19

Lyss turned 19 this week. This isn't really a birthday post, though. I mean, she's amasing and totally deserves a birthday post but this is more about me and how the older I get the more pissed off I get at the entire world at large.

See, her birthday was on a Friday. The Wednesday night before her birthday she sent me a Snap asking if I was working all day on Friday. I was asleep when the snap cam in so I responded the next morning, Thursday.

I casually mentioned to Tom that she'd asked and he, well, he got annoyed. Not with me, more with her for even suggesting that I take a partial day off to celebrate her birthday.

Do I even need to mention that his annoyance annoyed me? Why would he even care if I took half a day off? I work over 40 hours a week. I have excused time off, both paid and unpaid. We pay our bills, I pull my substantial weight around here. What difference does it make to him if I take time off?

I was so annoyed by the time I got to work that I had to take some Excederin for the headache that had formed from my irritation.

Because that amount of frustration is hard to sustain I was fine by the end of the day. But I'd also decided that if Lyss wanted to come home that Friday and spend the afternoon with me, I'd totally take the time off to be with her.

I don't mind bending for her but I'm so tired of bending for the rest of the world. When I was nineteen, I was just at the point where I was starting to bend for others. At 16, I was tough, I was sure of myself, I KNEW I was right in my convictions and I stood up to everyone and anyone about them. Sometime between 16 and 19, my spine softened and I started giving in to the will of others and these days, damn it, I'm as spineless as a jellyfish.

And that pissed me off.

And I do not want that for her or for Olivia. I want them to be strong and self-assured and to always believe in their right to have an opinion.

When Tom was going on about how it was selfish of her to want me to take time off for her birthday I wanted to say, "So what? If you can't be selfish with your own mother, who can you be selfish with?"

Instead, I stood there and let him rant but I also had a look that I know said, "Go ahead, have your say but I'm going to do what I want to do anyway." See, my spine is trying to reassert itself.

I don't have any resolutions for this year but if I did, one of them would be to be stronger, to speak up more often, to maybe stop letting people walk all over me. I want to be the one to make the decisions that affect me. I WANTED to take time of to be with Lyss. She wasn't asking me to do anything I didn't want to do. That's the difference in this situation.

I don't want Alyssa's spine to soften. I don't want her bend herself in half trying to please everyone else and put all her own desires and dreams on hold. I want he to be kind, and strong and sure of herself. Which, right now...she is and I'm so, so proud of her and the life she's living.

Seventeen

And just like that, Alyssa is seventeen.

I mean, sure, those early days were so long but these years have flown by.

She's so amazing. Her talent, her kindness, her joy and just living her life is inspirational.

She deserves so much more than these few lines but I didn't want this day to pass without acknowledging how proud I am of her and who she is becoming.

She's a loving daughter, a sweet sister, an amazing friend. She adores her grandparents with just the right amount of exasperation over how 'old' they are.

She is beautiful, she's strong, she's so darned smart.

I marvel on a daily basis that she's mine even as she spreads her wings and prepares to take on the world.

Happy birthday, my sweet, wonderful girl.

13

Today she is thirteen. Just because she's a teenager doesn't mean that Olivia woke up this morning and was suddenly typical. She's still gloriously Livie.

Every night at bedtime, Olivia goes through a string of questions. They’re usually in the same order and she needs to ask them before she can settle in and go to sleep. They go something like this:

Q: What do you hope I dream of?

A: I hope you dream of swimming with mermaids, dancing with Felice (from Leap), flying around the Eifel Tower with Ladybug and Cat Noir. After you save the world with them, I hope you all go to lunch at their school where you get to hang out with all your friends from school and all of Marinette’s friend. I hope that Adam Goldberg is there along with the Baudelaire children and the Templeton boys (from Boss Baby) and Harry Potter. I hope you guys all eat your lunch and talk and laugh with each other and that you get to see Barry Goldberg running like a weirdo as he’s being chased by chickens trained by Victor.

Q: What do you hope you dream of?

A: I hope I get to dream of watching you do all those things in your dream and that I get to swim with the mermaids with you and watch you talk to all your friends.

Q: What time are you going to wake me up?

A: 6:20

Q: What time will I get downstairs?

A: 6:40

Q: What time are you leaving for work?

A: 7:00

Reply: Cool.

Q: What do you have laid out for me?

A: whatever I have picked out for her as the next day’s outfit. Don’t forget to mention the underwear, bra and socks.

Q: Do you have to go anywhere after work?

