Scenes from a birthday

Madeline turned 12 on Saturday. It's a milestone birthday in our church because she moves from the kid's primary organization to the Young Women's. Instead of Sharing Time and "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree," she'll be introduced to "The Strength of the Youth" pamphlet and firesides. It's enough to make a mom want to sing "Sunrise, Sunset." And in that nostalgic mood, I share with you a scene from October 25, 1996....

We were at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City and I was marveling over the fact that we had a girl. Since we'd started with a boy, I'd pretty well decided we would be a boy family and was honestly shocked that we had a female baby. Madeline was my easiest pregnancy and easiest birth. (She was considerate like that from a very early age.) Lyle was in his junior year in dental school and in a prosthodontics rotation that often kept him away from home, Adam was a very busy 2 1/2 year old, and I was earning extra money by watching another newborn girl and two other toddler boys in our little condo. Heavenly Father knew I needed an easy baby and Madeline joined our family.

Fast forward 12 years, and for her birthday Madeline wanted to spend some time with Mom at the mall, a pre-teen place to be.

But we had a great time. We ate lunch, Madeline tried on clothes, and she bought lip gloss. Once again, bring out Tevya and the violin and "Sunrise,Sunset".

While Madeline and Abby and I spent the afternoon at the mall, Lyle was home preparing a spectacular birthday feast. He makes the most amazing salads. They look great, they taste great and they have things like sugar-coated pecans on top. The gravy bowl next to the salad is holding a scrumptious vinaigrette. For the main course, Madeline requested the same meal she's requested every birthday for as long as we can remember--spaghetti and bread sticks.

After dinner we rolled our full bellies over to the family room for the opening of the presents. The first was from Adam. After opening several boxes of decreasing size, she came to a piece of PVC pipe which she had to blow into to extract a tiny balled-up piece of paper. The paper said that all of the Do-My-Jobs-For-Me/ Be-My-Slave Coupons that Adam had been using for apparently quite a long time were now null and void. I had no idea such coupons even existed and was unaware that Madeline had been living under conditions of servitude. She seemed very relieved and thought it was a wonderful gift--the gift of freedom, how could there be anything better?But the rest of us tried and Madeline also got a vest she'd picked out from the GAP, a pair of earrings, a necklace, and...

a Flip video Camcorder! Adam was just a little jealous as you can see him trying to pry it out of her hand while she was talking with her Grandma on the phone.

The little girls had baths and got into jammies and then out came the Coldstone Mmmmmint Chocolate Chip ice cream cake. Before you watch this video, I have a few things that I need to point out.

1) Adam has a very nice singing voice and he tries purposely to sing out of tune.
2) When Lyle stops him from singing out of tune and Adam innocently asks, "what?", he know full well what Lyle is talking about.
3) He continues to purposely sing out of tune.
4) I am taking pictures with the still camera at the head of the table which accounts for the flashes.
5) Notice the toddler on the right-hand corner of the screen, who is very quick and has amazing lungs.



As I was getting this video uploaded, I noticed Madeline had named it, "Maya's Devious Move." This is the photo I got from the other side of the table, with Madeline saying, "Hey, isn't the birthday girl supposed to blow out the candles?"

Poor Madeline. We did a re-do and she nearly set her hair on fire, she was so closely guarding her candles. We love Madeline dearly and are so blessed that 12 years ago she was sent to our family.