...and i can cry if i want to...

so, here are the pictures of ev i promised.  her birthday was celebrated after a nap, before daddy went to work and with a surplus of the kids' friends in the house.  we sang, she cried.  i made a homemade vanilla cake that was amazing.  sam said, "mom, this cake tastes like a sugar cookie."  my love affair with homemade sugar cookies will be reignited the second the thanksgiving turkey is gone.  here's the link to the recipe:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Heavenly-White-Cake/Detail.aspx.

we gave her a tepee that i purchased at a craft fair earlier this fall.  it's a fabric, pvc pipe contraption that's just big enough for her, a sibling and the dog that inevitably gets "invited" in.  i'll just have to remember to do tepee checks.  there's no telling what will end up in there!  then we ate a roast beef dinner with brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes and ran off to church, where she got to be the "birthday girl" in her class and be loved on by all those wonderful nursery friends and teachers!

whew.  5 months straight of kid birthdays and then christmas.  wonderful family planning on our part, huh?  july (audge), august (liv), september (sam), october (ev) and november (ethan).  once the forth of july hits, it's celebration station around here.  and while it can be lots of work and planning and coordinating, i love it.  we do a homemade cake (each kid has their favorite), a dinner out or if they want a party with their friends, dinner in.  and a gift.  it's good for us to have a policy:  i think the kids know what to expect and there aren't any lofty expectations or delusions of grandeur.

i was walking through bed, bath and beyond the other day, when an innocent looking enough child pressed one of those buttons on a horrid machine that started a christmas carol.  i could have run from the store with my hands over my ears.  birthdays.  i'm still on birthdays.