Grandma C's Present

My mom is always concerned about getting the girls presents to them on time. 

Just typing that sentence makes me laugh out loud.  My mom has a history of making beautiful handmade gifts, that she never finishes. 

I remember the fair isles sweater that I wanted so badly when I was a kid.  She started making me one for my birthday or Christmas, I don't remember which.  When I opened my present I learned quickly that it wasn't finished.  She assured me that she would finish it soon.  When she finally did finish it she gave to my daughter and by then it was too small for her. 

Sorry, Mom, but it puts this year's wonderful gift into perspective.

I had mentioned to Mom that I had been saving all of Haley's train t-shirts that she had grown out of.  At first I saved them just because I couldn't bear to part with them.  She loved them so much.  Then I saw an ad in a magazine about making old college t-shirts into a quilt.  I told Mom about it and she said she would like to make a quilt for Haley.

I brought all of the t-shirts with me when I visited my new neice for the first time.  Mom has been working away on the quilt ever since.

She called me a couple of days before Haley's birthday and told me that it wasn't quite done.  She wondered if it would be OK if she gave it to Haley while we were visiting in Montana.  I was actually excited for her to give it to Haley then.  I think Haley gets a lot more out of presents when they are presented to her and she can open them in front of the giver.  I know I like to watch people open presents, especially my own children.  I really like it when I know it is something that they are not expecting and something that they will like a lot.

So shortly after we arrived in Montana my Mom brought out Haley's gift and asked her if she would like to open it.  "Yeah," she said as she reached for it.  Mom had to help her open it, it was in a big gift bag and she had tied the handles together with a ribbon.

I think Haley was a bit overwhelmed.  I don't know exactly why.  Maybe it was the two day drive.  Maybe it was the fact that we finally had arrived.  Maybe she was "tarred."  She looked at her gift, but there wasn't the excitement that I had expected.

When we got to the cabin that we were going to stay at for the week and picked which room Haley and her sister would stay in I got the quilt out and laid it on her bed.

Then she was excited.

She talked about it every night when she went to bed and she was excited to show it to her Aunt and Uncle and cousins when they arrived.

We have it on her bed at home now and she points at a different square each night and we talk about it.  She really loves her quilt and it is something that she will treasure for a long time. 

Notice the tracks between each square.

The back of the quilt.

Thanks Mom for getting it done - on time.

Haley's Birthday

Haley had a great birthday, she got to see the Daylight twice.  We told her that was her present.  She didn't seem to think that was a problem, she loves the Daylight.

As the day wore on though I got the feeling that she was missing something.  She wandered around the house like she was looking for something.

Her sister and I went shopping for her birthday while she and her Dad were out watching the steam engine the first time.  We wrapped them and got everything ready.  The next time they went out I put everything out.  This is what she came home to.

She said "Wow" when she walked in the door.

She got mostly clothes this year.  She gets a calalog from a store called Justice.  She is almost too big for their clothes.  She likes to look at the catalog and point at her favorite clothes.  Her sister had been paying attention to the clothes that she liked the most.  We got those.  I also got her a new train shirt depicting another favorite steam enging the UP 844.

We couldn't resist one other thing.

And then there were the cupcakes of course.

Happy Birthday to You!

Haley's Big Sis had a birthday.

I had been out of town so I hadn't done any shopping.

I know, LAME! 

Anyway...the night before her birthday she said "If you got me a YouCurl for my birthday could you just leave it on my bathroom counter in the morning so that I can use it before school."

Subtle.

Haley and I were about to head out to her Confirmation class so I just smiled at my daughter and left.  I thought that the YouCurl (that I hadn't bought) could be from Haley.  So after Haley and I went to her class and my choir practice at church we stopped at Target.

Haley likes Target.

She likes to shop at the $1 section at the front of the store.  She also likes the girl clothing section.  She was not happy with me when we quickly passed by them both.  I told her that we were there to get her sister a birthday present.  That got her going.  "Birthday.  Birthday.  Birthday," she said.  I explained to her that it was her sister's birthday and that we were getting her a gift that Haley could give her.  She just said "Shopping," in a very annoyed voice.

After we made our purchase we got back in the car and then she really had a fit.  Great big tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Haley, tomorrow is your sister's birthday.  You can give her this present tonight.  Do you want to go home and put a bow on it?"

She seemed to perk up a bit.

"Do you want to put a bow on it?

"Yeah."

"What color bow do you want to put on it?"

"Red."

"OK, when we get home we will put a red bow on the box and you can give it to sister, do you want to do that?

"Yeah."

