Birthday

The Friday before the holiday vacation Dave and I went to Bala House Montessori to celebrate Lauren’s birthday with a traditional Montessori birthday walk. Students hold a globe and walk around a candle that represents the sun the number of times that they are years old.

Here she is sitting with the candle before doing the Walk.

She also made a poster of her first five years of life that she shared with the class, and then she read everyone a story before Dave and I read everyone a story.

Showing her class the poster she made.
Reading to the class

In our house, on December 26th all of the Christmas decorations come down and we move right into birthday mode. This year was no exception. By the afternoon of the 26th all decorations were taken down and put away (in the newly organized basement, which was one of the many staycation projects we did over the break).

Unfortunately it rained all day on her birthday so we made the most of it and went to Jump, an indoor trampoline park. Lauren, Sophie, Lina and I all jumped. It was really fun. That night we did a family birthday dinner with the Sharps.

Birthday breakfast in her stylish birthday wardrobe.
This year unicorn was definitely the theme. Here she is with the second large stuffed unicorn she received, wearing unicorn earmuffs (missing in the picture are the unicorn mittens she also got)
Birthday cake with the family

The next day was her friends birthday party at Kids at Play, an indoor playground. About eight of her classmates came as well as Ava and Emma Devine and Kishore. We had the place to ourselves and the kids had a blast.

  • Lauren with some of her friends at Kids at Play
  • Cake #2

After Kids at Play her friend Teagan and Norah came back to the house. Sophie’s present to Lauren was giving her and her friends a makeover. I have to say, she did a very tasteful job.

The makeover salon
The party ended with a movie (Star Wars VI) and more pizza.

With three separate birthday celebrations she is now officially a six year old!

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On December 28th, Lauren turned 5! We had an early birthday  celebration at her school, since her actual birthday falls over holiday break.

She did the traditional Montessori celebration of holding a globe and walking around a candle for as many years as she is old, to represent how many times the earth has circled the sun since she as born. We also read a story to the class. Lauren picked How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and she passed out chocolate chip muffins that we made for her classmates.

And we were in the Florida Keys for her actual birthday.

Here she is doing her most favorite thing – swimming in the pool! On her birthday she decided that she wanted to be in the pool for the entire day. She made it about 5 hours straight before she threw in the towel (pun intended).

Life is good for this 5 year old!

 

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It’s been 7 years since this amazing girl was born. Some of the days have felt extremely long, but most have gone by in a flash. It turns out she’s a stubborn, empathetic, happy, smart little girl who has given us 7 adventure-filled years.

On her birthday, Dave and I went into her classroom in the afternoon to read a book to the class and then she gave all of her classmates bubbles to take home.

Handing out bubbles.
And then, to celebrate 7 years, she decided that she wanted to get her ears pierced. We ended up at a Piercing Pagoda the same spot (in Va.) that I got my ears pierced 30 years ago. She was extremely nervous, and Dave and I expected some (lots) of tears, but she was a trooper and didn’t shed one. Then we went to Benihana for teppenyaki – her favorite.  
Putting on a brave face
The action shot…
That night we had a little family party with our new family addition, Lydia, our au pair from Germany. She’s been living with us for two months and it’s like she’s been here for two years. She made a beautiful rainbow birthday cake for Sophie.
The rainbow cake
Two days after her birthday she had an ice skating party (for the second year in a row) with her friends. She’s pretty good on skates – which is great, because we haven’t really gone too many times this winter. I on the other hand didn’t even attempt to put on skates, like I did last year. It was better for everyone.
The expert skater
We got a rainbow cake from the best bakery on earth: Night Kitchen Bakery in Chestnut Hill.
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On the 26th all of our Christmas decorations came down and we were in full birthday mode! My parents were here for a few days and we had a little family party for Lauren. And then on January 3rd, when the kids were back in school, Dave and I went in to her school and celebrated again with Lauren’s class, where she did the traditional Montessori birthday walk around the sun (a candle) holding a globe. And for the third and final celebration she had a party with friends at the Mud Room, a paint-you-own-pottery spot in Ardmore. We had 22 kids and no broken pottery – amazing!

