Jennifer Woodbury

It's Good to be Five

For a girl who has only ever wanted to celebrate her birthday at home with family, it seemed fitting that Claire should be the last person to celebrate a birthday in our old house just one week before we moved. 

On her actual birthday, a Wednesday, she woke up and asked if the birds and butterflies were here now since it was also the first day of spring. Sadly, there was still snow on the ground. I took her out on a lunch date to Panera Bread (her request) and then we got our nails done together just like last year. I asked her if she wanted to invite a couple of friends from school to come with us, but she just wanted it to be me and her. "Maybe for my six-year-old birthday," she said. That evening she opened up her presents: a ballet bag, a heart locket with a picture of Mom and Dad inside, and a two new fairy books. It was exactly what she had asked for.

On Saturday we had our family celebration. Even though life was a bit crazy at the time, I tried to make it special for her. But I didn't order the edible butterflies for her cake in time, so the mailman ended up delivering them just a couple of hours after we ate the cake. But who really cares about edible butterflies anyway when you have an entire edible cake to eat?

I made a variation on last year's rainbow cake. This year's version was four layers in varying shades of pink.

After cake we headed into New York City to have afternoon tea at American Girl Place. It was ridiculously overpriced, even by New York standards, which led Matt to declare that this was "truly a once in a lifetime experience." (It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that I think we were hungrier when we left than we were when we arrived, if that's possible.) The highlight for Claire was getting her new doll Caroline. I was rooting for her to choose my personal favorite Kit (I guess Lucy is my last hope on that front), but Claire fell in love with that curly blonde hair. The next day she declared: "I am really loving Caroline because she has such beautiful hair." She's slept with Caroline next to her every night since.

She's in for exciting things this year. She's learning how to read, kindergarten starts in the fall, and she's about to lose her first tooth. It's definitely good to be five.

Here is this year's birthday interview. It's really interesting to compare her answers to the ones she gave last year and see which ones stayed the same (she still wants to be a mommy when she grows up) and which ones changed (American Girls have replaced Hello Kitty for favorite toy):

My favorite fruit is: strawberries.
My favorite TV show is: Full House (the girls are hooked on re-runs).
My favorite thing to eat for lunch is: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
My favorite outfit is: all of Ella's old dresses (the barely worn ones that I just pulled out of storage).
My favorite drink is: soda (said with a sly grin because she very rarely gets soda). Alternate answer: lemonade.
The toy I love to play with most is: my American Girl dolls.
Something that makes me scared is: loud noises.
My favorite animal is: a pig... no, an elephant!
My best subject in school is: art.
The thing I do the most awesomely is: numbers.
If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go to: Florida beach.
My favorite color is: pink.
My favorite thing to do on the weekend is: read my fairy books.
The snack I could live on is: goldfish.
My best friend is: Hope and Rian.
If I had one wish it would be: to stay with my family all the days.
When I grow up, I’m going to become a: mommy.

Why Two-Year-Olds are Awesome

On Memorial Day, our little family of five celebrated Lucy's 2nd birthday, and the whole event was a reminder to me about why I love this age.

You see, two-year-olds will be impressed with the puppy cupcakes you spent hours making the day before. The instructions are here if you are so inclined. (Oh yes, I got my Martha Stewart on. Just don't tell her I used boxed cake mix and pre-made frosting.)

Two-year-olds can be stubborn and uncooperative, but they are so cute it's hard to really care.

When you say "Happy birthday!" to a two-year-old, the two-year-old says it right back to you with unbridled enthusiasm. She's just happy to be celebrating; she doesn't even realize that it's all about her.

Two-year-olds are blissfully oblivious that cupcakes and presents are waiting for them, so they don't whine or complain when you make them take pictures with everybody in the family before the festivities begin.

When the time finally arrives for singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles, the two-year-old will start beaming about being the center of attention. Especially if that two-year-old is a third child.

