She tricked us when she was born, and made us think she was coming on the 15th, but she took her sweet time, and left her mama in labor for 34 hours. Yes. Thirty-four hours. THIRTY-FOUR HOURS. She finally came at 2:51 pm on January 16th, 2004.
True to form, she still takes her sweet time to do ANYTHING. Get dressed, brush teeth, eat breakfast, or dinner, take a bath, clean her room (practically takes WEEKS!), turn of the t.v., it all gets done on her own time. Which is NOT my time. I guess she does take after me. When I was in 2nd grade my best friend's mom nicknamed me Molasses, because I was so slow. Things changed, and now when I want to do something, it needs to get done right this second. I guess there's hope for her after all....but if I could just get her to clean her room faster.....
Back to her Birthday. This morning I woke up extra early and made her homemade from scratch blueberry pancakes! Umm... no. That didn't really happen. What DID happen was that I got up about 3 minutes earlier than I normally do, and made her Krusteez just add water pancakes. While mixing them I remembered I had a Costco bag of frozen blueberries, so I threw a handful into the batter. I did however plan on the pancakes the night before, and set out the pancake mix, bowl, griddle, measuring cups and whisk. I don't bend well in the mornings to get these things out, so setting it out the night before insured that the pancakes would most likely get done, instead of the usual bowl of oatmeal or cereal. See, I'm a thinker. Was it a fabulous Pinterest recipe that I spent an hour on and made all cute and fancy? Nope. Did it make my daughter feel special on her birthday? Yup. Mission accomplished.
While the pancakes cooked I fixed her hair that we had put sponge rollers in the night before (see, I'm thinkin' again!). Denver was sure to come let me know when the pancakes were ready to flip. After breakfast when she was all ready we snapped her picture (it was rainbow day at school, hence the colorful outfit) and she rushed off to the bus. At this point I would LIKE to say that I went in and started making homemade treats to take to her class. In reality, I finished the rest of the pancakes, surfed the net, and went back to bed. When I got up I helped Matt pick up the house, put some Christmas stuff away, and cleared a table I haven't seen since before Christmas. Then I went to Dunkin Donuts, ordered 60 donut holes (they gave me 75!) went to Walgreens and got a Hello Kitty birthday balloon, and headed to the school. Her teacher fashioned a birthday crown out of the scalloped paper stuff that you put around bulletin boards, and a laminated cupcake with her name on it. Then the class sang the "cha cha" version of Happy Birthday to her while her teacher stood behind her and moved her arms around for her. It was pretty cute :). (If you haven't heard the "cha cha" version, ask any elementary school kid to sing you the Happy Birthday song with cha chas. I hate that song.) Then she picked some friends to help pass out the donut holes. They were all thrilled!
Since the school day was almost over, I went and got Denver from class, and drove the two of them home, instead of them riding the bus. Did I make cute homemade cupcakes with sprinkles? Nope. Was every single kid in the class super excited that Amberlyn's mom brought Dunkin Donuts, which made Amberlyn feel really cool, plus she loved the Hello Kitty balloon, and I drove her home and didn't make her take the bus? Yup. Score for mom.
When we got home, she changed her clothes, and it was presents time!!! Two new skirts, 3 new shirts, a sweater, new pj's, a princess art set, TONS of LalaLoopsy mini's and a matching doll house, nail polish, a fluffy purple scarf, her favorite scent from Bath & Body Works sparkly lotion, cards, and money. Spoiled much? (mostly from grandparents) Normally I would have made her cake myself. But once you hit 35, you start paying people to do things for you. My friend made the cake for me, and Amberlyn was SO EXCITED when we went and picked it up at her house yesterday! Hours in the kitchen? Nope. Happy birthday girl? Yup. That smile is priceless.
After presents it was mommy daughter time! I have a friend who does gel nails, so Amberlyn and I headed over to her house, where we both had gel manicures. Amberlyn chose a gold glittery polish, with just one nail on each hand pink! I stuck with my usual red, but it was super shiny! When we were done, it was birthday dinner time! She had originally chosen to go to Applebee's, but we found out that the new IHOP was opening on her birthday! Since she loves IHOP, she altered her choice. Opening night was a bit hectic, but we had a great experience! She ordered a "Rooty" with strawberry banana pancakes, yum! She was wearing her birthday crown, and her Birthday Princess ribbon, and almost every staff member told her happy birthday at one point or another. When she was done with her pancakes, the ENTIRE STAFF came over and sang her a birthday song, and she got ice cream with whipped cream, chocolate chips, and a cherry on top! At which point Denver immediately turned to me and asked if we could have his birthday dinner at IHOP too.
When we got home, the kids got jammies on, she wore her new ones, they had some cake, and Matt and I tucked them into bed. So that about sums up her 9th birthday! She had a great day! Special breakfast, treats at school, presents, manicure with mom, and dinner at IHOP.
Do I love all the things I find on Pinterest? Yup. Do I wish I had taken the extra time & effort to do made from scratch food homemade treats, and decorated the house for her birthday. Eh. Normally I do all that. Is it okay to sometimes take the "easy" way out? As long as your child feels loved and special, then yes, it's just fine. I figure, as long as I'm raising my kids to be kind and respectful, to be independent & outgoing, to love each other and love the Gospel, to choose the right and be fun and happy kids, then I'm doing my job. I fix them breakfast every morning, pack their lunches every day, and tuck them in every night. Does she care that the pancakes were from a mix? Nope. Is she going to remember who made the birthday cake? Probably not. Is she going to remember that her mom came to the school, spent time with her to have her nails done, and tried to make her day extra special? Ya, I hope so.
Happy Birthday Amberlyn, I love you.
