First things first: We had another scare with Grandma Darais today, and we went down to Provo this afternoon to say goodbye. It turned out that we didn’t have to say goodbye just yet, for which we are thankful. There’s still hope she can pull through, and we are praying for her and her children to have strength for whatever comes.
I found out about Grandma Darais while I was walking to the Capitol to meet Misty. The trees are all in bloom, and it was just a lovely walk. We stood in the sunshine and chatted at the end while Lydia and Sophia read a book together. Mary was sick today, so she just sat in the jogger and looked sadly out the window.
Spring has sprung!blooms in the neighborhood
Then we went to Provo to see Grandma Darais. We came home with Suzanne and stopped by In-n-Out for dinner. The girls got stickers.
Lydia did not want to eat dinner after her fries, but she did drink some bubble bath…
Mary was feeling sick all evening, so she was extra cuddly. I have the cutest picture of her cuddling with Abe, but it won’t send from my iPad.I did get some of them cuddling in the girls’ room, though. And when I announced that I was going to take a picture, Lydia dashed for her camera so she could take a picture. As a result, I have a picture of Lydia taking a picture. =)
After church today, we napped. Lydia was watching Veggie Tales on the iPad when suddenly I awoke to hear her having a full-blown conversation with someone on the iPad. I asked Abe who Lydia was talking to, and in his groggy, half-asleep state he replied, “Nape.” I asked him who “Nape” was, and he told me that he was tired but that Lydia was definitely talking to Nape. By this time, I was waking up a little more and realized that Lydia was Face Timing with Clark and Swathi. They called while we were sleeping, and since Lydia was on the iPad, she answered their call.
A few minutes later, we all called and chatted with Clark and Swathi, and this time Abe joined us. He was still barely awake, but he was awake enough to know that we weren’t talking to Nape.
Then we picked up Balu and headed to the Miners’ for birthday celebrations. We haven’t seen Balu in a long time, and it was great to spend time with him again. Lydia had a blast having a second round of her birthday, but you wouldn’t know it from the solemn way she opened her presents and whispered her thank-you’s. She didn’t crack a smile once, but when we got home, she could barely sleep because she wanted to play with all of her new presents. We compromised by letting her sleep with six new books and one of her birthday cards.
She also made her own cupcakes for the Miners’ gathering today. Usually, I try to control parts of the baking process that can get messy, but today I figured, what the heck? They’re her cupcakes, and she should be able to do whatever she wants with them. I ended up helping with the frosting just because she kept tearing up the cupcakes she frosted, but really, she did (almost) everything else.
Having fun at the Miners’:
Okay, okay. Initially she was zonked on the couch because she didn’t nap today…But she woke up!
Happy birthday, Lydia!! We tried to make this the happiest, most fun day for Lydia we could think of. We started off by watching videos of when she was a baby while we cuddled and I told her how exciting it was to meet her this day three years ago. Abe headed downstairs to make pancakes with pureed strawberry syrup, which both girls had fun dipping their pancakes in.
My mom went to the church to fulfill our cleaning assignment so we could have the morning with Lydia together. She is the most selfless person I know. We are so happy to have her here!
Then Lydia and I baked the other half of Lydia’s cake while Abe played with Mary.
Abe did all the dishes while I read to the girls. Then my mom gave the girls matching dresses to wear for Lydia’s birthday. We took Mary’s off so she wouldn’t get it dirty climbing around the movie theater, but they played at home in their matching outfits (my heart pitter-pattering the whole time).
Lydia giving Mary a birthday kiss.
When Abe and I were both finally dressed and ready to go, all of us (including my mom!) headed to the Gateway where we had Dairy Queens before going to Frozen.
Tom joined us for the movie, and he was a great help when Mary escaped near the end and started climbing the stairs at the movie theater.
After the movie, we played outside in the sunshine for a while and let the girls run around. Lydia loved twirling in one of the new dresses Nana gave her for her birthday.
Then we headed to the library and read Lydia a book about birthdays. The protagonist was not only her favorite thing in the world–a cat–but she was wearing a startlingly similar dress to Lydia’s. Then we checked out some pink books in honor of her birthday and headed to the store to pick up some things before going home.
