The Color of Our Family

A couple of days ago, my 6 year old daughter was drawing a picture for a homeschooling project.  She drew our family -- large round circles for bodies and sticks poking out for arms and legs.  

She worked carefully for a long time.  I noticed her digging through her coloring bin for just the right crayons.  After awhile, she brought me the finished product.  

“So, tell me all about it!” I said.

She carefully explained that she’d drawn each person in our family with their proper skin color (normally she is all about blue and green and purple people).  I studied the drawing in more detail and realized she’d done exactly that.  

“I drew Dad black,” she said, “because he’s the darkest one in our family.”

“You’re right,” I replied.  “He’s the darkest one.”

“And then I drew Michael in dark brown, because he’s the next darkest one.  And I drew me in light brown, because I’m not quite as dark as Michael is.  And then I drew you in pink and tan, because you’re not really brown, but you’re kind of pink-tan.”  

I smiled and gave her a huge hug.  “You know, honey, you did an excellent job showing how different we all are!” 

I thought about her picture as she headed out to the living room to play with her brother.  I’m so glad that she feels free to express the differences she sees in our family.  I’m glad that she knows this is a safe place to work out skin colors and other things like that.  

And I feel happy that for her, having different skin colors in a family is normal and simply requires a little creativity in the crayon department.

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Two missing teeth on the bottom!

Happy to be $2 richer!

Birthday Photos: The Final Installment

Eating cake and ice cream.

Little Daniel.

Reading birthday cards.

Holly and I!

Baby Aspen!

Holly's friend Riya had just gotten back from India with her parents, and they gave Holly a beautiful Indian outfit.

Our friends in the living room.

Kalyb, Nina's son. He adores Holly and we all adore him!!

My dear friend Nina.

Sage, my friend Lisa's daughter. (Two of Lisa's daughters are named Holly and Sage. Of course, not only do we have a Holly, but my sister is also named Holly and one of her daughters is named Saige!)

Michael insisted on wearing one of Holly's crowns too.

Who says little brothers can't wear crowns?!

There's nothing like being a princess for a day!

Pictures from Holly's Other 5th Birthday Party

Yesterday we had another birthday party for Holly, this time at our house. Originally we planned to have just one party, but we found out that Holly's friend Riya was going to be in India with her family for a month and would miss it. So we scheduled it 2 weeks later so her friend could come.

However, this meant that our other friends, Miss Irene and Magda, would be on a trip to Peru at that time. Of course, a birthday without Irene and Magda just wouldn't be a birthday, so they graciously said they would love to have a party for Holly on her birthday at their house (click here for those photos).

Here are the photos of the party we had at our house yesterday with some of our family friends. We had a very simple party for an hour in the morning with cake and ice cream.

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Miss Lisa and Holly. Lisa and her family let us use their "bounce house" in the basement for all the kid to jump on during the party. Then they said we could keep it for a few days. Holly and Michael have been absolutely loving it!!

Michael doesn't do real well when a lot of people come over...he likes to stay in Dad's lap.

Lisa's husband Doug and two of their kids, Holly and Aspen (yes, it gets pretty fun calling "Holly" and having two little girls look up!).

Our friends Jonny, Ana and "Baby Daniel" (as you can see, he's no longer a baby, but for some reason the kids and I still call him "Baby Daniel"!)

The birthday girl and Mom!

Our neighbor's mom offered to make Holly's birthday cake. It was so sweet of her. Holly was thrilled with the princess cake! And the wand lights up too!

Holly's friend Riya and her mother.

Our neighbors Jennifer and Todd (Jennifer's mom made Holly's cake).

My friends Nina and Lisa.

A group photo, thanks to a tripod!!

Holly...and Holly!

Lighting the candles on the cake (when I asked Holly what she was most looking forward to at her party, she said, "Having everyone sing Happy Birthday to me!").

Blowing out those five candles took a bit of work.

Michael snuck in and snitched some icing.