A two-year-old doesn't care if her mother makes everyone re-enact the singing and candle-blowing because she wants to get the moment on video (see below) and in pictures (and she can't do both with the same camera). In fact, the two-year-old will absolutely love it and will make you light the candles and sing to her over and over again. And you will happily sing and cheer until your vocal chords start to feel sore because it makes her so, so happy. By the way, the two-year-old will get very skilled at blowing out candles.

A two-year-old isn't expecting presents, so when she does open the one gift you have for her, she will be over the moon about it. She will hug that puppy, kiss it on the nose, and drag it around the house by one of its floppy ears for the rest of the day.

Yep, two-year-olds are pretty incredible.

Especially mine.

2012 Photos | Week 17 | Apr 22-28

Back to regular life this week, with one tame (compared to last year) birthday party to cap it off.

It was so fun to watch this robin building her nest literally right outside the window in Ella and Claire's room. Although it's a little depressing writing about it now after finding a smashed egg on the ground yesterday (almost two weeks later) and no Mama Bird in sight.

Lucy is not quite the clingy mama's girl she was as a baby, but she still insists on being held often... especially around dinner time. I have learned to do many things one handed. She reminds me of a baby koala bear clinging to a tree trunk the way she holds on to me (I can't even attempt to put her down).

Claire's favorite lunch: a cheese sandwich cut into tiny hearts.

Ella celebrated her birthday in school on Friday and she had a very specific request for the treat she wanted brought in to her class: red and blue Italian Ice. I was so relieved to find these at the grocery store.

She also had a very specific cupcake request for her party on Saturday: chocolate with orange and blue frosting. When she saw these she said, "Well, I didn't ask for sprinkles but I guess it still looks good that way." Phew.

Party favors.

Ella had her party at our local paint-your-own pottery studio. I almost convinced her to skip having a birthday party this year (I am still recovering from last year's bowling party... and heaven help me because Claire has already decided that she wants a Hello Kitty Princess Bowling Party - with rainbow cupcakes - for her 5th birthday next year), but this girl couldn't pass up an opportunity to be the center of attention... or to get all those gifts. We compromised on an all girl party just to make the size more manageable. It turned out to be a great party. The girls all seemed to love it and I told Matt and I could throw a birthday party like this every day of the week.

2012 Photos | Week 16 | Apr 15-21

This week was all about vacation, with Ella's 7th birthday thrown in the mix as well.

The kids never quite adjusted to Central time, so they were up extra early every morning. Claire loved all the sundresses I packed for her and so she would waltz into our room every morning at 6am fully dressed, even though she would inevitably just be changing into a swimsuit a few hours later. We started calling them her "morning dresses."

One day at the beach we caught a bunch of these tiny clams.

The best time to find them would be right as the water receded... you could see them trying to dig themselves back under the sand.

Ella and Claire observe the clams in the little habitat they created for them. Ella was disappointed that we couldn't bring them home with us to keep as pets.

Ella is very adventurous at the beach. She loves getting in the ocean as far as she can go and riding the waves. She spent a lot of time with Matt in the water.

Claire kept busy at the beach, but didn't really like to get very close to the water. That's why she was always absolutely covered in sand by the end of the day.

Claire spent a lot of time making various sand pastries, like this cake.

Due to her continued sand phobia, Lucy spent most of her beach time sitting in a chair and eating snacks. The first thing she said every day when we got to the beach was: "Want sit down. Want snacky!"

She did have a few brave moments when she ventured out onto the sand, with her shoes on of course.

Lunch break.

Sandcastles.

In the afternoons, we headed to the pool. Lucy insisted on carrying this thing with her to the pool every single day, but never actually used it. By the end of the trip it was completely mangled and deflated from being dragged on the cement.

Matt and Lucy took turns blowing bubbles in the pool.

A little bubble blowing video. My favorite part is when Lucy pats Matt on the head and says "Good job Daddy!" You can also hear Ella giving Claire a swimming lesson in the background.

We didn't see many seashells at the beach except on the last day when it seemed like they all decided to wash up on shore at the same time. Matt, Ella and I had a great time seashell hunting...