At home, we made frosting and assembled her yellow and strawberry cake. The strawberry turned gray when Lydia dumped in the sprinkles (THE essential ingredient of her cake, in her opinion).
I basically injected pureed strawberries into a regular buttercream icing, and while the result was tasty, the texture left a LOT to be desired. Basically, it fell off of the cake. But Lydia didn’t care since the cake was pink and full of strawberries, and after dinner she enjoyed the whole song-candle-blowing-cake-and-ice-cream-eating process.
Pinterest fail. Maybe I’ll learn how to make a successful, fresh, fruit icing when I take my baking and pastry classes.
Then Abe gave the girls baths and changed them into jammies before we opened presents.
Nana brushed their hair.
Eyeing presents.
Mary was dying to wear a costume, too, so she got to wear this hand-me-down shirt from a family reunion we had years ago. It made her SO happy.This diaper cover completed her look.
For the last hour the girls have been playing with Lydia’s new presents, and right now Abe is trying to make sure they sleep in tomorrow by playing vigorous games of chase-and-throw-the-children.
Then Clark, Swathi, and Balu called from New York and wished Lydia a happy birthday. She relived her whole day in their conversation and kept repeating that she had a fun birthday. She especially loved telling them repeatedly about how the game of chase made her laugh and giggle.
I am beyond ready for bed, so I’m blogging early and will be retiring as soon as I hit publish (hopefully). Happy birthday, my sweet and beautiful Lydia!!!
Today at church we talked about Abraham’s sacrifice and what that means. During the course of the discussion, the importance of personal revelation came up. One woman made a comment dismissing the importance of revelation, and I could almost see Abe’s allergic reaction to her words. He controlled himself and didn’t allow himself to respond, but afterward we spent a long time discussing how grateful we are for personal revelation.
Then Abe bore his testimony in church. Lydia was perfectly behaved and sat quietly on the bench the whole time, but I missed most of what he said because I was chasing Mary around the halls the whole time. She has a lot of energy.
This afternoon my lovely visiting teacher, Erika, came over. I always feel bad because I talk to her for such long periods of time, but she is just so fun to talk to.
After she left, Anique called and invited us on a walk to a playground. Mary had just woken up, and it was too early to break our fast, so the timing was awesome.
The girls had so much fun playing, and Anique and I spent the whole walk back talking about food. I get so hungry on fast Sunday that I was literally drooling while we talked. It was a little embarrassing. We made plans to start a monthly lunch date. I’m so excited.
Then we went home, ate dinner and Face Timed with Clark and Swathi. They amused Mary with funny faces and listened patiently to Lydia ramble on about whatever was on her mind. Then I talked their ears off about the culture at culinary school and the drama of preschool hunting. At one point, I laughed so hard I cried. That felt fantastic.
Then we played with the girls until Tom and Suzanne came over for a visit.
They all had “princess hair,” including Abe and the cat.
It was so fun to see Tom and Suzanne. Suzanne taught the Sunday School lesson in her ward today, and it was interesting to hear where her ward went in the Abraham discussion.
And now Mary is crying because she doesn’t want to go to bed. She’s saying a new word! “Daddy! Dad! Daddy!” Awwww…Abe can’t resist and is going to her. I wish she would learn “Mama” one of these days…sniffle.
**I’m adding these last pictures a day later because I just now received them from Abe’s phone:
Today I was kind of tired and grumpy from yesterday’s over-activity, but here are the high points of today:
Abe went to Jay’s to watch the Super bowl, so the girls and I had all evening to play. We played chase, played catch, read books, and played climb-the-chair and jump-on-Lydia’s-bed a lot.
Tom and Suzanne came by for a quick visit in the middle of the evening:
Then my mom sent me a biography she’s written of my beloved grandmother. I tried to copy and paste it into this blog, but the formatting was all messed up. When I have time to figure that out, I’ll paste it here.
When Abe came home, he brought me chocolate chip cookies his mom made. I had been craving chocolate chip cookies all day, so it kind of made my day to get them.