Handing out the cake and ice cream. Nothing like a mid-morning sugar attack!!

(There are a few more birthday pictures which I'll post in a few days.)

Pictures of Holly's 5th Birthday

Today we celebrated Holly's 5th birthday. I can't believe I have a 5-year old! Here are some pictures of our day.

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Our "adopted Grandma" had a birthday party for Holly. She is a former neighbor of ours and Holly was very excited to go to her house and celebrate! Here are Irene and Miss Nancy. Irene is wearing the joker hat!

Miss Andrea stopped by as well.

Miss Irene, Holly and Miss Andrea.

Holly looking through a neat sticker book that Miss Andrea gave her.

Big hugs from Miss Irene!

Miss Nancy reads Holly the card she gave her.

Excited to blow out her candle!

Enjoying some wonderful Polish food that Miss Irene made.

Holly is always a princess at Miss Irene's house!

Balloons along the sidewalk leading to Miss Irene's condo.

Miss Irene, Madga (Irene's daughter) and Holly and I! Mike and Michael were home because Michael is sick with a bad cold.

The beautiful birthday cake Irene made (she used to be a cake decorator). Yes, that is a photo of Holly on the cake -- very cool!

Two of Holly's favorite people.

This morning after breakfast, Holly opened her presents. She got a really cool alphabet puzzle from Auntie Holly. It's got jumbo pieces and measures about 2 feet by 3 feet when put together. The kids had a great time assembling it with Mike.

Holly got a Barbie "newborn doctor" from us. She actually picked it out a few weeks ago and patiently waited until this morning to open it. For her birthday, I normally tell her the amount we have budgeted for her gift, then she and I go to the store and she carefully picks out her gift. It's so cute to see her seriously weighing what she likes, the price, etc. And she is always thrilled with her gift, because it's exactly what she wanted. After she opened it, she kept saying "Thank you Mommy! I LOVE it!" over and over again. It melted my heart.

Holly getting ready to open her presents this morning after a breakfast of Peach French Toast (her request).

Enjoy the Holiday

Hi Blogging Friends,

I normally post here every Monday, but I'm going to enjoy the Labor Day holiday and post on Tuesday instead!

I hope you have a great day and enjoy your family and friends!

Why I Started Blogging

When I started my blog a couple of years ago, it wasn't as a means of keeping my family up to date on our activities, or recording our family history. It wasn't to let my friends know what was going on or to get to know people. It was simply a way for me to do something I have always loved to do: write. At the time, I didn't care how many people read my blog, or what they thought. In fact, I didn't even turn on the "comment" function because I honestly didn't WANT to know what they thought (in case they hated it!).

At the time, I was struggling with pretty severe post-partum depression. Our second child was only a few weeks old and I was having trouble making it through each day. My husband would leave for work and I would get horrible panic attacks, my heart pounding with fear at the thought of another day dealing with a very active toddler and a very fussy baby who wanted me to hold him all the time and who screamed the entire duration of every car trip, no matter where we went, thanks to the fact that he hated his car seat. Needless to say, we didn't go too many places.

Writing became a wonderful outlet for me. I never wrote anything about my post-partum depression. It was too depressing! Instead, I wrote funny things about my toddler, anything to take my mind off the pit I felt I was in.

Thankfully, my post-partum depression gradually went away after a few months. I didn't end up having to take any medication, but I did see a wonderful psychiatric nurse who helped me with some coping strategies and encouraged me that I wasn't crazy.

My kids will soon turn 5 and 3. Those dark days seem so long ago. I look back on those days thankful that they are over and that I did indeed survive. I wake up each morning now, wishing for a little more sleep but happy to be a mom to these two precious little people.

Poor little guy...this is what happens when you have an older sister who thinks it would be fun to dress you in her Halloween costume from last year.

Proud of her work!

Michael, enjoying his snack with our dear friend Miss Irene.

Eating cotton candy at the county fair.