Musings on Life and Beauty Archives - Page 59 of 146

Seven Heaven Birthday

August 10, 2011 jennifer Entertaining, Musings on Life and Beauty

I neglected to post about out little evening birthday party for my 3rd daughter last week. I love seven year olds. They’re helpful, sweet, teachable. It’s an awesome year if you’ve got a 7 year old in your house. After our early outdoor breakfast I let the children play while I baked the cake. It was so sweet to watch my eight year old offer to french braid her sister’s hair on her birthday. Lots of little things like that happened on her birthday which are precious for a mother to observe.

The highlight of our party was an outdoor movie projected on the side of the house. We watched Ramona & Beezus which happens to be a movie I love. It makes me laugh. It was really fun and made us all wonder why we don’t do it more often (perhaps because this summer’s mosquitoes have been terrible). Before the movie we had my brother, his girlfriend and her daughter come over along with some neighbors for cake and ice cream.

She also requested lasagna, which didn’t sound like much fun to make on a hot August night. I wondered if I could somehow make individual lasagnas in my muffin tin and what do you know but a quick google search yielded plenty of people already doing it. I got some pointers from those ideas and whipped some up. They were delicious (recipe to come).

We also served a special treat: Marionberry licorice, her favorite.

The cake turned out beautifully. It’s the first birthday cake I’ve ever made that I really feel proud of. (I’m not good at birthday cakes but would like to be.)

Everything about the cake was made according to her request and I think she liked the final product.

It’s hard to believe this sweet girl is already seven. I can still remember so clearly having her crawl around my house as a baby. One of my favorite pictures of her is her standing on our front porch the day she turned 3. It’s true that time speeds up with each child and I am reminded that there are still many moments for me to catch and hold on to a little longer. I don’t want to miss any of this. I love her so much.

And I still adore her freckles . It was a happy birthday in so many ways.

HH

Apricots and Vintage Pyrex

August 5, 2011 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

I am not an apricot lover. I am not a Pyrex collector. But I am in love with how beautiful these apricots are in the one vintage Pyrex piece I own.

We picked these apricots, my children and I, from a tree at the bottom of the hill. They loved the adventure of climbing ladders to pluck the orange fruit from branches. I went from little one to little one, holding them up above my head to reach the apricot they spied. I helped the older ones move and balance ladders so they could climb much higher. And I took a deep breath and let my 5 year old son grow up a little bit more as he climbed higher and ventured further than ever before. I held my breath as I watched him, positioning myself to catch him if he fell but he didn’t. He was careful but steady, cautious but sure. It was a precious moment to watch.

It’s really not surprising that the only Pyrex I’d love would be blue and white striped. I love the soft colors and the bright orange of the apricots together. As complimentary colors, it’s a combination that never grows old.

While I admire the color, my children happily eat fresh apricots (or “ape-er-cots”, as my three year old daughter calls them) and dream of an apricot tree in our own yard. I sigh with happiness for these golden moments of childhood, when adventure lies in age-old activities such as harvesting fruit from a tree. This is summer to me, and I wish it would never end.

Jennifer

Seven

August 2, 2011 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

This beautiful little girl is seven years old today. I decided to start the day off with a surprise.

I got up early to cook breakfast, then woke everyone up so we could eat breakfast outside as the sun climbed up over the mountain.

The menu was simple: breakfast sandwiches, potatoes, yogurt and orange juice. What made it special was the cool morning air, the sound of the neighbor’s sprinklers, birds singing in the trees. It was also fun to look around the table at rumpled hair and smiling faces as we broke the morning quiet with a rousing “Happy Birthday to You”.

The bulk of tonight’s celebration will be an outdoor movie after dark. I didn’t want her to wait that long so we opened her gifts at breakfast. She seemed pleased. I really want her to have a happy day. I love this girl so much it hurts sometimes.

I’ve wanted to eat breakfast outside for a while but just haven’t done it for this or that reason. I loved it. We’ve got to do it more often. Sitting outside as a family while the sun slowly creeps toward you is a beautiful experience. I highly recommend it.

I’m off to bake the birthday cake!

Jennifer