Afterward

The house is silent... and it is beautiful. The snow is falling... and it, too, is beautiful.

Jason officially has a new job!! I mentioned in my last post that he had an offer. Well, last week he accepted the offer and he will start on March 2. Relief and excitement abound with the realization that this is our home... our permanent home.

I came out of my husband-less week relatively unscathed. I kept myself really busy. There was a lot of preparation for Clara's birthday party. One night I had a friend and her kids over for dinner. Then on Friday, I volunteered in Clara's class to help out with the Valentine's Day party. The Valentine's Day party was a nice treat for me... it was the first time that I had an opportunity to interact with all the kids in the class (not all at once, but in small groups). It was a fun setting instead of trying to get them to stay focused on work, which seemed to help immensely. I think I can almost put a face to each name.

I made Clara's birthday cake again this year (I don't do it every year) and decided in advance that I wanted to attempt some creativity... I'm not very creative. It turned out kind of pretty... nothing like the picture I used to get my idea, but it was my first attempt at actually decorating a cake. Clara wanted a chocolate cake and I thought I would dress it up a bit by adding some mint extract to the frosting and the fondant. I must have used too much (or mint gets stronger as it sits... like red food coloring), because by the time it was ready to serve... it was VERY minty... too minty! But it still looked kind of pretty! And please notice the beautiful and perfect Tinkerbell topper... a christmas ornament that was a gift to Clara from her friend Noelle.

Which of course leads me to Clara's 6th birthday party, a Tinkerbell-themed party. The kids had a blast, or so I hear. I was commenting to someone the other day that I really couldn't tell if the girls were having fun or not. It wasn't until the next day that I heard from all of the girls' moms about how much they enjoyed themselves. It was a make-your-own-pizza party. I had stations set up with sauce, ham, pepperoni, italian sausage, red bell pepper, black olives, mushrooms, pineapple, banana peppers (for Clara) and two types of cheese (cheddar and mozzerella). Most of the girls only opted for pepperoni and cheese, which I had expected. However, it was Clara's party and you should have seen her pizza! (I should have taken a picture of her pizza!!) She took a bit of everthing and topped it with a banana pepper (kind of like the cherry on a sundae). It was so full of toppings, I wasn't sure she would be able to pick it up and eat it! Just that alone, made all the chopping and prep work completely worth it. Everything seemed to go smoothly, with the girls (and Lucas) transitioning nicely from activity to activity. We did have a bit of a behavior issue with one of the little girls, but I don't think that dampened the party spirits at all. As a side note, though... she will not be invited back. I do have some curiousity on why Clara chose to invite two of the little girls, but as it's over and everyone had a good time, I'm going to let it slide.

Here is a picture of the birthday girl blowing out her candle.
Here is a picture of the party attendees (minus Emily S., who had to leave early).

Now, let's take another look at that fantastic dress that Clara was wearing for her party! This is the colonial dress that Jason's mom made for Clara as a birthday present. It turned out so beautiful and Clara absolutely loved it. She wore it again yesterday (her actual birthday) and plans to wear it after school today. In fact, yesterday we took her to her favorite restaurant for her birthday dinner and she wanted desperately to wear the dress out to eat, but knowing that she was going to have a messy meal, we decided it would be best to wait and put it on once we were home. So she did... and opened her gifts in her new dress.

Poor Lucas and Eli... it seems like these past couple weeks have been all about Clara. Let me spend a moment and express my delight as I witness Eli becoming a little boy/toddler. He really plays with the cars - zooming them around on their wheels, making sounds for them, usually a high pitch "mmmm" that means 'zoooooom'. He responds with his eyes and hands whenever he is asked a question... I love that. He loves to play chase - he'll see you coming and just run away laughing, sometimes hiding behind a door or a chair. He is so much fun! Although his only words as of yet are "hi", "bye", and "mama" (sometimes "da")... he communicates quite effectively. He will yell "aa aa" for Clara. He will quietly say 'mm hmm" for yes and shake his head vigorously from side to side for no. He will try to mimic sounds if you ask him to say something (the actual sound won't be copied, but the tones will be... it's fascinating).

Lucas is getting better and better every day with his reading. His dance teacher last Saturday informed me that recently he has had a "movement explosion". He is without a doubt his dance teacher's favorite... being the only boy has it's perks. And I know this seems a little silly to post, but to me it seemed like such a big deal: he went into a public Men's bathroom all by himself yesterday. Sigh... they are all getting to be big kids.

As I reach the end of this post... the house is no longer silent and snow has not only stopped falling, but has completely melted away, but things still seem beautiful.

And lastly... after the last couple of busy stress-filled weeks, I think it is about time for my drummer alterego to come out of hiding. She and I are both looking forward to this Saturday's Rock Band night!!