Larry's 4th Birthday

My little boy has been on my mind today. He's just so loving and adorable... and by the way, he had a birthday last month. (poor middle child...)

Although there are some down sides to having a Christmas birthday, one positive aspect is having so many aunts, uncles, and cousins around almost every year! He had the largest and most diverse group this year with cousins from BOTH sides of the family there to sing to him!

In addition, we had the Amazing opportunity to have Aunt Karla make him a specialized birthday cake. It was Incredible! No other words can describe it. Incredible! See for yourself:

Understandably, by the time we got around to eating the cake, there were a couple little finger pokes in the top and side... not to mention some skid marks from Lightning McQueen and Holly... but hey, it's his birthday cake...

He loved it from start to finish! After his birthday, he asked for cake for every meal (seriously, breakfast, lunch, and dinner) until it was gone. And if that wasn't enough, when we were making plates (drawing on the paper part that gets sent in), he said, "Mommy, draw a track, like on my cake!" I don't think any other cake in History has had so much love and reverence.

Thank you, THANK YOU, Aunt Karla! Try as I may, I know my baby boy gets lost amongst his sisters sometimes and deserves more attention, but without a doubt, he knew on his fourth birthday, that this cake was special for HIM!

Dad's book club: Anne of Green Gables

Finally, after 27 years of life and a hundred times watching the movie, I read the book.

All in all, I loved it. It is sweet and sincere and fun. It is not an action-packed story, not even necessarily exciting. The story just ambles on at a lazy, comfortable pace... Much like a summer in Avonlea. Actually, it was so relaxing that I actually fell asleep reading it a time or two. But honestly, that only added to its charm.

This isn't the first time I've tried to read this book... I was unsuccessful in elementary school and high school: never made it past the first few chapters. But I'm old. I finally can appreciate the easy steadiness in the tempo. Not to mention, I can finally understand all the lavish descriptions Anne gives.

Lucy Montgomery is really quite an artist with words. I was considerably taken by this passage, describing a simple fire:

"Anne was curled up Turk-fashion on the hearthrug, gazing into that joyous glow where the sunshine of a hundred summers was being distilled from the maple cordwood."

I mean...WOW!!! Just go back and read that again...wow.

On the more sentimental side, Montgomery is spot on as well. Marilla's internal reverie on Anne brought me to tears...three times! Moms are just mushy that way, I guess.

The story doesn't grip you and pin you down like a Harry Potter or Twilight or Hunger Games does. Rather, it waits patiently for you to come, like an old friend who was always there for you,something which you took for granted... For 27 years.

Bottom line, I loved it...when I came to it in my own due time.

Dabbling on in sewing again...

What is this thing?

It's a crayon roll! ... Sort of...

That was the original pattern anyway... I made a slight modification with the slanted seam so all the bells would sit evenly at the top...

I needed some way to store my bell pipes that also provided easy and organized access to them. Easy out, easy in... No loud bell clanking involved! Yay!

Thanks to the Pleated Poppy for the great tutorial! It always feels good to have a useful, one-evening sewing project! There's my adventurous sewing exploits for the week!