A: Yes or no, depending of if I have to go anywhere after work.

Q: Does Lyssie have to go anywhere after school?

A: Yes or no, depending on the day and Lyssie’s work schedule. Wednesdays she has voice lessons, so…

Reply: At least I have Dad, who is always here when I get home.

How grateful am I that she has her dad; that he’s always there when she gets home?

How jealous am I that he gets to be the reliable one, the one who is ALWAYS there when she gets home?

Zany Questions

Several years ago, it became a ‘thing’ for Alyssa to have a slumber party for her birthday.

Great fun is had by all and it’s just what we do these days.

Tom tried to put the kibosh on the slumber party last year, citing “CHEMO”.

Alas, I, being the actual chemo patient, overruled him and the slumber party happened.

Tom has also tried to impose a limit on the number of guests invited to this annual shindig.

(Please note that Tom is not quite the fuddy duddy that I paint him to be, it’s just that he doesn’t like having people over, like at all, and really kind of hates going out…wait, he’s actually totally the fuddy duddy he’s appearing to be…nevermind.)

Again, he was reminded that we only have this party once a year, since it’s, ahem, a birthday party and he should just kind of shut it and let it happen as it’s going to anyway and he’s just causing stress amongst those of us who do the work of planning the party.

Yes.

Anyway.

Alyssa has reminded him each time he tries to tell her how many (three? Really?) people she can invite that she can’t possibly not invite people she’s previously invited because that will inevitably lead to hurt feelings and she can’t abide hurting anyone’s feelings.

We also remind him that even when she invites eight to ten people, invariably, only five or six show up, and again, no one is hurt because everyone was invited.

So there.

Amongst the invitees during The Year of Chemo was the one male friend that Lyss has invited for several years now. Let’s call him Zane because he’s just a zany kind of guy. A little backstory: Zane always has questions. At school some of the teachers have had to institute a three question per day rule when it comes to Zane. This makes me sad for him because Dude wants to know! How’s he going to find out what he wants to know if people impose limits to his search for knowledge?

Then again, there are usually about 20 kids per class and if everyone were as curious as Zane, there would be no time for actual teaching, only questions and answers…but wait, maybe that’s what school should really be. Hmmm, I think Zane is on to something.

So at last year’s party, I happened to get warm. Remember, I was wearing a stocking cap all the time, due to, you know, baldness.

So I took the hat off and said something off hand about no one caring that I was shining my bald head about the room.

Zane was curious. He asked what happened to my hair.

I kind of blinked at him and said matter-of-factly, “Chemo.”

He gasped, “You have cancer!?!”

I laughed because his reaction was just so lovely.

One of Lyss’s other friend, Amy, said, “Didn’t you know? I though everyone knew.”

Zane was shocked that no one had told him.

I was surprised he cared so much.

Alyssa muttered something about not making a big announcement, that it had just been mentioned amongst a few people here and there.

Zane was so offended that he hadn’t been told. He was also very concerned about my well-being. I think he might have teared up over the whole thing.

He’s a sweetheart and I’m glad Lyss has him in her life.

She’s got a good bunch of friends, is what I’m saying.

P.S. It amuses me so that I managed to use the words kibosh, shindig and fuddy duddy all in one post. I’m easily amused, but we all already knew that, right?

Cusp

Alyssa turns 16 next Monday. She’s scheduled to take her driving test for her license on Tuesday. I hate to be one of those people who say that these past sixteen years have flown but…they have.

Sure, those early days were tough. She was a terrible sleeper, we drove way too many miles in her first year. She spent way too much time in a car seat and I had a lot (A LOT!) of resentment toward Tom for all the miles we commuted.

But those days are so far in the past. We’re in a good place right now.

Alyssa is so excited to be able to drive by herself. Tom’s…not so excited. He’s apprehensive about her getting her license in January. He’s already informed her (quite sternly…enough so that it brought her to tears, she’s a sensitive soul) that she will not be driving in bad weather. He also told her she won’t be taking her sister anywhere alone in the near future. ON that one, I think he’ll change his mind since Olivia started her orthodontic journey yesterday and this will last at least two years. He’s going to REALLY like the fact that we have another driver in the house, one who can take Liv to Angola and meet me there rather than him having to schedule his life around her appointments. So yeah.

She’s already asked if we can morph into the kind of parents she can just call out to from the back door, “I’ll be back later.”

Ha.

Probably not, but nice try.

She’s biting at the bit for some independence.

