Princess, Princess, Princess

So my Goddaughter turned 6… let that sink in a little. Pause. All right it’s sunk. I can’t believe it she is six! And a wonderful little girl also she is smart and polite and very cute! Did I say talented? Well she is that also. But she can’t be six. She can’t be going into 1st grade ugh! Wasn’t just the other day I was cutting her umbilical cord just moments after she was born? She still doesn’t believe me when I tell her I helped make her belly button! I also was the one to feed her strawberries for the first time, I still supply her berry habit. I cried just last year watching her dance at her first dance recital (she was a very cute bumblebee). We have danced to Phil Collins “You’ll be in my heart” from Tarzan right after she was born, she fell asleep while Mom was resting or showering or something. I have taken her on rides at Disneyland (she had to ride with Auntie). She is the daughter of my best friend/chosen sister. SHE CAN’T BE SIX.

I was video taping parts of her “Princess Party” her mom had arranged a real live princess to show up (much less scary than a clown). She was entranced with the princess and with all of her school friends! She even had time for her little cousin; she made sure that Miss Bee wasn’t left out of the circle. Watching her sit on the couch and play the games that the princess was leading them in was amazing to me, all I could see was her taking her first steps, the look on her face when she realized that I wasn’t just hers that I had two other kids that laid claim to me and my lap, watching her hold Miss Bee for the first time, or the feel of her little arms around me when she gives me hugs. I can’t believe its been six years since she was screaming at all of the nurses making her voice heard that early May morning.

The funny part about this little rant is I do this with all of them all of the kids close to my heart. My own kids, my godchildren, my friend’s kids, my nephews, and my cousins all of them, I come from a large Irish family! Need I say more; there is always a new baby around, there is always a birthday or something. I understand the circle of life, (I have watch Lion King) but why is it I am so surprised when they gain another birthday? Or hit another ‘Life’ event? Okay she is allowed to grow up, breathe, another in through the nose and out through the mouth. I understand what my Grandmother used to say “cherish every time you see them, hold close every moment, and always remember BUT allow them to grow, learn and make mistakes above all LOVE them” My Grandmother was very wise! No wonder she cried when I did something learn to drive, graduate for school, get married, have kids, get a divorce and get married again. She always had a little smile on her face when one of us kids would reach a goal! I guess I never verbalized just how hard it is to watch them grow up, I have moaned and groaned that Frogs is no longer a toddler, or that Sunni isn’t in elementary school, that Miss Bee has outgrown a favorite outfit. But its just hard to watch them make the mistakes and the learn from them on their own. Its wonderful to watch them succeed: a first dance recital, a perfect color guard performance, a great soccer goal save, the first time they can work the swing all by themselves or have the courage to go down the slide without help and no one to catch them at the bottom. Watching your kids (and that includes the ones you claim and didn’t have to give birth to) fail and succeed is the hardest thing to do and the best thing to do! I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.

~“Cherish every time you see them, hold close every moment, and always remember BUT allow them to grow, learn and make mistakes above all LOVE them”~ Tutu

Driving and all it magic

So just yesterday Sunni tells me in a very enthused voice “Hey Mom I am almost done with my drivers training! I only have one more section left to do!” When she is done with that, she can go down and take the test to get her permit! And be allowed behind the wheel of a car, with adults mind you but still behind the wheel of a car! I don’t know if I am ready for this! I know her Aunties and Uncles are not ready for this most of them still see her sucking her thumb and holding onto her silky (her own name for her security blanket). And she is about three, pushing four when she finally got rid of her silky. She can’t be ready to drive a car! Not yet! And yet on the other hand she gets her license and I don’t have to leave work early and drive her to the college for a make up exam and then to a audition and not get home until 10:30 at night after a long day at work. Or I don’t have to worry about how she and her brother are going to get home from school everyday or to color guard or to soccer practices throughout the year, but I do have to worry about car accidents and insurance and another car. So do the pros out weight the cons.
Cons
Extra insurance
Car accidents
Extra gas (and right now its at an all time high of $2.52 a gallon)

Pros
No more car-pooling for: School, Soccer or Color Guard
Being able to send her to the store for Milk on a Sunday morning
She can pick up little sis from school/daycare

I am not sure, luckily I have about six months before she can even take her test to get the drivers license and then another few weeks or months before she can really go and drive by herself. Calif. has a Graduated Licensing program… learner, provisional, and full-licensure… So I have time to make sure that she is ready to drive and that I am ready for her to drive!

