Dulci-Mia

Introduction:  Over the last month or so, I've been making my way through the works of Henri Nouwen, priest and spiritual writer.  I may write more about him at some point but today, I wanted to share a quote from the latest book I've started called  Here and Now:  Living in the Spirit.  He writes:  Birthdays need to be celebrated.  I think it is more important to celebrate a birthday than a successful exam, a promotion or a victory.  Because to celebrate a birthday means to say to someone, "Thank you for being you."  Celebrating a birthday is exalting life and being glad for it.  On a birthday we do not say, "Thanks for what you did, or said, or accomplished."  No, we say, "Thank you for being born and being among us."  I was truly amazed to read this because, in preparing this post, I was feeling self-conscious about our family's--and especially my--extravagance around birthdays.  Often, we have a big family dinner, dessert and gifts, an outing with mom, numbers on the wall, hats, a photo shoot and sometimes a medium or extra large party with friends.  Occasionally, in the midst of it all, I hear the DMB singing in my head, "too much..."  And honestly, I probably err in that direction more often than in the other.  But I love birthdays--mine, Chris' the girls'--I can even get excited about celebrating with people I don't know well but like a lot anyway.  Once, I was the lone guest at a birthday lunch for a woman who was more an acquaintance than friend.  Her friends backed out at the last minute and it was just me and her and her mom.  We had a great time and I felt privileged to be a part of her day.  As HN said so well, life is to be celebrated.  Every life.  No matter the resume or number of candles on the cake.   Birthdays are about as fun and surprising and special as you make them.  And since they only come around once a year, they are definitely worth the effort--in my opinion at least.

DULCI-MIAOur beautiful birth announcement for newborn Amelia proudly proclaimed, "For Mama, A Mia"--Chris' brainchild.  We had chosen her name long before we met her and the second we knew for sure that she was a girl, she was also a Mia.  The name Mia means "mine" in Spanish and when I call her, I often think of that--not just that she's mine but, more importantly, that she's His.  The other thing that always comes to mind with Mia is something my brother David said years ago when he brought her back after spending a few days with his family.  He was calling her "Mia sheep" because, whatever her older cousin Rachel wanted, she wanted--in everything.  From food to clothes to activities, Rachel led and Mia happily followed.  Years later, that's still the way it is with them and it works well.

David's sheep analogy stuck with me and, all jokes aside, is quite appropriate for Mia.  She is a quiet, calm and compliant child.  She enjoys spending time with friends but is just as content to be home with me.  She is sweet and loving and has a special affection for everything to do with her faith.  Next to her bed is a tiny altar-like table with all of her religious objects carefully displayed.  When I see the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd carrying His sheep, I can see Mia right there, in His arms.  What a great place to be.

It was fun and very easy to celebrate Mia's birthday this year.  Our traditions make things simple because there are a lot of things that we do automatically and do not need to decide about.  For the rest, Mia made a few requests but was easy to please.  She invited just four girls as well as her sisters to her first slumber party.  All of them came but only two slept over.  Remarkably, Chris and I got a normal night's sleep.

I was a little sad as I took the nines off the walls today.  Another milestone celebrated and passed.  Our family is in a really wonderful, peaceful place right now.  I don't know whether it's the kids' ages or just the calm before the storm of some big changes.  Whatever it is, I am 100% sure it won't last.  In three years, Madeleine will be graduating and Grace will be the one turning nine.  There will be all kinds of new blessings and challenges in our lives.  Thank God for all the photos that freeze these special moments before they're gone.

Speaking of which, I hope you enjoy these:

Chamber of Slumber

Chris set up the fort and the girls piled pillows, sleeping bags and soft friends underneath

(FYI: the girl to the left in the portrait over the dresser is two year old Mia)

I asked Mia how she wanted to arrange the seating and she decided to have her guests draw numbers for their seats.  We have done this before at dinner and she arranged the whole thing.  Right before dinner, I looked into the dining room and the girls were standing in line waiting to draw.

I had great ambitions of doing make-your-own pizzas with homemade healthy crust.

I ended up running out of time and ordering Pizza Hut which made everyone much happier.

Grace volunteered to make the fruit kabobs which were a hit as well.

Our mystery guest

Mia shares a birthday with this little girl, the daughter of a friend.

I knew she would be thrilled to have her at the party so I asked her mom to bring her as a surprise.
A huge hit.

the real cake

The girls like doing crafts so much that at many parties, our craft doubles as our favor.

This time, we painted flower pots.  After they dried, I applied several coats of gloss and then, this morning, the guests who were still here planted flower seeds in their pots.

(Chris made a pretty funny joke to a couple of friends about the relaxing potential of this particular craft.  I'll leave that to your imagination.)

Grace put so much paint on her shirt that it went all the way through her paint shirt to cover her good shirt as well as her stomach.

One of Mia's few requests--pass the package/ hot potato game

Always a hit--the package contained a bandana for each girl to wear during the next activity

beauties

wonder what they're up to

Madeleine, cutest cow girl around, taught the girls the Boot Scootin' Boogie

It started off well but they lost interest quickly

Caught up in the madness of March, Chris was only partially present for all of this

So, it was 9PM and my planned activities were over.  What to do?  Mia wanted to play musical chairs.  A huge hit and lots of fun for everyone but Sophie who couldn't bear to be eliminated.

It's so hard to be the littlest.  She got lots of mama love.

After musical chairs, I divided them into two groups and let them take turns choosing puppets from our collection to put on a puppet show.  Interestingly, this may have been the favorite activity of the evening.

Before bed, I gave the girls these boxes of slumber party themed questions, an activity right up Mia's alley.  Between that and lots of play with Littlest Pet Shops, we made it through the whole sleep-over media-free!  (To accommodate guests who had given up movies for Lent.)

Almost midnight.  Goodnight everyone!

Hope your week gets off to a good start.  See you back here soon!