I get it; even as I fight the urge to grab her and hold on tight her, I do get it. This is her life, it’s just beginning, she’s got so much to look forward to, so much promise. And being able to jump in a car and GO is appealing to her.

It also terrifies me (and obviously, Tom.) But that’s our problem, not hers. We can’t stop her from growing up, we wouldn’t even if we could. We have to let her make her way, reminding her often that we’re always here, always a place for her land if she needs a break from anything and everything.

This past Sunday our TV was being weird and so Alyssa and I sat on the couch and watched the first season of America’s Next Top Model on my phone. She laid her head on my shoulder and we held that stupid tiny screen between us. It was awesome. It was moments like that the remind me that even as she spreads her wings, I will always provide her with a nest to call home.

I’m so lucky to have had these sixteen years with her; to have watched her grow and thrive. She’s amazing. This next step is just one more in what I hope and pray is a very long journey of discovery and joy for her.

A Miraculous Ladybug Birthday aka The Best Birthday Yet

Olivia would like to report that turning twelve was the best birthday yet. She’s still happy with a ‘party’ of her mom, dad, sister, Gram and Pawp.

We had pizza for dinner and then it was presents and dessert.

I made a cheese cake (from a box, I’m not that ambitious), bought a few cupcakes, had half a pie left over from one I’d made last weekend and we also had some rice krispy treats left over from the ones I sent to school for Liv to share with her teachers and classmates.

We put a candle in the piece of cheese cake she requested and sang happy birthday. During the entirety of the song, she was reading the book she’d opened ten minutes earlier. She blew out the candle and went back to her book and devoured her cheese cake.

She’s very into a Netflix series called Miraculous Ladybug. It’s set in Paris and is about a teenage girl and her adventures as a superhero called Ladybug and her sidekick Cat Noir. Ladybug wears a body suit that is red with black polka dots.

Guess what Gram got for Olivia for her birthday…Yes! It’s a red with black dots body suit. It’s so perfectly Ladybug that Olivia can’t stand it.

I got her a couple of action figures (one Marinette, the girl who is Ladybug and one that is Ladybug herself.) She also got a book about Ladybug and Cat Noir. There were a few other things but the Ladybug items were the biggest hit.

I realized last Christmas that Olivia still needs toys as presents. She’s still very young emotionally and I’m okay with that. I want her to stay young and playful. So toys it is.

I’m so glad she had such a great birthday. I hope this means she’s on to her best year yet.

Circle of Life

Amy’s first grandchild, a baby girl, was born on Olivia’s birthday. This makes her and Olivia birthday buddies. J Our family is big enough that most of us have birthday buddies. If Olivia had been born on her due date of November 18, she’d be sandwiched by Sabella, who was born a year earlier than Liv on November 17 and Jaxon, who was born the year after Olivia on November 19. It would have been kind of cool. But as we all know, Miss Liv needed those extra nine days to cook.

Amy’s daughter, H, lives in California with her husband, D. He’s in the Navy and so she goes wherever he’s stationed. According to my mom, H was in labor for about 45 minutes. Can this be possible? My aunt N, Amy’s mom, H’s grandma, was so worried about H. Amy had really hard deliveries. Her doctors let her labor for something like twenty hours before finally delivering both H and her big brother T by c-section. I’m so glad that H didn’t have to suffer the way her mom did.

They named the baby Arden (Auntie L hates this name, we tell her to get over it, she got to name the one child she had and gave no one, probably not even P, her son’s dad, any say at all so…yeah.)

Amy loves babies. That s at the end of love was a typo and I almost corrected it to a d. But then I realized that…she’s still out there, somewhere, loving us all, but most especially loving her daughter and her new granddaughter.

Or, if you believe in reincarnation, maybe…maybe Amy’s found her way back into the family.

I’ve had moments over the years of this feeling like I’ve known this world before, like I sought out my mom’s soul before I was even born, that we knew each other before this life.

I don’t know. Can you be a Christian and still believe in reincarnation?

There is so much we don’t understand about life beyond this world, this realm, this dimension.

All I know is that there is more. More live to live even after we stop living and more love to give because we never stop loving, even when our hearts stop beating, the love goes on.

Welcome to the world Arden Z. You are loved near and far, forever.

Twelve

Today, she is twelve.

What does twelve looks like when you’re Olivia?

Twelve looks like being 5’2 ½”.

Twelve is the start of liking to sleep in. Until this past summer, Olivia was up at the crack of dawn, ready to attack the day. As she enters the final stretch of being a preteen, she’s discovering the joy of extra sleep. Yay for me!!