What a Weekend!

So how do you know you are crazy or at least in over your head? I say it comes when you have one daughter going to the prom and the other having a third birthday party the next day! Oh and throw in a sister-in-law’s baby shower on Saturday just for good measure. Just to complete the insanity you choose (yes I said choose) to get up at 4 in the morning to watch them dance up the sun. I am still shaking my head in wonder… trying to figure out where my brain is and how much do I really think I can slam into a 36 hour period.
So I started my weekend by renting a huge bush mower to cut down the jungle that is our back yard. That took me about three hours all told, between getting the back yard picked up enough to get the mower and renting and mowing… It really went by quickly! Froggy had the honor of raking up the grass leavings as best as he could, Sunni and I both worked in the yard doing little things like pulling weeds. Froggy also mowed the front yard. We (Sunni, Miss Bee and I) went to the baby shower that was probably the most relaxing part of the weekend. We stayed about two hours or so and the rushed home to start getting ready for Prom. While Sunni was getting ready I was finishing up part of the bathroom we had started remodeling it two years ago and because of money issues and manpower issues it is just now getting done! I really wanted a sink in the bathroom! And I got one YEA!!! So Sunni left for the Prom, boy was she dressed wonderfully, I know she is growing up and mostly I am okay with that but she really is a very beautiful person! My sister came over to take pictures and Sunni was properly exasperated with the both of us. We just kept telling her wait until next year when we really will be taking pictures! I also informed her that next year I will be a chaperone for the prom but I wont do it for her Senior year! Man I just can’t believe that she is growing up that she is going to be in her last two years of High school. It will go by fast they always do! Anyway my BIL and I finished the sink (while cooking dinner) and finally got to bed at 10pm… DAY WAS LONG!
The night was even shorter; the alarm went off at 4am… I jumped up (Okay staggered up) got dressed, made tea, woke up Sunni and was picked up by a friend who always goes with us, or should I say drags us along. We managed to get there on time amazingly enough. It was a wonderful site: in the middle of a large field with several Oak trees around speckling the countryside, hills on both horizons. The tall grass had been mowed down into a large circle for dancing and watching, they had placed candles and flowers all along the path and around the circle, the fog also added to the magic of the morning by just circling us not too close but it was like the lights from the candles kept it at bay. The sound of music and bells in the quite morning air didn’t take away from the silence of the morning but added to it. Then as the sun breached the hills in the East the wonderful sound of bagpipes, I know you say “wonderful sound of bagpipes” there is something to be said about bagpipes played well… you certainly understand why the English hated them so much. The sound bouncing off the hills and trees is enough to make you hair stand on end! Lovely! We watched dancing and cheered when the sun peeked its bright globe over the hills. Even managed to dance a little ourselves, a really nice morning. Followed by a trip to a great bakery just out of Sebastopol picking up bread, coffee and breakfast rolls. Then racing home to finish getting ready for the birthday party.
Manage to go shopping, take delivery of a jumpy house and set up for a party in just a few hours. I had help from two really great friends or else it never would have all gotten done! So then the party started and people started to arrive, kids started jumping, parents talking and everyone eating! Miss. Bee was waited on hand and foot! At one point she had both the Grandmas sitting next to her, like she was holding court! She had her ‘happy cake’ and opened all of her LOOT! I know that they say that toddlers are toddlers until they are four but really Miss Bee is becoming her own little person so very quickly its amazing to watch. At one point I looked out over the back yard and was very happy just about everyone that I really cared about was there from family to chosen family! What was amazing to me is that this group of friends or chosen family has grown over the years not really added anyone but they have all had families of their own, and it is so wonderful to see everyone and watch all of the kids grow! Everyone started to leave and we started to clean up… my kids stayed in the jumpy house even as we made dinner. Miss. Bee was in the jumpy house as the guy came to take it away, she told him ‘tank you for brining a jumpy house for my happy day’… and when we had to take it down she gave him just the biggest pouty face, he looked at me with a pained look on his face and told me ‘oh man I should just leave the house with you!’… It was very funny. All in all the weekend was very good, very busy but very good!