise ("Naomi always repeats everything I say!")
-Pretends to be a baby kitten, baby bird, baby bunny and all the rest. Either way, she crawls around, and I'm the parent kitten/bird/bunny, and I must pick her up and feed her imaginary food. Even if it's just a ploy to get me to pay attention to her more, I'm totally fine with that.
-Makes jokes. "Daddy, you're an alligator!" When clearly he's not. Most of them are super-obvious, but goofy just the same.
-Enjoys pigtails.

Despite, or perhaps because
of, Naomi's blossoming
independence, she wasn't
allowed near the caramel
apples her big sisters were
making!

And what are the big sisters up to? Elise is close to riding her bike without training wheels, plus she can read (a little), write (a little) and add and subtract better than many kindergarteners. She's learning piano, learning how to tie her shoes, learning everything that her big sister is learning (it seems) and creating a fairy kingdom behind the landscaping in the front yard (one of these days she's certain to trap a fairy!). Kalina quickly learned how to play the tin whistle all by herself and has discovered she has perfect pitch. She's enjoying nature, also learning to ride without training wheels (albeit reluctantly) and still preferring to read about fairies rather than anything else (although she's also happy to dig into books about ancient China, talking animals from 100 years ago and Helen Keller). Kalina enthusiastically picked up sign language, and happily tags along on or spearheads lots of Elise's fairy and/or kitten adventures. She and Elise are fascinated by Laura Ingalls Wilder and leaf piles. I would blog about all of it if I weren't busy raising kids. Maybe some of it, sometime.

A Beary Happy 5th Birthday

For some reason, placing candles is a
really big deal. She put all of them
except one in the slice she'd designated
for herself, and the other she put in the
slice, on the opposite side of the cake,
that was designated for Kalina.

For Elise, every birthday is the culmination of exercises in patience and planning. Patience because she's had to watch everyone else in her family celebrate their birthdays before hers, and planning because she has all summer (or year) to dream up the most amazing, most fantastic, most magical birthday ever, and try to convince Mommy to let her pack in as much fun (and sugar) as possible:
"Mommy, for my birthday I only want foods that I like, and sugar."

For months, Elise worked on her birthday plan:
"A bubble party!"
"A bead party, and I'll pick out beads for everyone to take home!"
"A fairy party!"
"A princess party!"
"A dinosaur party!"
"An underwater fairy party!" (This is what we did last year)
"A mermaid party!"
"A rainbow party!"

Check out the rainbow cake!

"A treats party!"
"A craft party!"
"A marble party, and we'll have marble cake!"
"Mommy, let's go to the beach on my birthday!"
"Mommy, can we go to the beach for my birthday?"
"Mommy, for my birthday I want to get in the car, drive to the beach, collect shells, and then drive home for supper."
"I want to go to the zoo for my birthday!"
"Can we go on vacation for my birthday?"
"I want a pinata for my birthday!
"Can I have a pony for my birthday?"

Elise certainly knows how to dream big. How do you let a nearly 5-year-old down and limit her to a birthday that requires neither a princess's budget nor a time machine? Fortunately, Elise is a reasonable girl of a usually cheerful disposition, so for a full three weeks before the big day she steadily looked forward to a birthday trip to Build-a-Bear and the Sugar Shack, on the condition that her sisters get to participate, too. This was a plan that would make everyone happy.

Kalina put lots of love into her card for
Elise. It even has two flaps. Here,
she's showing Elise how it works.

Upon waking up birthday morning, Elise noticed with some delight that she could do a new trick that she probably couldn't do when she was 4! Standing on her knees, with her feet in the air! I'm not certain she'd ever tried this particular stunt before, but the important thing is, Elise felt bigger. [Technically, since the time was 7:00, she would still be 4 for two and a half more hours, but I wasn't about to burst a birthday girl's bubble by telling her that.]

And so began a rather epic birthday, which Elise described the other day by saying, "we were doing something every minute." Or in Mommy's case, every second.