She can do so much and yet…she doesn’t actually want to do a lot of the things she can do. For example, she’d rather not feed herself, thank you very much. She DOES do so, (for the most part) because we make her but she’d much rather sit back and allow someone else to shovel food into her mouth.

She’s incredibly creative and loves to write. She writes what she calls ‘fan fic’ a lot. She creates stories around both her imaginary friends, real life friends and family and fictional characters from movies and television shows she enjoys. She loves for me to read these stories and honestly, she’s pretty darn good at coming up with scenarios.

She quite tech savvy these days. She loves her tablet and has yet to ask for a phone. She has no one she’d want to text/message anyway.

She still thinks most of her peers are weird and annoyingly social. She would rather spend time at home with me and Tom and Alyssa or at her Gram’s.

She’s very much into fashion and wants to be sure her clothes are well accessorized. She notices every change I might make to my own accessories. If I change earrings, she notices. If I wear a bracelet, she’s the first to point it out and tell me that she likes it.

She’s amazing at spelling, struggles with math. She hates gym and music classes but loves art and technology. She’s so very glad this year that the only kids performing in the Christmas program at school are the kindergarten t hrough fourth grades, and the fifth and sixth grade bands. She’s in fifth grade but not in the band (I feel like Ms. V should sent me a thank you note for that) and so she gets exempted from the program. She gets to be in the audience, where she prefers to be.

We can take her to things like the musical where her sister was a cast member and she’ll sit through the performance with minimal complaint. She doesn’t like movies much, though and will find excuses to get up, such as having to use the bathroom every ten minutes.

The musical this year, though, was just interesting enough that she sat through it, often awed by the special effects of the plant moving and then eating people. It was fun to watch her watch the show.

She annoys her big sister just by being herself. Sometimes, yes, it’s deliberate, she is, after all, a baby sister. But sometimes, she can just breathe too loud and it will annoy her sister. But that’s life and I often find it amusing to watch them interact. Olivia doesn’t take Alyssa’s annoyances personally and that’s probably a good thing.

In so many ways, she’s twelve. In others, subtler ways, she’s still about eight years old.

I would still, in a freaking heartbeat, take 5p- away from her. I would give her all her chromosomes and watch her soar. She’s amazing just as she is but I would take away the challenges if I could.

I would give her friends and listen to her tell me to leave her hair alone, she’ll do it herself. I would check her homework each night instead of having to sit beside her and sometimes beg her to do it. I would buy her a musical instrument and go to mini-Bomber cheerleading sessions because if she didn’t have 5p- syndrome, she’d probably be a cheerleader.

And let me state here that I don’t care about cheerleading. I don’t care about band. I care about Olivia and all that she’s probably missing out on because of 5p- syndrome. I want so much for her

I’m grateful for her health and her happiness. I’m so very glad that she’s high-functioning but I wish, so very badly, that she were just her, without the 5p-, without the labels.

But since I can’t wish the 5p- away, we embrace her for who she is. The loving, funny, sweet, smart, empathetic (sometimes) girl she is. She makes her own joy and we should all try to be a little more like my Olivia.

I hope her twelfth birthday is the best one yet. I am so very glad I get to be her mom.

Happy Birthday

Today is Amy’s birthday. The first one since she died in February. I can only imagine how hard this day must be for her mom, for her kids, for the love she left behind.

Amy’s daughter is pregnant with Amy’s first grandchild. I think she’s due next month. It’s a girl.

Amy would have been so thrilled. I believe she is thrilled, watching from heaven.

I also believe she’s still loving all of us, watching out for us, keeping us safe and reminding us each day that we’re loved.

When we were growing up, Amy was my favorite cousin. She was only thirteen months older than I am but she always seemed so much more mature. She was very protective even when we were little kids.

She had a tough time of it as a teenager and a young adult but she figured it out and left her kids with a legacy of love. They knew they were deeply, thoroughly loved.

She loved a lot in her 48 years. She left a legacy of love and devotion.

Who would ever think at 24 that they have lived half their life? It seems so unfair. I know she had more she wanted to do but it’s so much better to focus on all that she did do.

She lived. She loved. She raised strong, smart, kind children and that’s important work right there.

I pray that if my time is shorter than I want it to be that I can get as much loving in as Amy did. I hope my kids feel my love even when I’m not here to tell them and show them.

