Happy birthday, Lily

5 years old (with the love of her life)

Five years ago, Carl and I made a commitment to each other and to Lily at her Naming Ceremony that we reaffirm today and every day. The following is an excerpt from her ceremony.

[Officiant] To be a parent forces you to recognize that you are no longer a child. Claiming adulthood, we look at our children and see ourselves. We feel the temptation to help them succeed where we have failed. But as much as we seek to make them like us, we cannot. What we can do is see that they do their best. And as they grow, they will in turn be pushing us to grow with them. This we can do, if we love them not for who they may become, but for who they are—unique and special.

Parenthood is the ultimate expression and the severest test of a marriage. The greatest act of love parents have to give their children is the love they express for one another. The interactions between a mother and father, husband and wife, form the web of the relationship that serves as the child's nest. Children learn about men and women, communication, caring, respect, feelings, conflict, and love by watching their parents.

[Carl]: I, Carl, commit myself to Kathleen as her partner, promising to support her as a mother. I give myself to my daughter as her father, promising to act out of love for her, respecting and supporting her uniqueness, and eliciting the best from her.

[Kathleen]: I, Kathleen, commit myself to Carl as his partner, promising to support him as a father. I give myself to my daughter as her mother, promising to act out of love for her, respecting and supporting her uniqueness, and eliciting the best from her.

[Officiant]: This community gathered here will be especially important to this child. We are her people. She will look among us for companionship and leadership and to all of us for support. By watching us, she will learn how life works. She will know the way human society works by how we create our relationships here.

[Extended family]: We pledge to support this child, to respect her uniqueness, and to elicit the best from her and this family.

...................................................

My greatest wish is that Lily feels the unwavering love we feel for her and knows that we are always here to support her so that she may be free to explore, without fear of failure or rejection, all the paths that will lead to the discovery of her truest self and enable her to embrace her own uniqueness. We love you, our one and only Lily.

Misc party pics

The entrance to the "dance hall"

Lily and Mary ready to shake, rattle and roll

Mary & Lily in front of the gift bag table

Our little "soc"

He fit the part well - he was super chill during the party, just taking in the scene.

The skirt of the doll cake was made from three (made from scratch) cakes. The top layer was chocolate, the middle layer was vanilla, and the bottom layer was checkerboard. This was my first attempt at a checkerboard cake, and I was really excited that it actually turned out!

Me & my girl relaxing at the end of the night (with Rebecca, of course, who has not left her side since Lily opened the gift).

Lily's 5th birthday party: The Diner

Lily chose a sock hop theme for her birthday party this year, and I have to say that this was my favorite theme (and my favorite birthday party) yet. For the invitations, we gave out cd's of 50's music with the party info detailed on the inside cover. We had reports from more than one parent that they waking up with "Jailhouse Rock" and going to bed listening to the "Peppermint Twist"! The party featured a diner, dance hall and drive-in theater. We had tons of fun with this. A huge thank you must go out to Ingrid, Ryan, and Carl's mom for watching William the day before the party while we set up. Also, a huge thank you to Suzanne and my mom for taking Lily the day before the party. Carl and I had 6 hours straight without kids which went a long way in preparing for the party (while keeping our sanity). Now I think we are going to lay low before we host 2 more children's parties in December. What can I say? We like to celebrate life!

My greaser husband was the short order cook who prepped and cooked the food for the diner as well as popping the popcorn for the drive-in. I especially liked his added touch of rolling a deck of cards in his sleeve. What fun dad!

Mom and my sister Suzanne at the diner (pre-party). We moved the kitchen table out and added children's tables to create a kid-friendly dining experience. It was super-cute, and I think the kids really enjoyed it.

The menu featured diner-fare of course

Ingrid and Ryan were great sports, helping us out by serving food and drinks to the diners. They brought the hats from Steak and Shake to really complete the look which was just awesome. We are going to owe Ingrid and Ryan lots of favors when they have little ones of their own!

Ingrid and Ryan work their magic behind the counter

William diggin' on some 'dogs at the diner

Lily and her girls working the diner scene

Katie bug enjoying a fountain drink from a fun soda shop glass

I think he likes it! But what kids don't like an excuse to eat hamburgers, hot dogs and fries?

The diner became quite the hoppin' place

Dance Hall and Drive-In Theater

What would a dance hall be without a jukebox? (even if just an inflatable one)

Mom in the dance hall (pre-party)

Dancing the night away


Mom showing the little ones how it's done

More dancing and singing

When planning for her birthday party, Lily and I discuss what she would like to happen at the party and then we come up with a theme based on her ideas. This year, Lily insisted that we play Lady and the Tramp during the party. So, we set up a "drive-in theater" in the hearth room featuring her chosen film. We set the scene with this fun prop.

Freshly popped popcorn was available for all movie-goers

Some of the girls take a break to check out the movie

The cake and presents

Lily and her friends check out the birthday cake

The year's cake was based on the sock hop theme and modeled after Lily's outfit for the party. I just kind of felt my way with this one. Just to make sure we had enough cake, I added some cupcakes with milk chocolate "records" around the doll cake. It was time-consuming but fun.

My girl with her cake.

Singing happy birthday

Make a wish my sweet girl; may all your dreams come true.

