JEWELS.

[Ruby is telling Dadam about a birthday party she plans to attend.]

Ruby: And Anisa said when the party's done we'll get bags of candy!

Dadam: Oh yes?

Ruby: Yeah, and . . . juralee? Juralee?

Dadam: Oh, jewelry?

Ruby: Yeah, JEWELS.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMLISSA!

The Party in Pictures

Some photo highlights from the birthday party:

The Cake.

The Special Shirt.

The Party Goers.

Birthday Girl at the Top.

The Total Insanity That Was the Party Room.

The Presents at Home. (That's a DVD of "Shark Week" in case you're wondering.)

The Sisters Who Love Each Other.

The End.

Happy Birthday to Uncle Alex

I have no idea why they're hugging like that, but whatever -- you get the idea.

Reflections.

As Momlissa says, today is Cecilia’s seventh birthday, and this morning I also received a terrible piece of news about something that has happened to a friend of mine.

These two events, one glad and the other tragic, have been playing against each other in my head all day. It is one of those days where something sad has made me realize how very lucky I am.

I hope that everyone who reads this feels grateful for the good things in their lives, and doesn’t take anything for granted.

Happy birthday, Cice.

SEVEN!

Today is Cecilia's 7th birthday. Unbelievable.

She's having her first friend birthday party -- up until now the birthday celebrations have been just family gatherings or family outings, but this year we figured it was time to invite her little friends to come celebrate, too. We're heading out in a bit for a local rock climbing gym, which is a terrific idea for a party if you ask me (the kids are all in harnesses for two hours!). Assuming we can get the cake there in one piece (the cake was a bit of a production), I'm sure it will be a hoot.

Pictures will follow in a day or two, of course.

Happy birthday sweet girl!

She Drives Us Crazy

It seems like we haven't posted many pictures lately, so I dug one up from last spring. It's Ruby at a Chuck E. Cheese and she's driving some sort of truck or bus. We took her there because Cici was at a birthday party nearby and we didn't want Rubes to feel left out. She had a terrific time and Dadam and I were reminded why A) we don't EVER want to live in the suburbs, and B) Chuck E. Cheese is pretty lame.

Valleyfair

We took Cici to Valleyfair for her birthday on Thursday and had a marvelous time. The weather was gorgeous and the lines were very short and our birthday girl was B-R-A-V-E! For those familiar with Valleyfair, here is what she rode:

Corkscrew (twice)
Xtreme Swing
Looping Starship (twice)
Scrambler
Monster
Tilt-a-Whirl
The Flume
Thunder Canyon
Chaos
Swings
High Roller
Bumper Cars
Mad Mouse
Supercat

I should note that both the Looping Starship and the Corkscrew go upside down and Cici was not afraid for even a moment. Dadam, on the other hand, nearly passed out on the Xtreme Swing and sat out many rides due to "motion sickness." Bah. Cecilia was also allowed a pronto pup and cotton candy. She looks pretty darn happy, doesn't she?

Six!

On Saturday we celebrated Cici's 6th birthday with a small party here at the house. It was extra special because Grandma and Grandpa K were here for the weekend, and I think Cecilia was pleased with her celebration. She had an awesome cake (with a swimming pool in it!), a brand-new bike, and lots of people here who love her very much. On her actual birthday (Thursday) we're taking her to an amusement park for the first time, so the fun just goes on and on.

(Side note: Grandma 2 always gives cash -- one dollar for every year you're celebrating. When Cici opened her card from Grandma 2 she saw the money and said, "Ruby! Three for me and three for you!" Is that a great kid or what?)

Happy Birthday Ramon!

Yesterday was Uncle Ramon's birthday -- a very important person to me and to the girls. We wish we could've celebrated together, but he's still traipsing around Nicaragua and won't return for another week. Oh, well, we'll whoop it up when he gets back.

Happy Birthday Uncle Ramon! We love ya.

Ruby.

We're less than a month away from the anniversary of Ruby going into the hospital, and just this morning, as she was plowing through her second bowl of Trix (it was a birthday present from Grandma Two), I suddenly remembered what a hard time we had getting her to eat after she finished with her dialysis. She lost a lot of weight in the hospital, and her inability to eat after being fed intravenously for so long was one reason they kept her as long as they did. Even after she did come home, we worried for a long time that she just wasn't eating enough.

It's hard to believe that now, considering the child stuffs her face at every meal (and between them), loves vegetables and spicy food, gets frequent compliments from waitresses on her ability to tuck it away, and yells for snacks from her bed both at night and in the morning.

It's surprising to me how quickly I've forgotten so many things about that experience, but it's important not to forget everything. We are very lucky things turned out the way they did. Happy birthday, Rubester.

Birthday Girl.

Here's our girl at her 3rd birthday party. Could she look ANY happier?!

I love love love this girl!!

The Letter.

When I was pregnant with Cici I read in a magazine about a mother who wrote her children a letter each year on their birthday, and then saved them up for her kids to read when they were adults. For some reason this idea really appealed to me (maybe because it sounded a helluva lot easier than scrapbooking, a phenomenon I'll never completely understand), and I've written Cici and Ruby letters every year since they were born. I write about how they grew and changed over the year, how they spent their days and what we did together as a family, and I talk about big events that took place or trips we took together. It's something I put a lot of effort into, and usually by the end the letters are pages and pages long and I'm blubbering at the computer while thinking about how much I love my girls. Then I print them off, seal them up, and throw them in the baby books.

Ruby's birthday is next Wednesday, and this is about the time I'd start to write her letter. This year I'm dragging my feet, and I know exactly why I'm doing it -- I don't want to relive the nightmare of last summer. I know it's something she'll want to hear about when she's older -- she'll have the scars for the rest of her life -- and it's probably good to write about it now while it's all still fairly fresh in my memory. The thing is, I know that talking/writing about what she went through, and what Dadam and I went through at her side, is going to be upsetting and make me cry and feel terrified all over again. And the thought of spending even one moment in a world without Ruby in it is enough to bring me to my knees with grief, so I guess I'd rather go downstairs and snuggle on the couch with my Sunshine Girl before she goes to bed.

Happy Birthday Dadam!

To the best daddy in the whole, wide world:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We Are Family!

We went to Sturgeon Bay to celebrate the March birthdays and took this great picture of the Al & Linda family.

Aren't we cute?