I’ve felt her with me in the months since she died. I’ve felt her comforting presence, letting me know that it’s all going to be okay, no matter how it ends. She’s been here with so many of us, loving us in her new way.

I’m grateful that I knew her. I’m grateful that I got to watch her mother her kids and feel the love she had for so many.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Amy. You are remembered. You are missed. You are loved.

Eleven

My baby is eleven today. She’s eleven.

How is eleven treating Olivia?

Eleven is opinionated, strong-willed, argumentative, and still very snuggly. Eleven still wants back scratches at night but will screech at you at 6:30am if the sheets on her bed are messed up.

Eleven loves Barbies and YouTube videos about Barbie. She eats like an adult (loves a variety of food that does not include chicken nuggets) but still would prefer it if someone would sit next to her and spoon the food into her mouth, thank you very much. All this feeding of oneself is very tiresome.

At eleven, Olivia dresses herself and has very strong opinions on what she’s wearing each day. She CAN tie her own shoes but she very much prefers not to. She still needs washing her hair but can bathe on her own for the most part. She pushes her sister’s buttons just to see the sparks fly.

She argues with her dad because she can and he eggs her on.

I’m still her favorite person.

Eleven is going to be awesome.

Though I will confess to having said the following sentence to her, on her last day as a ten year old, “Olivia, stop talking to me. I’m sleeping.”

Yes…even at eleven, sleep can be a challenge. But life would be boring without challenges, right?

Bring on ELEVEN!

An Eleventh Birthday

Olivia will be eleven on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

This Sunday, her best bud, her favorite cousin, that imp Jaxon, will be ten. His dad got a coupon from Jungle George’s in Fort Wayne offering a free birthday party.

We considered doing a joint birthday for Jax and Liv on Sunday, the day my brother was able to schedule the free party.

At first Olivia was cool with that. But the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to have her ‘party’ on her actual birthday.

Last night, she and I talked about what she considered a party. She wants Barbie decorations and plates. She wants a pink cake with pink frosting and maybe a giant pink B on the cake denoting that it is a Barbie cake.

Okay.

She went on to tell me that she wants to look like Barbie too. She wants her makeup to make her look like Barbie and she wants to wear Barbie pink clothes.

Okay, but…

She wants her Barbie styling head to be the centerpiece of the table on the night of her birthday.

Okay, fine to all that but does she understand that this ‘party’ will be her, me, her dad, her sister, and her Gram and Pawp?

She nodded.

Whew.

I continued the conversation with, “You know, maybe next year when you turn twelve, if you’re talking to your classmates, maybe we can have a party where we invite some of them.”

She sort of rolled her eyes at me, as if to say, “Whatever Mom. We all know I have no intention of speaking to my classmates, like, EVER.”

Except I kind of think she WANTS to speak to her classmates. She wants to interact. She wants to be part of the fun, the groups, she antics that right now, she just observes. She just hasn’t figure out how to break the ice. I mean, we’re six years in at her school and she’s talked to maybe two classmates. So she’s got this precedence that she’s set and maybe she feels like talking to them has become this HUGE thing that she doesn’t even want to overcome.

Who knows? She still received speech therapy at school, which emphasizes communicating with her peers. That’s her biggest challenge these days.

So maybe having a goal, a friend birthday party when she turned twelve, will help her work toward talking to her peers.

It can’t hurt.

Birthday

It’s Tom’s birthday! Go Tom!!

He’s not big on celebrations. I mean, duh, he’s a DUDE, so he has to act all tough and pretend that he doesn’t like it when we make a fuss of him. But we do it anyway, because, hello, birthday!! We love birthdays. We, of course, being me and Alyssa, and Olivia. And Tom’s great about making our birthdays special so he deserves the same, whether he enjoys the fuss or not. Pssst…I think he kind of likes it even though he threatened to turn off his phone this morning so none of the older kids could call him. I told him not to be a birthday Scrooge.

But sometimes I think it’s just for show. He doesn’t like to make a big deal but he seems to appreciate it when the girls and I do it for him.

So we got him a few little gifts. I bought a cheesecake because it’s his favorite and we’re going to have a nice, low key celebration for our favorite guy.

We’re lucky to have him and I think he knows that we know it.

The Usual Suspects

The gang was all there: Tessa, Sophie, Nora, Jennifer, Gabby, Amelia and a new face, Aidan.

They were all there for Alyssa’s annual slumber party. She turned fourteen on Saturday and it was an all-out bash to celebrate.

