Kelle, Author at Enjoying the Small Things

My Girl & Her Really Fabulous Party.

May 17, 2010 By Kelle

I could go the complete sappy, I’m-gunna-cry route where I wax on about what yesterday really meant–that she’s three. That she’s taught me so much this past year. That three years actually seperates me from the moment her little self was placed in my outstretched arms and my old heart was replaced with a new one. But I won’t…because she’s not really three until Tuesday, and that gets its own post. But I will tell you about her party.

Parties are my thing. I thrive on planning them. Used to throw an annual Halloween bash that was hard core and rocked my world during the three months I planned for it. But I don’t throw many these days…except when it comes to celebrating the moment they entered my world. Because I can’t think of anything better to celebrate so big than a birthday. A Birth Day. The Birth of love and wonder and goodness like no other.

So, we go big. And after months of planning, when it’s all unleashed, I cry. I cry watching all the littles arrive…watching my girl’s big eyes and shy smile and realization that this is all to celebrate her life. Her day. I cry hearing music and laughter and mamas and kids and knowing that this day celebrates not only the joy she brings to us but the joy our friends bring to her.

With no further ado…a very fabulous Pink Garden Fairy Party for my love, my girl, my sprite, and her very sweet friends.

We ate in the woods. Had a glitter path (fairy dust, of course) leading the littles to a clearing among trees and pink tissue flowers, hanging fairies and pine cones and there, in the midst, sat a flowery table of pink just waiting for their smiles. Oh, I loved watching them arrive…finding their lunches, making their seat selections. And we mamas stood by aching from smiles taking it in…our sweet fairy littles.

My girlfriend, Rebecca, came down from Indianapolis to be with us this week and be a part of Lainey’s party, and she handmade all these little wooden fairies which hung from trees.

And all our girl fairies found tutus and hats pinned to a clothesline while our boys–or garden gnomes, as we called them–found Peter Pan hats.

And my girls? Oh, my girls. They made the sweetest pixies ever. And my heart was so happy seeing them together on our special day.

We painted fairy houses and hung them in the trees to dry. And I do believe, Lainey took every party guests’ painted house and painted over it again because I saw her at the painting station all of about a hundred times throughout the day and heard a couple kids at the end when they went to pick up their house say, “Hey, someone painted over my house.” I said nothing, of course.

And the fairy dust was a big hit too…

The yard was covered in pink fairy feathers because, of course, those silly fairies arrived in the night bringing lots of birthday wishes for our girl and her friends.

Lots of sweet fairy things to eat…

And the most beautiful fairy garden cake ever, made by my dear friend Amy whose cakes not only scream talent and beauty but even more so love because she only does this for friends and she spends hours making sure it’s perfect. When she walked in the door the other night with this beauty, my heart flipped and I wanted to cry because it was more than perfect. Thank you, sweet friend.

But mostly what I love about these parties? I love the littles. I love watching them take it all in. I love watching them interacting, sharing, loving. I love hearing them laugh and squeal and knowing that we will be doing this for a very long time–taking turns celebrating every year of each of these sweet spirits. I love the celebration and the fact that the feeling of birthday and love and gratitude is so real, you can almost touch it. It really is magic.

We are so blessed to know these little souls and honored to have them all a part of our lives. They make it all the sweeter.

The littles went home with pails of dirt and seeds to start their own fairy gardens and the mamas went home with some enchanted bubble bath…

And at the end of the day…it was so worth it. Every hour of work, every hot glue gun burn. It just felt so perfect, and my heart was overwhelmed with joy for my girl and the celebration of life. Last year, at Lainey’s party, I was pregnant with Nella and didn’t know it. And I thought about that yesterday. Thought about how our family was complete then but I didn’t even know. But now…after a long year and long stretches of growth and challenges, here we are celebrating life again and we are so complete. I felt…happy.

My girl is turning three…

…and what joy this past year has brought.

And so we celebrated. With my girl and her really fabulous party.
Happy Birthday, you beautiful, lively little sprite.

And more to come this week from my first real night out in over a year and from the day my sweet girl turns three.

Celebrating life…and celebrating it as big and beautiful as we can.

Today…

May 15, 2010 By Kelle

was…magical.

More to come.

Celebrate Life.

May 12, 2010 By Kelle

Monday arrived like the day after a fabulous vacation ends. With a big fat decrescendo where my mood bottoms out and I’m shaking sand out of my beach bag and reorganizing sunblock bottles. It didn’t help that the only thing that could have topped Sunday’s Eutopian level was if unicorns galloped their way across the beach and the Northern Lights lit up the sky. But recovery is all part of the game, and I’m getting pretty good at it.

And so I bake. Because I always feel good when I tie on the old worn apron that my Jo’s beloved mama used to wear when she made her famous cakes. And I like the way I feel when I’m measuring and pouring and wiping sweat off my brow with a floured hand. I like that I can ferociously stir all my frustrations out into one little bowl or whisk away my stresses with a few quick rotations of my wrist. But mostly, I love that moments in my kitchen glue me to my girls, Nella slung close to my chest just above the apron and Lainey by my side, mimicking my every move. Like ‘dis Mama?

We made oatmeal cookies, undercooked just a little so they’re chewy and soft.

…and we finished one off, with milk before dinner.

As usual, I’m not ready for a party this weekend, so I will mad-dash in shake-down fashion for the rest of the week, throwing things into closets and staying up far too late hot-gluing flowers to various objects to fairy-tize them. We did manage to make some very easy fairy cone hats out of poster board with some elastic ties. Can’t wait to see them on cute fairy faces.

And while we procrastinate a little more, we are still enjoying delicious small things…

Afternoon nursing on Lainey’s bed where the sun magically trickles in the blinds and I half fall asleep relaxing to little breathy suck-suck sounds and tiny fingers grasping to find my skin. It’s quite heavenly as Brett managed to capture in these shots…and I love, love, love her one little eye that peeks up to find me. *whale-eye* as Cousin Emma calls it.

She loves her hands and when they’re not in her mouth or grasping at dangling toys, they are peacefully clasped out in front.

Lainey somehow overnight mastered a black belt in baby-holding because she suddenly knows how to do it just right. No flopping head or flailing arms–no screaming baby while the big sister strong arms her into headlock. Just peaceful sisters and one very proud smile that says she totally knows she finally rocked this out.

And I can put my money on always, always drawing out a magic smile in the middle of a deep sleep. I barely have to whisper just the beginnings of some sweet nothings and the tiny corners of that mouth are turnin’.

Her body has graduated from a form-fitting football hold to a heavier flour-sack that just melts into the crook of your arm. But don’t let her comfortable recline fool ya…she’s strong and fiesty and has been known to arch quick and determined where we’re grasping to keep her put. Mellow little bunny with a pinch of firecracker…I like it.

And poor little sprite had a fever last night and was all groggy and clinging to her puppy blanket, but we are happy to get it out of the way because we are going to celebrate big this weekend. And when we celebrate life, we celebrate life, baby.

And the winner of the bathing suit. Random.org drew #619.

MWD: beautiful day! me and my little will forgive any “fewchure” grammatical errors if you forgive all the times in the “fewchure” that we will come here for a read and then i turn the speakers on the computer and we spin around the office:) love the music selections as much as i love your blog!

MWD, e-mail me your contact info and pick out a suit on Popina. Let me know what size you want and we’ll get one sent out to you! Congratulations Girl, and go buy a lotto ticket ‘cuz you just won over 1482 comments.

Happy Wednesday!