We were laid up in Maryland with the tummy bug on Makinley’s real birthday, so we celebrated almost one month later with a Frozen tea party.
And then there were further delays in my putting this blog post together. I won’t get into the nitty gritty.
But now, here I am, posting this 10 months late.
I’m not sure where the time goes. There just never seems to be a quiet moment anymore. We are in that really busy place of raising seven children.
And I don’t want to miss out on the now, because I’m too preoccupied with trying to capture the present. I want to soak it all in and appreciate these moments.
Yet, I’m really afraid I’m going to forget the details of what made this time we’ve spent together so special.
And this friends, is the crux of my quandary.
This blog is behind. It’s not exhaustive. It’s not perfect…but at least it’s something.
So today, I will add another little picture that helps to tell a bigger story.
This is a picture of how much a certain family loved their sweet, precocious, kind-hearted girl named Makinley Hope on her 6th birthday.
The day began with paw prints meandering their way all over the house to Kin’s birthday surprise.
Can you guess what?
Kin and Ellie reunited!
Ellie is the robo dwarf hamster Makinley had the privilege of meeting a few months earlier at our local Petsmart.
They fell in love at first sight.
Shhh, she’s actually a boy.
Honestly, we explained all this to the birthday girl but she insisted the pet store worker must be mistaken, because this hamster, is Ellie.
Okey-dokey! What you say goes, Kin. And so “he” became a “she”.
Makinley really enjoyed training sessions with her new pet, whereby she held highly palatable foods in the palm of her motionless hand, and hoped for a rodent encounter.
She was actually pretty patient and good at this.
She also enjoyed putting Ellie in the plastic exercise ball and watching her go!
*I’m saddened to report that Ellie died just a few months later, at much too young an age. We held a burial service in our backyard on a warm sunny afternoon. Kin was visibly upset. Think ‘Parental Guidance’ and the tribute Artie pays to the imaginary kangaroo. Yup, that’s about right.
Kin is a huge fan of bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches. So of course, they were on the menu.
Do you see how I snuck those Cadbury mini eggs onto the table in the name of color and as a delish accompaniment to my morning coffee?
I’m brilliant.
But, let me tell you, those small pastel confections are a vice. I have since learned not to bring this form of crack into my home.
They seek to destroy my waistline forever.
Ah yes, she is really enjoying herself…
But alas! Who is that intruder in the background?
Pay close attention. This is my favorite part.
That, my friends, is an expert rodent exterminator waiting to secure our fortress.
We gifted our daughter a hamster on the very same morning a professional “mouse killer” would be making a visit.
The irony did not escape me.
Welcome to our life.
And “All Things Rodent” truly became the theme of the day,
when Gavin won the art contest with this entry…
Makinley wanted to have a dress-up party, and so her siblings made it happen.
They all disappeared for quite some time.
Finally, Dr. Keagan O’Melia entered the room…
followed by an army sniper dude…
then Nellie Oleson…
and Elsa too!
We will never forget this Red Sox player…
and his accomplice, Miss Puffy Skirt.
No shortage of creativity here, folks.
Huh?
Oh, I’m not really sure what happened to Gavin.
I guess there comes a time in a boy’s life when dress-up parties are no longer cool.
He was probably content in his accomplishment of taking first place in the art contest, I’d guess.
Kin requested Mimi’s Mexican dip.
The girl loves all things Mexican.
And seriously, what’s a party without dip?
She went in deep. She enjoyed herself.
We had to remind her to come up for oxygen occasionally.
Finally, it was time for ice-cream cake!
Just look at that precious thing…
she was beaming with birthday pride.
We love you to…”what’s that called?”
Oh yeah.
“Infinity.”