So when we got home I got out the gift wrapping supplies and Haley picked out a nice red bow, she also noticed a tag in the box with her sister's name on it.  I thought that it was appropriate so I taped both onto the box.  I handed the box to Haley and told her to give it to her sister and say "Happy Birthday!"

I gently nudged her in to the living room where her sister was watching TV.  Haley just stood there.

"Haley, give sister the box and say 'Happy Birthday.'" I whispered into her ear.

Haley took two steps into the room and threw the box at her sister (who had been watching TV and not even paying attention to us) the box landed with a thud on her stomach and she jumped.

"Haley, say Happy Birthday."  I said.

Haley turned and walked out of the room.

How does the saying go...it is the thought that counts?  Hmmmm...

Cake with Candles

Blowing out the candles on her birthday cake has always been one of Haley's favorite things about her birthday.  This year was no exception.  She knew the cake was made and frosted.  She is very good about waiting for dessert.  She has learned that she has to eat her meal before she can have dessert.

It's pretty funny actually how that connection has played out over the years.  If she wants a treat she will ask for food and then when she is done eating she will ask for the treat.  The first time she did this I didn't catch on until it was too late.  I just thought she was hungry, but in fact it was just logical to her that if she can't have the treat until she has eaten then she must eat in order to have the treat,  I was actually quite proud of her for thinking that through.

This is Haley enjoying her birthday cake with a candle on it.  We have given her the one candle on her piece of cake rather than thirteen candles on the whole cake because she can't even blow out the one candle by herself.  I don't see the point of frustrating her by giving her thirteen of them.  She likes her one candle though.  I help her blow it out.

You'll notice in this picture that she is not even trying to blow the candle out.  She makes the slightest blowing sound, but it doesn't have enough power to actually extinguish the flame.

So at lunch the next day Haley eats her lunch and then asks for cake.  I get up to cut her a slice and she says "Candle."

"You want me to put a candle on your cake?"

"Yeah."

I set the cake down on the table in front of her.  She looks at me.  "Do you want me to sing?"

"Yeah."

So I sing her the Birthday Song again and we blow out the candle and then she can eat her cake.

Haley has wanted me to put a candle on her piece of cake, light it, present it to her, and sing her the song every time she has had cake since then.  She has wanted this after lunch and after dinner.  She says "Cake with candle."

There is only one piece of cake left.

Another Year Older

This spring a friend of mine asked me if I could stop at the Feed Store on the way to her house and pick up some baby chicks.  She has chickens in her back yard that she keeps for eggs.  She thought that Haley and her sister might enjoy getting the chicks and carrying them in the car to her house.  They did enjoy that and Haley really enjoyed the feed store.

The store had a full rack of Shleich animals and a whole wall devoted to Breyer horses.  She had a lot of fun looking at the store, but I was grateful that she was distracted by the cacophony coming from all of those baby chicks.  There were hundreds of them and you couldn't even have a conversation if you were right by them.

I decided that for her birthday it might be fun to go to the Feed Store and let Haley shop.  We didn't direct her one way or another we just let her look.  She was excited to find a horse just like Chelsea, the horse that went lame a while back.  She grabbed the little horse and immediately said "Yelsee" which is how she says  Chelsea.  She also got a horse that kind of looked like a Shetland pony I used to have and a little deer.  She looked at the wall of Breyer horses, but she didn't seem like she wanted to bring one home.  I think she prefers her little horses because they are small and she can carry several in her hand as well as in her purse.  She also likes to sleep with them.

We got to the car and told her that we would have to name all of them.  Chelsea was done already named of course, so Dad suggested Sandy for the sandy colored mare and Haley came up with Raina for the deer.  We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and picked up a gluten free cake mix and a can of frosting that didn't appear to have dairy in it.  I put the cake in the oven when we got home.

We had stopped at the mailbox on our way in and there was a package for Haley as well as a couple of Birthday cards.  She opened them as soon as we got in the house.  The package was a gift from her Grandma C, she got a really pretty box with horses on it and a couple of magnets with horses on them, a key chain with her name on it and two shirts.  She was excited that she got money in her birthday cards.

Haley's Big Sis called and wished Haley a Happy Birthday and asked if she had opened the gift from her yet.  She hadn't, so she opened it while she was on the phone with her.  She opened her present and found a Polly Pocket doll and some clothes for it and then her Big Sis sang the Birthday song to her.

Later Dad frosted her cake and we had dinner.  After dinner we put a candle on her piece of cake and sang the Birthday song to her.  I helped her blow out her candle.  I had forgotten about one more present from me, so I asked her if she wanted to open another present.  She said "yeah."  It was clothes for her Barbie dolls.  After that we went for a walk.

So now I have two teenagers.