Opening presents

Lily's friends were all so sweet, all wanting to give their special gift to her...what a great group of kids.

The birthday present

Lily received her gift from Carl and me today - the long awaited, much anticipated American Girl doll. I should note that Lily actually found her American Girl doll hidden in our closet a few days ago. While brushing my teeth earlier this week, Lily walked into the bathroom holding her doll, and excitedly said, "Mommy, look what I found!" I could not believe it. She read my shock (and disappointment) and told me that she was sorry. What a sweetie. I told her that it was okay, but that the present was supposed to be a surprise. I explained that she could not have it until her birthday, and she returned it to the closet for safe-keeping until her big day. Again, what a sweetie. After Lily's birthday party today, she asked about the doll, and we decided to give it to her. She immediately changed Rebecca into her "birthday outfit". She is sleeping next to her right now.

Girls sleepover

It has become a tradition for the girls to spend the night at grandma's house before Lily's birthday party. I think, or rather I know, that Lily looks forward to the sleepover at grandma's as much the party.

Playgroup

William dove right into this ball pit and did not want to leave!

Ah, my big boy. I think that we can officially say that William is a walker. He almost always walks now, and although he still wobbles a bit, he walks from room to room to room... Keeping up with him is becoming quite the challenge!

And a picture of Lily just because...

Congrats Ingrid & Ryan!

This post is a little late in the coming, but congratulations to Carl's sister Ingrid & her fiance, Ryan! They are planning a late September '11 wedding, and we couldn't be happier for them!

Family birthday party

My cousin, Erin, got married this past Saturday. In true Catholic style, the wedding was in the afternoon with the reception at night. This presented a perfect opportunity for us to celebrate Lily, William and my dad's birthdays between celebrations. (If you recall, another cousin of mine was married this summer, and we squeezed William's naming ceremony in between her ceremony and reception.) The reason for doing this is that it makes it easier for my sisters who live out of town and have to make a trip in for all special occasions. This just allows us to get more bang for our buck! :) Unfortunately, the Kissock family was struck down with step throat just days before the event. Bummer. But we are super-excited that they decided to come in this coming weekend instead!! Below are the pics from the combined birthday celebration (William's birthday - Oct 22nd; dad's birthday - Nov 8th; Lily's birthday - Nov 16th).

Lily decided that she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake cake for this birthday celebration. So, we came up with this little creation. Strawberry Shortcake's house is made of a bottom layer of chocolate cake, a top rounded strawberry cake all topped with strawberry icing. The "grass" decoration is made with light green jelly beans and the windows, door, and stem of the house were made with melted white chocolate (tinted green for the stem).

Of course, I had to make a koala cake for William. This was made using a standing bear cake pan and then just tinting and applying frosting to make a koala bear.

For dad, I made a very simple log cabin (made in the shape of his real log cabin) with his favorite, German chocolate cake, with pretzel rods for the log siding and graham crackers for the roof and door.

Yum...cake!

Carl teased me relentlessly for using the strawberry cake batter for the bear (which of course was pink) with the gray frosting of the koala bear. He had to remind me of the scene in Steel Magnolias in which the crazy aunt made the groom's cake in the shape of a gray armadillo with red velvet cake. I didn't even realize the similarities until Carl so kindly pointed it out, and it still makes me laugh.

Digging in...William is all over this cake thing. I love that you can see his piles of curls in the back in this picture - love it!

It wouldn't be a one-year-old's birthday party without frosting on the face!

All clean (well mostly)!

Halloween pics

I'm behind in posting the pictures from Halloween mainly because I've been so busy with my classes this semester. Next semester should be much, much better so I'm looking forward to that. Very luckily, Carl is on a good rotation right now. He has a difficult one coming up in the spring, and I'm just so glad that our busy times did not occur simultaneously.

One of our homemade Halloween craft projects

Another project - we made ghosts out of Lily and William's footprints.

On our way to a Halloween festival sponsored by Grandma and Papa's community

After the Halloween parade (which all the kids participated in), all the businesses gave out candy. We forgot our bucket, so Lily collected candy in William's hat. :)

A fun family day spent outside in the warm sunshine

Halloween night before going trick-or-treating. This picture does not do justice to the amount of candy and snacks that my mom and dad had to give out to trick-or-treaters, but let me tell you, it was A LOT....and it was all gone in 2 hours. The entire community really gets into trick-or-treating, and there is no shortage of little ones there for the taking. It is a really fun place to go trick-or-treating, and I love our tradition of going over to mom and dad's house for this night. In fact, Lily has spent every Halloween there (minus the first one in Baltimore in which she gave out candy instead of trick-or-treating). And, of course, William has too, with his first trick-or-treating experience at just 9 days old last year!

Hansel & Gretel

Hansel with his 'rents

An attempt at a family shot

As I said, people really get into Halloween at New Town. There are lots of displays including neighborhood-built haunted houses, bounce houses for the little ones, and many, many elaborate house displays. While Ryan was goofing around with one of the displays, an animated skeleton got his revenge by sneaking an attack from behind.

Lily, William and Ingrid pause to check out the huge inflatable, animated cat (a much less scary display than the skeleton, of which William was understandably not fan).