... while Claire was in charge of carefully cleaning and organizing them.

I also managed to catch this crab on our last beach day. He was not pleased at all about being trapped in here. I let him go after just a few minutes when I was pretty sure he was going to jump right out of the bucket and claw my eyes out. The sea star that a fellow beachgoer found and gave to my girls was more our style.

A great way to end our final day at the beach.

Of course, our vacation would not have been complete for Ella without a trip to the go karts.

And here is the girls' favorite vacation restaurant. Apparently, they make the best spaghetti with butter around.

An evening walk on the beach... Lucy has to be carried the entire time.

Some family shots on our last night.

The day we flew home also happened to be Ella's birthday. The same thing happened last year and I was starting to feel a little bad that her birthday was being overshadowed by traveling for a second year in a row (even though she did have a birthday party planned for the following weekend), so I did my best to still make her day special. The night before, Matt and I blew up a bunch of balloons and put them in her room to surprise her when she woke up.

We also got birthday doughnuts from our favorite local bakery, The Donut Hole. We sang Happy Birthday (adding "cha cha chicken" after each line, as requested by the birthday girl) before she blew out her "7" candle. Then to top it off, we stopped off for one last go kart ride on our way to the airport. We got there right as the place was opening and we had the entire track to ourselves.

Then we got on a plane and reluctantly headed home (I was truly not ready to leave). Matt and I were really nervous about flying with Lucy after our experience flying to and from Disney last September. Matt will freely tell you that it was one of the most stressful experiences of his life - Lucy can put the fear of God into you when she decides to scream. But I have to give Lucy credit; she was a great little traveler this time around. Maybe we will attempt that West Coast trip this summer after all.

Claire At 4

I just have a few things I want to say about Claire before her 4th birthday is eclipsed by the next birthday on the calendar (spring is birthday season in our house). I think I say this every year, but in some ways I feel like she has already been four years old for months. And then in some ways I can't believe she's not "Baby Claire" anymore. Many of the friendships I formed after we moved here happened right around the time Claire was a baby and so for them - and in turn for me - she is frozen in time as a round-faced, big-eyed baby.

But there is no doubt she is growing up and starting to come into her own. Some may call her the more reserved sister; the one who will stay snuggled up on the couch while her older and younger sisters put on a dance show for the rest of the family. But lately I've been catching glimpses of her coming out of her shell. Like on the day before her birthday when she took off the dress she was wearing (but left on the striped tights), and came out of her room wearing her new leotard, a crown, and a wooden bead necklace. Normally she is shy in front of the camera, but this time when I asked if I could take a picture of her in her ensemble, she did this:

She was giggling. Swaying her hips. She was working it. (And then she asked if I would please print out copies of all these photos for her to have.) I love seeing this unexpected side of her.

Claire is such a perfect combination of smart and independent beyond her years, yet still so very sweetly innocent. I think a great illustration of this is my favorite little quirk of hers. She has always been extremely verbal with an expansive vocabulary, yet she has a knack for always mispronouncing certain words by just one letter or sound. For example, the Muppets movie we watched last Friday night was called The "Muffets." The other day she told me she was brushing her hair to try to get all the "nuts" out of it. And she will ask me how to "smell" a word instead of how to spell it. (No, she's not writing novels. I think she just likes to pretend to do homework like Ella.) The examples are endless, and it makes me smile each time I hear one.

Here's a little interview with the birthday girl at 4:

My favorite fruit is: strawberries.
My favorite TV show is: Max & Ruby.
My favorite thing to eat for lunch is: a bagel & cream cheese.
My favorite outfit is: my rainbow dress & silver shoes.
My favorite drink is: lemonade, of course. (This was her verbatim answer; I would have guessed milk.)
The toy I love to play with most is: Hello Kitty.
Something that makes me scared is: monsters.
My favorite animal is: a pig.
My best subject in school is: painting.
The thing I do the most awesomely is: clean things up at school.
If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go to: Disneyworld.
My favorite color is: pink.
My favorite thing to do on the weekend is: read books.
The snack I could live on is: gummy fruit snacks.
My best friend is: Hope.
If I had one wish it would be: to stay with my family.
When I grow up, I’m going to become a: mommy.