At one point, I called all the guests (and Alyssa) into the living room so I could take a picture. Tessa started in right away, wanting to be on the end so if anyone printed the pictures, she could be cropped out.

The rest of the night, whenever a camera (phone) came out, she was covering her face, declaring she looked terrible in pictures and to not take any of her.

I remember being that girl, the one who knew she wasn’t fat but felt like she was supposed say she thought she was fat. And so I did. I said it all the way through junior high and high school until it took hold in my head and became a running mantra. “You’re fat…you’re ugly…you’re useless…”

I wanted so badly for people to assure me that of course I wasn’t fat. I wanted to hear outside voices corroborate what my inside voice was saying in the beginning.

So the next morning, when she girls were packing up, I said gently to Tessa, “You know it’s okay to like yourself, right? You know that it’s okay to know that you’re beautiful. It’s also okay to know that you’re not fat and to not ever say you are.”

I then reminded every girl there that they were so much more than their physical bodies. I told them that their friendships, their musical talent or art talent, their intellect, their kindness, all of that was so much more important than what the world said was classically beautiful.

Then I told them the group therapy session was over. They laughed but I hope they also took in at least a little bit of what I told them.

I hope I did too.

Shipping Her Off

As is our tradition, Alyssa’s 14th birthday will be celebrated with a slumber party for her and seven of her closest friends. This is not Tom’s favorite weekend of the year. He loathes having people over, especially so many, also especially for so long.

I reminded him, gently, that this is only one night a year and he can suck it up. Alyssa is a really good kid and this is something we need to do for her/let her do.

He rolled his eyes and agreed to the parameters of the party. Drop off is at 5pm tomorrow afternoon and pick up it at 11am Sunday morning.

It’ll be fine.

And best of all, my mom is kind enough to let us ship Olivia off to her house. Jaxon will be there to entertain Liv for the evening. I’ll drive her the three and a half miles to my mom’s house at 4:30 Saturday afternoon and pick her up at 11:30, or after the last party guest leaves, whichever comes first, on Sunday morning.

It would be fine if Olivia stayed home but it would also be tougher on both her and me. She’d want to be upstairs with Alyssa and her guests. Alyssa would NOT want her sister hanging out with her and so I’d have to keep coming up with ways to entertain the little beast ahem, I mean, my littlest love the entire evening until I finally managed to force her into submission by way of sleep.

Sending her to her Gram’s for the night is best for everyone, except, perhaps for my mom and stepdad, who will be stuck with a nine year old and a ten year old. I’ll remind them to be thankful that Jax’s little brother, C isn’t there too. C is two and a half and A LOT of work. So that gentle reminder should help them get through the night.

I’m a giver, I tell you.

One More Birthday Party

We had Olivia’s ‘Friend’ party on Saturday. I mean, you only turn double digits once, right? So why not have three parties (if you count us taking treats to her class on Tuesday after Thanksgiving/her birthday as a celebration, which, yes, I do.)

We only invited a couple of friends because we knew that Olivia would be overwhelmed if more than two or three of her classmates were to show up. With just two (and the big sister of one, who is friends with Alyssa, win/win!) Olivia could be her weird little self for a bit, warm up to having her two worlds colliding and then settle down and actually have fun with her classmates.

And that’s just what happened.

Tom and I spent most of Friday evening and Saturday morning cleaning the house. We’re lucky not to live in filth, so the cleaning was mostly just picking up clutter and dusting (okay, so maybe the layers of dust do count as filth...) but once the carpets were vacuumed the kitchen swept we felt pretty good about having company.

Tom even said, “We’re having nine-year-olds over, how much cleanliness are they going to notice.”

Well…the first guest arrived, one of the said nine-year-olds and one of the first things she announced as she walked through our living room was, “Wow, your house is WAY cleaning than ours.”

Which…hahaha. That was funny. I won’t tell her mom she said that because that would just be mean. But it was still really funny.

I told her, “Well, you do have a little brother and little sister. They probably make pretty big messes, don’t they?”

She gave a melodramatic sigh and said, “Yes, they sure do!”

I’d bought flower pots and paint and let the girls paint. Then we potted spider plants in the pots and the girls got to take their painted pots home with a new plant.

There was a Barbie cake to be eaten and presents to opened.

It turned out that two hours was the perfect amount of time to have guests over for a birthday party. The girls were sad when their parents arrived but honestly, I was kind of ready for the party to be over.

And so ends the November birthday season. Let the Christmas celebrations begin!