Life got in the way

I think that is a perfectly appropriate way to describe what gets in the way of our intentions.

My intentions to post a s-w-e-e-t birth-to-fourth post about the girls went awry... due to an extremely busy birthday spent doing all sorts of activities that were very fun but at the end of the day caused me to find the bottom of a bottle. Then, my extremely flexible Mom came a day early (arriving at the end of the birthday), since she was flying standby, and the NC snow caused her planned flight to over-book. So she simply drove to the airport a day early to get on a different plane. This occasion did not pass without a little bragging of how flexible life is when you do not have a brood to consider. I think she phrased it "I can just lock the door and go."

Hmm. I can do that too. And sometimes, I do. I just walk out, lock the door, and sit in the yard just breathing the silence. It's the closest thing to therapy sometimes. I have a chair out front that serves the purpose nicely. I sit in the sun, breathing deeply and being thankful for the self-governing capacity to cope. Ha! Does this serve as a birthday post, or a de-stressing-after-birthday post?

Let me try again - I know you want to see those little pumpkins when they had 3-fat-roll legs and bald heads.

The most fascinating thing about their personalities is that they have remained the same since they were in the womb. True to form. Jadyn's raucous grin, and Isabella's reserved smile.

So, on their big day we mixed up cakes (one for each, thank you very much), baked them, iced them (each one icing their own, if you please), had a birthday bath in Mommy & Daddy's whirlpool tub (not me, just them. Not Rick either.), opened some new shoes, went to Chuck E. Cheese's, came home to eat cake, opened some new pj's, said good night, got Gigee from the train, opened some vino, and called it a day.

At Chuck E. Cheese's when we sat down to eat, things happened rapidly in the first 2 minutes. Jadyn's pizza fell face down under the table. Isabella's full drink fell under the table. Phoenix pulled Cole's pizza off the table. Rick & I chugged a beer, quickly. What is under that table?! A Chuck E Bermuda Triangle that sucks food right off the table? The Hunchback of Chuck E, lurking, waiting for a meal? Like gravity and magnets, things flew off that table.

A sweet moment happened at the end of the day, when I went back in their room to hush them and say good night again. They were laying at the foot of each bed facing each other, chins in hands, talking about their day. Like little teenagers. Isabella said "I can't sweep, Mommy. I can't help it. I just want a wittle more cake."

In a flash they went from being my little pumpkin doodles, to being 4.