2012 Photos | Week 11 | Mar 11-17

Ella attempts to teach Lucy how to write. She takes her big sister role very seriously. On another ocassion she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, it's hard work teaching a baby to count!"

The one snack we always have on hand. Goldfish crackers were one of my favorite snacks as a kid too.

Claire & Lucy's kitchen fort. My favorite part is the collection of knick knacks lined up in the corner of the wrapping paper "room": Pez dispensers, colorful rocks, a plastic doughnut, and a Hello Kitty figure, among other things.

A few iPhone shots: 1) My rainbow cake helper. 2) On Thursdays Ella has her Mad Science program after school, so Claire, Lucy, and I pick her up afterward and we all walk home together. 3) Elementary school bingo night. I *may* have gotten just a little overly competitive. Thankfully Ella is still too young to be embarrassed by me. And besides, that competitive spirit managed to win her a prize!

Our week was capped off by Claire's birthday celebration.

Ella helped Matt put together the rainbow fruit skewers.

I was just trying to get a picture of Claire with her balloons, but Lucy saw the camera and immediately came over and put her arm around Claire so she could be included too.

Blowing out the candles. (Note that I am usually never in "blowing out candles" birthday photos with my kids beause I am always the one behind the camera, but this time I purposefully turned the camera over to Matt.) I especially love the photo on the bottom right. Even after everybody else was done with their cake, Claire just sat quietly at the table by herself and kept on eating her giant piece of cake. I honestly don't know how she fit all the cake into her little body, but I'm just happy she enjoyed it so much.

Claire and her party guests. (Note the outfit change into her new "princess" leotard.)

I can't believe she's turning 4!

Anatomy of a Rainbow Cake

When Ella turned 4, she had her first big party (a million preschoolers running around Kids U). So to be fair, I asked Claire if she wanted to have a party somewhere for her 4th birthday. "No," she said. "I just want a party at home with my cousins." For the record, that's all she wanted for her birthday last year too. Sometimes I wonder if she is for real, or if this whole sweet and innocent thing is just an extremely convincing and highly effective act?

Since Claire's birthday requests are so simple, I always feel like I have to do a little something extra to make her day special. This year, since she loves drawing (or having me draw) rainbows and her little party just happened to be planned for St. Patrick's Day, I decided to have a rainbow theme. Nothing too fancy, just rainbow balloons, a rainbow candy jar, rainbow fruit skewers (thank you Pinterest), rainbow party hats, and the crown jewel... a rainbow cake.

If you happen to follow me on any form of social media, you probably saw (and probably got sick of) all my Instagram photos of the cake-making process. Now, I know the last thing the world needs is another rainbow cake tutorial (there are already about a thousand and one online), but here are my novice cake-maker steps for making a foolproof rainbow cake. Mostly I'm just documenting this because I can't believe I managed to make this without any major mishaps like the overflowing cake pan incident of 2010.

First, take two boxes of white cake mix (I used Betty Crocker SuperMoist Vanilla) and mix according to the directions. Of course, you can go the Martha Stewart route if you want and make your cake from scratch, but my primary goal was to have the cake look good, and I wanted to accomplish that in the easiest possible way. Thank you Betty Crocker.

Second, divide the cake batter evenly among six bowls (I just used six cereal bowls and they were the perfect size). I used a measuring cup to divide the batter and there ended up being about 1 1/2 cups of batter per bowl.

Third, add gel food coloring to each bowl. I used a toothpick to take a glob of gel out of the container and add it to the batter in the bowl. These were the colors I used:

and this is what it looked like when I was done mixing all the colors. Obviously, if you have an aversion to food coloring this is not the cake for you.

