Time Flies... And Then It Crawls

Just a couple weeks ago I had one of those moments, where you sit and wonder where did all the time go? How could so many years already passed? DTE turned 5 (five!!!) this May. I can't help looking at the others and thinking, DTE was JUST this age (how can it be five years since she was born?).
I want (as most parents do) to make my kids deliriously happy and create memories that will last them a lifetime. Birthdays should be on the top of the list. To start the day off, TLOML and I decided the kids should have balloons, lots and lots of balloons.

This year I wanted to try something new for DTE, five balloons for her fifth birthday. I put them on the shelf of her bed (knowing they would be the first thing she saw in the morning). Right away, she woke DTY up saying it was her birthday and she got balloons. She counted her balloons, then declared they were her eggs and she was the mom of her eggs. She let DTY have the pink egg. She again counted her five balloons and with sincere conviction told her sister, "I feel in my heart that I am five." She wanted to start her morning with a birthday bath- complete with her egg babies.The little things are what make a birthday not just another day. Like bathing with balloons.

That night we had pizza and orange shakes (think homemade orange julius) for dinner. I began making her pink cupcakes and let her lick the batter off the mixer. We sang to her. And the girls ate while riding DTE's toy jeep (I hid it in the backyard protecting it from being spotted from the house- but forgot to hide it from above- she looked out her bedroom window and saw it a couple days before her birthday).

She declared that day "the best day EVER!" Little did she know what was to come...

Thanks to the encouragement and help of some great friends, we threw together a quick surprise party for DTE. I was able to drop the girls off at a friend's so I could "go shopping". Then we set up for the party at another friend's house. I did forget that my car being in the driveway might give it away- so when she was brought to the friend's house she commented on me being there, but she was still surprised as she walked in to her friends all in animal masks.
The masks we made at home before the party.



The cupcakes I made for her party. The elephants were the number one choice for most of the kids.

Since then, we have tried to be patient waiting for Daddy to come home. It's been hard since the last milestone. (We have had a milestone every 2-3 months since he left; leave, DTY b-day, Christmas, birth of TB, DTE b-day). Time is now crawling, creeping by. Days feel like weeks and it feels like it will be forever before our daddy comes home. We are doing all we can to stay busy until that time. I know he is ready to get home too. HURRY UP DADDY!!!!