Every good birthday begins with birthday cereal, and this one was no exception. Out came the Lucky Charms, and fortunately Naomi got half a bowl of Raisin Bran in her before realizing her sisters were eating something a little more colorful. It's not a party unless everyone celebrates, so naturally Naomi got to join the fun. To her credit, I think she actually tried one of the brown pieces!

The freshly stuffed Build-A-Bears get
a bath.

Kalina had very sweetly and very carefully chosen three presents for Elise, and in true Kalina (and increasingly Elise) style, insisted that Elise not open them all in one sitting. Elise opened one (a Perler bead set--super exciting!), and then one from Daddy--a disco ball that is soooo not him, but soooo Elise.

All three girls helped make Elise's tie-dye rainbow birthday cake before it was time to get ready for her Dayspring classes--homeschool enrichment that she, fortunately, loves. We packed along some treats for her to hand out, and pinned a "Birthday Girl" button on the fancy Easter dress she'd chosen to wear. With any luck, people would be wishing sweet Elise a happy day all day long.

Build-a-Birthday!

After dropping the bigs off, Naomi and I dashed home to a mountain of dishes and some birthday decorating. And after pickup we all headed to our local Build-A-Bear for the big event. Fortunately, a weary mom with birthday-party money to spend can count on a big event from Build-A-Bear, no appointment required. Elise is decisive in nature and had pre-planned the bear she hoped to find: something rainbowy, and definitely a bear. Fortunately, they had such a bear in stock. As birthday girl, she also got to pick the fanciest outfit and do everything first. She was on cloud nine. Even Naomi participated as the girls picked animals (2 dogs in addition to the a rainbow bear), readied the signature stuffed heart, watched them get stuffed, bathed them, clothed them and created a gift certificate. It's quite the production, but just what we were hoping for.

Our next stop was intended to be the Sugar Shack about 15 minutes away, but the Cinnabon in the mall caught our eye first. Not quite as sweet as the Sugar Shack, but worth it for the convenience, considering we still had a birthday dinner with Grandpa to get to, we headed in. The girls relished some Cinnabons and shared a smoothie (don't tell Elise, but I think Naomi got the lion's share), and then we squeezed into the van with our new friends and arrived home with time for another present from Kalina: more Perler beads! Elise also helped decorate her bright-blue cake with m&ms, sprinkles and marshmallows to perfection.

Grandpa arrived and soon we were all enjoying a birthday meal of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs, followed by a cake that seemed to glow even before the candles were lit. Elise had already marked off her piece, and it was the biggest one--fortunately, she had the sense to save some for the next day (it really was quite big).

After opening the rest of the presents, sometimes only seconds before Naomi beat her to it, Elise was too tired to even hop on the new unicorn pre-pogo stick Grandpa had given her. We quickly headed to bed so that she could rest up and hop to her heart's delight the next morning (which she did).

Elise wanted everyone to know that she hasn't really even stopped playing since her birthday, she's having so much fun. It truly was a lovely birthday, and the perfect kickoff for all that Elise's 5-year-old year holds for her.

Naomi really wants to get at
those presents.

The other day Elise was complaining that Kalina had called her cute. "I don't want to be cute!" she insisted. What did she want to be, I wondered? We pawed through quite a few adjectives until we found one she liked: sweet. Whether it's because she adores sugar or because her good humor sweetens everyone's day, Elise's sweetness constantly shines through.

I might add words like spunky, mischievous, smart, caring and--get this--steady. Elise appreciates rules, and she likes plans. She likes to follow them, and she often prefers other people do, too. Case in point: every time we read Curious George, Elise covers her eyes and squeals a tortured squeal because she can't stand what she knows is going to happen next. Curious George's antics stress Elise out. "I wish I hadn't picked this book!" she said of Curious George Takes a Job. Fortunately, George redeemed himself in the end, as always, so we didn't have to read a different story right after to ward off nightmares.

Elise's love of rules even surpasses her love of treats, to the point that I'm usually able to leave cookies in the cookie jar, so to speak, without a thought about anyone snitching them (except possibly Matt, but he's allowed to). At the same time, she's not above playing with the light switch while I'm trying to put Naomi down for a nap, for example.