Fourth, add batter from one bowl to a 9-inch round cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Repeat for all the remaining colors. I only have two round cake pans, so I could only bake two colors at a time. Now, here is my secret weapon. Instead of greasing and flouring your cake pans, use this:

I have no idea what is in this, but it's magical. The directions say to use a pastry brush to spread it but somehow I have managed to reach 32 years of age without owning a pastry brush. I just used a paper towel and it seemed to work just as well.

Fifth, allow the cakes to cool. Then wrap each layer individually and put them all in the freezer for a while. I left mine in there for a couple of hours, but you probably don't need to keep them in there for that long. I'm not sure if this step is really necessary, but it didn't seem to hurt and I think it helped a bit with the assembly. When you are ready to assemble, take each layer out of the freezer (starting with purple) and carefully cut off the domed top of each layer with a serrated knife so that the top becomes flat. Then spread a layer of white frosting on top (I used Betty Crocker Whipped Fluffly White Frosting) and repeat for all the remaining layers.

Finally, you are ready to frost the outside. I did one thin layer first (a "crumb layer" - look at me getting fancy and using official cake baking terms like I actually know what I'm doing), and then added a final layer on top. I used an angled spatula like this one and it was really helpful in spreading the frosting. By the time I was finished, I ended up using four tubs of frosting. It was a lot. If I ever do this again I may consider making my own frosting. Maybe.

When it was all said and done, the cake ended up looking like this. Claire had been talking about this rainbow cake for weeks and the final result did not disappoint. She asked if I would make her a rainbow cake for every birthday, which I believe means that I can officially call the whole experience a success. And for the record, I told her I would make her a rainbow cake every single year - even when she is a grown up if that is what she wants - and I think that pretty much blew her mind (but I totally meant it).

P.S. If you happen to borrow a cake stand from a friend for this project, make sure the stand doesn't have a lip around the edge. Because if it does, you might realize mid-assembly that this lip will prevent you from cutting and serving the cake so that the inside stays perfectly intact (and of course, the whole point of a rainbow cake is the presentation when it's served). And then you might have a minor panic attack and send your husband to the mall at 8pm on a Thursday night to buy you a new cake stand. Just a little public service announcement. You can thank me later.

Third Time's The Charm

On Memorial Day, Lucy turned one. And for the first time, I had a child who didn't burst into tears at the sight of frosting on her first birthday. (See previous adventures in frosting here: Part 1 and Part 2.) In fact, Lucy relished every moment of the attention she got on her big day. She squealed in delight at her balloons, and probably could have spent the entire day pulling on their strings to get them to bounce up and down. She smiled as we sang to her. She dug her hands (and face) into her pink-frosted cupcake. She loved holding her packages and letting her big sisters help her rip the wrapping paper off of them.  It was magical to watch.

One year ago when Lucy was born, Matt didn't spend the night in the hospital with me. Our babysitter was at home to help out with Ella and Claire during the day, but I sent Matt home at night. On the second (and last) night, the nurse took Lucy to the nursery for a few hours so I could sleep, then brought her back in the middle of the night to nurse. Afterward, Lucy wouldn't fall back asleep. She wasn't happy, and she was very vocal about it. I tried everything to calm her down but nothing worked. I remember being absolutely exhausted, standing in my room pushing her bassinet back and forth so she wouldn't cry, just wishing morning would come so I could take my baby home.

That night foreshadowed so much of what Lucy's personality would turn out to be (strong-willed and stubborn) and also much of what my experience as her mother would be. Lucy has required more of me as a mother than I expected, but also rewarded me more than I imagined. We have a bond that runs deep, I'm sure due in part to the fact that she hardly let anyone else within three feet of her until recently. At times I've felt like I wasn't able to accomplish much this year. It's as if I've been operating with one hand tied behind my back (or more appropriately, with one baby attached to my hip). But Lucy has helped me learn that things like always having the dinner dishes clean before the kids go to bed isn't really that important after all. And without her determination to refuse a bottle at all costs, I wouldn't have been able to reach the one year nursing goal that I used to think wasn't possible for me to achieve.

