Tuesday night. We celebrated our Azure's first birthday surrounded by family and friends. Nature gave her a gorgeous storm that day that brought the party inside and caused all kinds of fondant and icing troubles, but we wouldn't have traded the moisture or thunder for any amount of cake perfection.
Though I would have traded the ridiculous hail storm for better lighting to take pictures of the cake. It drives me crazy that I have none that I like (and that I don't know how to make my own lighting effectively!).
I love the tradition of having a smash cake for a first birthday. We expected our Azure to dig in immediately, but she approached the cake much more delicately than we had anticipated. Exploring first...picking off the flowers...grabbing the bird and lulling him into a gentle sense of security before biting his head off completely. Far too much gum paste for a little girl (or anyone!). So I prodded her to turn to the actual cake. Which she did enjoy for a good, long time.
For the bigger folk, I chose fudge cake with whipped ganache filling. Very rich, but delicious.
More about my Miss at OnE coming soon (which is an entirely relative term in my current blogging slump, of course!).
By the end of church yesterday I was convinced that my Azure was Satan's spawn, switched at birth. Some would blame 1 pm meeting time. But I watch the other babies. Many cozy up and sleep when tired. Others are pacified by toys or bottles.Mine pushes, pulls, yanks, throws, exposes, screams and generally makes a scene. And yesterday I was ready to give her back. No refund required.
We came home and by 4:30 she conked. At 11:00 Jim checked for signs of life. Still conked. So we went to bed rejoicing.
When I awoke today at 5:45 a.m. I should have hunkered down for holiday sleep-in. Instead I lay in bed missing my girl. Terribly. Debating a visit to her room. Daydreaming about the rare moments when she leans in for wet kisses on my cheek or bare arms.
Aidan is newly obsessed with reading. So it didn't surprise me this summer when he asked to have a book club. June through August were beyond busy, but when school settled in he brought it up again. And I conceded.
Today was the day that 8 Hendrix and 1 Scott cousin joined us at Grandma Cyndee's to talk books.
Each of them brought a book they love and shared their favorite parts of the story. After each person's turn, the others could ask questions. Surprisingly, given the age variety we had here, they mostly stayed attentive and on track. Most importantly, I think they each enjoyed their turn to speak.
We also made bookmarks (my boys are always asking for them), though I have no pictures of those finished products (my camera & I are practically strangers these days).
Cyndee made tasty sugar cookies that Megs & I helped her decorate bookwormishly last night.
We had a little time left at the end of our gathering, so Cyn grabbed a few of her favorite children's books and had her audience entranced. Seriously, look at these kids! Not every grandma has such power.
Thank you, Cyn for allowing us to overrun your house this morning! So many of the crew here today owe a portion of their love of books to you, a passion you've passed down to your children and this lucky generation of grandkids.
This year our household tally of school-goers increased by two. Davyn started Kindergarten. And I'm teaching two high school English classes.
Aidan and I, the seasoned veterans, both had nervous stomachs and nearly sleepless nights. Not my Davyn. I went into his room at 6:30 a.m. to hug him to wakefulness. He rolled toward me, stretched his limbs beyond the bed's confines and said, "Yay! I get to go to school now."
It has been a seamless transition for him. There are two a.m. Kindergarten classes, and a week before our start date we discovered that his three friends from our church were all assigned to the other teacher. I broke the news to him gently, worried that he'd be upset. Not my Davyn. He shrugged his shoulders and stated, "I'll just have to make new friends then."
Aidan and I are alike, and not like D. Surprises throw us off balance. Nerves surface with the unknown. The first thing he said to me that morning: "I don't even know who I can sit by at lunch." I told him to look for someone else who looked alone. And then confided my fears: "I think all my students will want to transfer to Mrs. Patch."
As I left for my first day, the thought that I was missing theirs tugged at my heart. Yes, I knew that Jim was by their side. That he can pack a perfect lunch. That his Aidan breakdown skills surpass mine by miles. Still, I'm their mother.
By 8:00 a.m. I stood in front of twenty-five 9th and 10th graders in my first period. When the clock hit 8:15 I told them that my boys were starting their first day - that one was full of jitters and the other ready for the ride of his life - that I hoped someone would sit by A at lunch - that I hoped D wouldn't say "I know that" to his teacher - and that their moms were probably looking at the clock with similar contemplations about them at that very moment.
Aidan and I are alike. All nerves at the unknown, but once a situation is assessed and catalogued, we can jump in with full confidence. It took two minutes of class for me to feel the thrill. I'm happy to be teaching.
I hopped into my car at 11:45 and grabbed my phone. Time to report to Jim. The only human I trusted to escort my boys, 10-month-old Azh and video camera in tow, to their new rooms and lives. I gushed about my day. He told me to look at my messages.
Two pictures and two texts.
"Good luck today."
"We love you."
I got home 30 minutes later and got to see this video. It made me smile. And then it made me ask Jim if he had made them walk so entwined. Nope, they did that on their own. And that made me smile, too.
Love my schoolboys. And am grateful they love their schoolmom.
Jim terms these my vanity posts. I spent 7 hours decorating cookies and want the world to know how cute they turned out. Is that so wrong?! I'm partly embarrassed to publish this when I haven't even written about the first day of school yet (my poor 2nd child has had no fanfare for starting Kindergarten!), but vanity beats embarrassment (so please say you love them and then I can happily move forward).
This was an order for a fairy themed baby shower, and I found the inspiration from this amazing blog - Bubble and Sweet (you'll drool over her party flair).
I've been off sugar for almost a month now, and haven't felt too much temptation. But, I can't begin to explain how amazing these cookies smell. This was my 7 hour pattern - decorate 15 minutes, sniff 1 minute, decorate 15, sniff 1...
Life is half-insane now that I'm teaching part-time. So I've promised myself no more cakes or cookies or cupcakes until Azure's first birthday cake - which has, of course, been planned out since the day she was born. I just can't resist.
Thursday, October 7, 2010 at 09:21AM 