Elise has been asking for
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
for a long time. Grandpa
totally came through, and now
the older girls are absorbed
in this simple alphabet book.
Even Naomi can quote it.

The girl is definitely tuned-in, remembering facts (and treats) and experiences (and treats) from years past. She keeps up with Kalina in much of their schoolwork, and is catching onto reading quickly, albeit not instinctively. Elise gets frustrated by things she can't do as well as she'd like to (drawing and writing), but calms down enough to try again.

Elise takes her little sister's disturbances in stride, and helpfully watches out for Naomi's safety and well-being despite often being the target of the toddler's violent phases (which we'll hopefully be done with soon, poor Elise!). It doesn't take much for Naomi to wriggle into her middle sister's good graces, either--soft-hearted Elise can often be convinced to help Naomi with challenging tasks or mother her through new situations like Sunday school. "I played with Naomi the whole time!" she said of last time. People constantly tell me how sweet my girls are to each other.

Elise's dearest wish, other than going to the beach, is to catch a fairy. She loves to craft, dance and sing/hum and do tricks, and she loves bite-sized chunks of mischief, although she can't endure anything that she knows could land her in serious trouble. In her various classes she's always the first to volunteer, whether for singing aloud or somersaulting, and despite her hope to be the center of attention, generally is able to restrain herself from seizing opportunities to do so that might not be the most helpful to her teacher or her mommy.

Matching shirts from Grandma! Naomi
lit up like a birthday candle when she
was finally allowed to open something!

She nibbles her treats like a mouse and still likes to eat with her fingers, but she's more and more able to hold up well on hikes, survive  a late bedtime and make new friends

You wouldn't think that our fun-loving, smiling girl would have a serious side, but she does. Just listen to her "important" voice for a minute or two, and you'll see that she takes a lot of things seriously--shells, beads, marbles (she loves tiny things), treats, elaborate plans to trap fairies, possibilities for beach trips and many, many, many other Very Important things.

The 5-year-old is still our beloved excited, enthusiastic girl, emphatically announcing events in her day, and sometimes regaling them to the tiniest detail. She has lots of great ideas, big and small. The other day she said she would like to be someone who asks rich people to give money to poor people, and I'm pretty sure she'd have them opening their wallets with giant grins on their faces. When it comes to convincing, Elise can be stubbornly sweet, making you want to give in. "As long as you've got your purse out to buy that coffee, why don't you just write me a check for $300,000 for a garden for an underprivileged children's hospital? That way, you can save time because you will already have your purse out, and the kids can be in the garden faster." *Elise smile* *pulling out checkbook*

Me and my birthday girl!

Elise can scooter well, ride with training wheels, put her face in the water, run through a sprinkler without freaking out, shower with only a little help, write her name pretty well, tell a cohesive (and highly detailed!) story, tell you what a preposition is, sing lots of songs, ask really good questions about things beyond her years, recite Psalm 23 with only a little help, work the CD player, read at least 20-25 sight words and sound out plenty of others, somersault, add one-digit numbers either from memory or with counting bears, ask nicely rather than whine at least most of the time, pump herself on the swing for at least a minute or two, reel in a fish with only a little help, blow up balloons, pick up Kalina, stay quiet when she needs to, understand that Naomi is only 2, remember good manners sometimes better than anyone else in the family, not interrupt, play games with other kids, make jokes, and do many tricks and reach many things that seem new to her every day. Elise still sleeps on top of Soft Blankie, on top of her bed, and she thinks she has some loose teeth (and she might, even if just from pushing on them hard enough). She identifies more with older kids than younger kids, but is so pleasant no one minds including her. Elise can happily play outside by herself, but prefers company to talk to. She's still working on speech, drawing and tying shoes, and is also excited to add piano to her list of skills in the coming year.

She still thinks Pink Bear is magical, and Pink Bear still is.

Happy birthday, sweet Elise!!