Lucy is someone who makes you earn her affection. When we are out, people always try the usual tricks to get her to smile but she usually just sits there, stone-faced. (We often break into spontaneous renditions of "Poker Face" when this happens.) But when she does let you in, you are rewarded with a sweet, loving, giggly little girl who likes to dive headfirst into piles of pillows and carries on animated babbling conversations (if only I knew what she was saying). She has a literal fan club of older sisters who eagerly await the first sight of her sleepy face in the morning and parents who have a hard time saying good night to her at the end of the day.

Happy birthday Lucy. I could never have imagined a better surprise than you.

Template by Gina Miller.

One Third Grown

I am feeling behind, mostly due to the vacation we took over spring break, and also a bit distracted as we try to figure out some big life decisions. But I can't let the month of April slip away without talking about my big girl who just turned six.

Photos by Tisha McCuiston

At her annual well check this week, Dr. Katy asked Ella to describe herself. "I'm funny" is the first thing that came out of her mouth. And she is my funny girl. Always laughing (and she truly has the best laugh) and joking, it is impossible not to smile when you are around her.

Ella has thrived in kindergarten just as I knew she would. Even though she has told me many times that recess and gym are her favorite parts of school (is she really my child?!), she is becoming a more confident reader every day and has discovered that she enjoys math. If you ask her who her friends are she will tell you "everyone," and she really means it. She seems to be able to make a friend out of anyone, even the little boy in her class who doesn't have many friends at all. His mom approached me the other day to say that her son had asked to have a playdate with Ella, calling her his "great friend." Ella is truly a great friend to everyone she meets, and it couldn't make me prouder.

In the past few months I feel like Ella has really matured. If she sees that I am overwhelmed in the evenings, she will ask "What can I do to help?" She often cleans up without being asked. She is a true protector of her little sisters. She expresses her love for her family freely. Seeing these traits emerge in her makes the growing up so fast a little easier to bear.

The other day Ella told me she wished I could be her mom even when she is a grown up. I tried to explain to her that I would always be her mom, even when she moves away. She seemed to contemplate what I was saying and then informed me that she wanted to live with me forever.

I'm totally holding her to it.

Template by Cathy Zielske.

Birthday Girl

"Mom, I'm a balleri...no. What am I again? Oh yeah, the birthday girl!"

Claire is three. I have so many thoughts swirling around in my head about my miracle girl that I want to get down on paper for the yearly birthday letter I need to write, but I'm having a hard time figuring out where to start. So maybe I will just tell you about the pink teddy bear.

Several weeks ago I asked Claire what she wanted for her birthday. "A pink teddy bear," she replied. And in the countless times I asked her this same question in the weeks and days leading up to her birthday, her answer never changed. Sometimes I would ask just because I loved hearing her answer so much.

You see, I have no idea how she got the idea of a pink teddy bear into her head, but somehow she managed to choose something that perfectly personifies her: sweet, innocent, cuddly, and girly.

Claire is the one who calls me "Mama." She's the one who thinks giving someone a kiss means you're "getting married." She's the one who always holds my hand tight whenever we are away from home.

She wants to be a ballerina when she grows up. She thinks everything is better in pink. She loves fancy shoes and jumping on the bed. She carries a shopping bag full of books around with her almost everywhere she goes. She is extremely shy around new people and in unfamiliar places. She wants to do everything herself and will concentrate until she gets it right. She adores her sisters.

She is also very "three." She can be stubborn and demanding and she is having a torrid love affair with the word "no." After she opened her birthday presents I gave her a gentle manners reminder by asking "What do you say?" and she responded with a firm "Nobody touch my stuff!" Honestly, we didn't think she had it in her. But she's also silly. And smart. And practically perfect in every way. Happy birthday Claire Bear.

(1) "Mama" and Claire. (2) Not sure she likes being the center of attention. (3) Aside from the teddy bear, the only thing Claire requested for her birthday was for her cousins to come to her house and eat cupcakes. Wish granted.

Oh, and she did finally get that pink teddy bear (thanks Grandma Susan!).