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Daphne

Kirsten

Kirsten’s Birthday Time Capsule 2015

July 16, 2015

Several hours into Kirsten’s sixth birthday, I asked her, “how does it feel to be 6?”

She grinned. “I think I like it.”

We have a birthday tradition (for all the kids) where they curl up with me on the couch and look through a whole bunch of their baby photos. They’ll ask me about where this one was taken, and why their face was so squishy and what manner of fun they were up to.

kirsten

kirsten 2

kirsten 3

I feel like this daughter of mine was born to be a big girl, and she’s enjoying every moment of growing up. She started walking and speaking and hitting all her milestones earlier than the other kids, just growing on superspeed. She’s always been ready to be a big girl, like she is so much wiser and more mature on the inside and she’s just waiting for her outside to catch up.

Ok, now time for another tradition: Kirsten’s birthday time capsule 2015.

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Hey baby girl,

Is it ok if I still call you my baby? I know time is running out on this baby calling with each passing year. **sad eyes emoticon with a tear on the side. But then again, I still call your daddy my baby and he’s 35, so there’s that.

You’re finally 6!! You’ve been so excited the past few days, just counting down to being another year older. Adding years to your age loses its charm after a while, you’ll see. I know you can’t wait to be as big as Truett, and in many ways, it seems like you are. Sometimes, I forget that you’re still a preschooler, because you talk and do things like a 7 or 8 year old.

You do all these crazy grown up things like putting yourself to bed, washing your little brother’s poopy bum, making your own sandwiches, reading to your baby, packing up stuff around the house (without being asked??!!). You’re like my supersub, and when things get out of control with the babies (which happens often), I can always count on you to be thoughtful and do the responsible thing.

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But dial back on the superspeed and wait up for me a little, ok? I like it when you still ask to snuggle at bedtime, or when you want to sit on my lap to read, or when you want to hang out next to me just to load up on mommy time.

You’ve got the most infectious laugh, and your enthusiasm for life is like a cannonball of sunshine that hits me right in the face. You wake up and get excited about sort of ordinary stuff. Library day today? YEAHH SO MUCH FUN!! We take a detour to get ice-cream after school and you’re like “WHATTT?? THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.” You go watch a game of waterpolo (you’ve never even heard of waterpolo right up to that point) at the SEA Games and you cheer your heart out. Your radness level is ridiculously high for someone this tiny.

This photo taken by one of the MCCY photographers at the waterpolo match is so quintessentially you.

kirsten copy-2

Hang on, we have to talk about your artistic ability for a moment. Where did this come from?? Not me, that’s for sure. I love your drawings!! They’re so whimsical and happy and full of you-ness. FYI I’m your biggest fan.

Maybe you’ll come to think differently as you grow up, but know that you’re so beautiful inside and outside and every possible side. And we’ll be here to tell you every day just how beautiful you are.

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Happy birthday, sweetheart. I’m really glad you’re my girl.

We’ve got so much fun in store for us, you and me. Stick with me, baby girl, I’ll show you how to have fun.

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Theo

Voted most likely to be a beefcake

July 14, 2015

The husband and I, we like to play a game called Most Likely. It’s a fun game where we’ll have discussions about which kid is most likely to be/do whatever.

Like Kirsten, most likely to be head prefect. Most likely to have kids the earliest. Most likely to have a large collection of shoes.

Truett, most likely to be a dinosaur whisperer. Or a scientist. Most likely to do great in sports. And walk into a wheelbarrow. Not at the same time, obviously.

Finn, most likely to be a male model, zoolander style. Probably most likely to be a performer.

With Theo, the game has been tricky because the options are so hard to narrow down. But I’ve finally got a good one. Theo, most likely to be a beefcake. Also most likely to win a shouting contest.

I suppose it’s a good thing, that he loves food as much as he does. It’s such a delight feeding this little baby shark, he eats everything and with so much enthusiasm like he’s enjoying every bite.

Baby Theo has 2 modes when it comes to food. And not just cake either. This behaviour has extended to food of all varieties.

NO WAY. WHAT IS THIS DELICIOUS MORSEL OF GOODNESS?!!

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Then Sir Shoutalot here gets all shouty and grunty like WHY IS THERE NO MORE FOOD IN MY MOUTH THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!

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I’ve never seen anyone so emo about food, it’s so adorable. Every meal is an intense experience of joy and shoutiness.

And then sometimes, there’s this face. I love this face. I could eat this face all day.

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Seriously, is this beefcake material or what? This baby is most likely to have muscles as big as my head.

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kids!

Birthday season

July 9, 2015

We need to talk about birthday parties.

When it comes to planning kids’ birthday parties these days, there seems to be only one rule: go big or go home.

My relationship with birthday parties was somewhat short lived. :( There was that one time we decided to throw a massive party for Tru and Kirsten in 2012; fast forward 3 years and we’re still recovering from that hangover. We’ve been on a party hiatus ever since because having to plan another party like that requires too much bandwidth, of which I have very limited quantities of these days. And the thought of doing 4 parties a year, that’s just too much madness I can’t even. So I guess you can say that me and birthday parties are kind of on a break. We’re not really speaking right now.

First, let’s get into the cost. For a basic no frills party, we’re talking easily $500 per pop. On the low side. $200 for the food/deserts, $150 for a standard 3D fondant cake, $50 for the decor, $50 for the goodie bags, and $50 for the program (pinata, some basic game props).

Additional something-somethings like a schmancy dessert table, balloon sculptor, magician, game host or marching band will run the bill up by another $300-$500.

And then there are the cool venues. Want to party with the horses (actually just 1 horse!) at Gallop stables? That’s $450 just for the horse and venue. How about a Frozen party (at the ice rink)? Upwards of $350 for a minimum of 10 kids. Indoor playgrounds range from $300-800, depending on the number of kids and general awesomeness of the party.

I love my kids and I’d do a lot to make them smile, including celebrating the heck out of the day they were born. But if I’m blowing $1k on a birthday party per child per year, that’s easily a trip to Melbourne or Tokyo or Maldives. And let’s see, 4 times the madness that is planning a blowout party versus a relaxing trip? Is this even a real question?? And perhaps more importantly, I’m not sure if having a formulaic party just because this is how everyone else does it will make them happier than say, a fun day out with us and a delicious cake that doesn’t have Elsa standing in front of a 3-tiered snow castle.

Kirsten’s birthday is around the corner and she asked if she could have a birthday party this year. Her request was very specific. She wanted to have it at an indoor playground, with a huge Elsa made of ice-cream (??), cake pops (I had to google what a cake pop was), blue and silver balloons, and horses (???).

I told her in the gentlest possible manner, “Ummm, no, sweetie.”

“How about this? I can do the balloons, and you can choose an Elsa cake, and we’ll have fun celebrating with your friends in school. And then we’ll do a special day out just for you – you can choose anywhere that you want to go and we’ll make it happen.”

“Anywhere?? And we can all go, daddy and you and kor kor and Finn Finn and Theo?” she asked, after a while.

“Yes.”

She smiled. “Ok, yeah, that would be very super fun.”

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on one of our non-birthday dates

Have I already said that these kids are the best?? Because they are.

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