The crazy birthday girl! 
The birthday girl at her friend birthday party

Blowing out the candles at her friend birthday party
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As I mentioned in my previous post, we like to do birthdays. In addition to her class party (where I forgot to take pictures), Sophie had a family party and an ice skating birthday party with her friends.

“Happy Birthday” from her friends
Lauren and Dave out on the ice. I did one time around the rink and decided it was best for everyone if I remained the photographer on the sidelines.

Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. What could be better?

Her favorite present? Roller skates! She’s gotten the hang of them pretty quickly. 
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As is the tradition in this family, we extend birthday’s for as long as possible. And Lauren’s was no exception. She had an early celebration at school, before the holiday break, and then a small family party on her actual birthday, and then a larger family party in January, which was a dual celebration with Ari. I feel you can never celebrate enough.

In a Montessori classroom the birthday celebration involves the birthday child walking around a candle (which symbolizes the sun) holding the earth as many times as he or she is old. During that time the teacher talks about what has happened each year during the child’s life. Here her teacher Mr. Patrick (or pronounced Mr. Pack-rich by Lauren) is describing her life so far. 

Sophie was invited to join in the celebration from her classroom next door.

And then there was the family party with Ari. Here’s Mom, Brittany and the birthday girls

Preparing for “Happy Birthday” 

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This year we celebrated Sophie’s birthday in the same venue we did last year – Philly InMovement – a kids gym.
Rachael and Sophie

Sophie blowing out her candles, next to Claire. 
Sophie’s “big” present this year was gum! She wasn’t allowed to chew it until she was 5 and she got a big pack of bubble gum in her birthday bag. 

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This weekend we celebrated Sophie’s 4th birthday. On Friday she had a celebration at school. Dave and I got to come in for a special Circle Time, where she presented to the class a poster she made.

She picked these pictures and glued them on herself (luckily I wrote the words on first).
Here we are helping her present it.
Then they do a special ceremony where the birthday kid takes a globe and walks around a candle (to represent the sun) as many times as they are old – so Sophie walked around 4 times while her teacher, Ms. Dhar, talked about significant moments each year in her life. (Yes, she’s wearing a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt. She like’s it because it has a rainbow…and it’s badass). 

And then she shared cookies with all of her classmates. 
On Sunday we had a birthday party for all of her classmates and a few friends from outside of school at a kids gym called Philly InMovement.
Uncle Dick was there with balloon entertainment. 

Sophie did her first handstand!
And I made strawberry cupcakes – a personal request 🙂 

And at the end of the party she thanked all of her friends for coming. It was a really fun day and she had a great time being the center of attention and FINALLY getting to turn 4 🙂 

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We are thrilled to introduce Lauren Isabelle, born on December 28th at 5:50am. She weighed 6lbs 15ozs and was 19 inches long. The delivery was such a good experience, and both her and I did so well we got to come home from the hospital a day early! Big sister Sophie has been loving on her all week, just like everyone else who meets her.

About 5 minutes after arriving in the world. We were lucky enough to get to spend about an hour with her before the staff took her. She was wide awake the whole time, and both Dave and I got in some good baby gazing time. 

Sophie wanted to inspect every part of her right away. Her belly button and umbilical cord were particularly interesting to her. She also loved her little fingers and toes. 

Two very happy grandmas. 

Pop Pop

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We celebrated Sophie’s first birthday this weekend with a family party at the house. She had a blast visiting with so many of her family members and generally being the center of attention.

Here are two of her many birthday presents. Her first pair of Jellies (thanks Auntie Aleen!) and a recliner from Nana and Pap Pap. She’s also showing off her new trick: the clap. Yay!
Uncle Dick made balloon hats for everyone. This is Sophie with her second cousin Shannon.
And of course there was cake!!

Thanks to everyone for making it such a special day! What a perfect first birthday party!

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