her tenth birthday

Molly literally opens wrapped gifts. She uses her paws and teeth to pull of the paper. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

What a great birthday weekend we had! Tiring, but very enjoyable. 

I spent most of Friday and Saturday baking. Lily had a party with her friends Saturday afternoon, and then we had some family over to celebrate that evening. 

She was beyond excited about the vanity dresser. You can probably see that by the expression on her face in the photos above. It was her favorite gift, she said, and she couldn't believe that we had bought it for her. 

She was also very excited to receive Miss Dandelion Doe (whom she decided to rename Felicity the Fawn.) I did finish it in time, except for the knitted headkerchief which was only half finished by 11:30pm Friday night. And at that point, I was extremely tired and done. I'll finish it up this week. 

She had a wonderful time with her friends. Ian made up a treasure hunt for them to do. It ended in the clothes dryer where they found a basketful of goodies, including craft kits for them to make mood blocks. She received many wonderfully crafty gifts from her friends (they know her so well) and the party ended with some play time outside and a wagon ride around the property. 

I had made homemade oatmeal cream pies for the party with her friends which were absolutely yummy. (I think Ian had also requested the same thing on his tenth birthday.) And then Lily had chosen a chocolate chip coffee cake for the dessert for her family party. I always let my kids pick out homemade desserts for their birthdays. And, truth be told, I always enjoy when they pick something different than the average birthday cake. This past September when Ian turned twelve, he chose a banana cake with cream cheese icing and key lime pie. Those things are much more interesting to make than a box cake!

I think that my favorite part of the weekend was last night. The boys had gone to a Super Bowl party, so Lily and I stayed home. The original plan was for us to watch a movie on Netflix, but we ended up spending the entire evening just talking and coloring in her bedroom. She actually did most of the talking. It was very refreshing to be able to sit there and hear what was on her mind. 

after the break

Wow. I took a much-needed blog break. When was the last time I even posted? Last October, I believe? Sometimes in life, one has to just step back for a bit, breath a bit, live a bit less cluttered. That's what I've been doing these past few months. Breathing. Living. Soaking life in.

We had a stupendous holiday season. It was a low-commitment season. We mostly stayed home and enjoyed each other. There were several trips into the city to the museum, to a musical, but mostly just hanging around home baking, decorating, playing, and crafting. I'm getting better at practicing slow living.

Here are just a few pictures from our holiday. I realized how little I have been taking photos since I went on the hiatus from my blog. That must change. I do love taking photos. I do love looking back over a year's worth of pictures and seeing all that we have done and accomplished as a family. I've noticed that blog-keeping definitely makes me more conscious of taking the time to capture our moments.