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Assembly Required: A Birthday Story

{alternately entitled: the things we do for our kids…}

Good morning, sweet birthday girl.

VBS & Ali Birthday 134

Your daddy bought you flowers!

 VBS & Ali Birthday 150

He also happened to bring in your massive birthday present from the garage.

{please notice the Christmas wrapping paper, for that was the plan…had we not all been sharing one room at my parents house with no room for enormous play things…so it got stashed for 7 months.  We went with plan B for Christmas}

*Please also note the image of fabulous kitchen assumed to be assembled inside.

VBS & Ali Birthday 154 

This her sleepy, happy face.

Sleepy, because she would have slept 2 hours longer had she not spied the balloon strings dangling from her ceiling.  We love to sneak in the night before her birthday and load her room with balloons…then we scatter a couple around the house, tied to little gifts, for surprises ‘throughout’ the day.

‘Throughout’ usually lasts 17 minutes.

Back to sleepy…how’s a girl to close her eyes again after balloon discovery?

VBS & Ali Birthday 163

Next on the agenda…waffles!

This might possibly be the only day she is allowed to eat sweeties before breakfast all year long…so daddy went all out.  Take 5.

{This might possibly be the most chocolate she’s ever eaten…in one sitting…before breakfast.  Thanks love, how convenient that you have to go to work}.

VBS & Ali Birthday 168

“How old are you today, sweetheart?”

VBS & Ali Birthday 177 VBS & Ali Birthday 178

Expecting to have to pop a couple of knobs or stickers on to present a complete kitchen for post-breakfast play, mommy opens box.

Mommy experiences near heart failure.

VBS & Ali Birthday 184

While birthday girl eats, mommy smashes box with sledge hammer sweetly sits…for almost 2 hours…attempting to assemble above mentioned {deceptive} kitchen before baby Bug awakes and attempts to ingest one of the {horrible} little knobs.

VBS & Ali Birthday 186 

I suppose when you pay $29 for something, rather than $129…this is to be expected.

{But why must I be punished for being a bargain girl?}

VBS & Ali Birthday 185

I do think 342,567,2334 little pieces is a tad excessive, don’t you?

 VBS & Ali Birthday 190

I will look for these words a little better next time. 

Adult Assembly Required.

Bite me.

VBS & Ali Birthday 200

Project “Kitchen from Hell” is completed right as baby Bug stirs.

Just in time for brutal exploration.  It’s Man vs. Kitchen. 

If anything has not been tightly screwed down…we will find out shortly.

VBS & Ali Birthday 222

Our little chef moves in…barefoot, with her baby.  Go figure.

VBS & Ali Birthday 226

I’ll bet there’s a fresh batch of oxytocin being created right here.

VBS & Ali Birthday 202

A stunning rendition of “Happy Birthday to me” is belted out…

VBS & Ali Birthday 204   VBS & Ali Birthday 211

followed by a dramatic balloon release…to the tree tops.

VBS & Ali Birthday 216

She gathers them once again…and then she’s gone.

Just like that. 

The {old, never-requiring-assembly} baby toys in her brother’s room beckoning her.

VBS & Ali Birthday 242

So long little kitchen, it’s been rad.

VBS & Ali Birthday 247

Mommy played with you for hours this morning…

maybe she’ll come love you a little more?

One day.

Until then, you can find her in ward# 253, turning knobs and twitching.

Related posts:

  1. Happy 6th Birthday, Bean!
  2. Happy Birthday, {Big Boy} Bug!
  3. Happy Birthday, sweet Bean!
  4. Happy Birthday, Baby Bug!
«
»

Motherhood, The Kiddos

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Simply Bloom exists to empower women to embrace their stories, live out their passion with purpose, and leave a legacy of love.
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Hello there! I'm Joy. Speaker, designer, author & coach, and creator of the #weROARproject. Welcome to Simply Bloom Co., where passion & purpose collide.

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Our marriage wasn’t rescued from the wilderness. T Our marriage wasn’t rescued from the wilderness.
There was no shortcut around the pain.
No early exit from the hard.

But God walked with us,
through hospital rooms and waiting rooms,
through long nights and unanswered prayers,
through the kind of days that test everything you thought you believed.

And somehow, that companionship mattered more than rescue ever could.
Presence became the miracle.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #SimplyBloomCo
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The wilderness has a way of stripping us bare; not The wilderness has a way of stripping us bare;
not to shame us,
but to free us.

When you emerge, resist the urge to perform again.
Choose the quiet courage of being seen and known.
The applause was never worth the cost.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast
Episode 007 | Made for More Episode 007 | Made for More
Time spent in the valley expands our capacity to s Time spent in the valley expands our capacity
to sit with others in theirs,
to listen without fixing,
and to love without needing to rush the healing.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #SimplyBloomCo
The wilderness was never meant to disqualify you; The wilderness was never meant to disqualify you;
it was meant to prepare you.

Episode 7 of Oh, Good Grief | The Podcast is live: Made for More.

In this final episode of the Wilderness series,
we talk about what all the pruning, pressure,
and perseverance were for,
and how God wastes nothing,
not even our pain.

🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #WondersOfTheWilderness #SimplyBloomCo
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We can spend our lives chasing applause, performin We can spend our lives chasing applause,
performing for the approval of the crowd,
or we can choose the quiet gift
of being seen and known
by those who stay close enough
to wipe our tears and wash our feet.
We may enjoy God on the mountaintop, but we come t We may enjoy God on the mountaintop,
but we come to know Him in the valley,
often through the hands and voices of others.

Who met you in the valley,
and who might you be called to meet there now?

#OhGoodGriefPodcast
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