Maya had been having headaches off and on this year, some severe enough to cause her to vomit. We had the idea that she might be needing glasses, or at very least, it was something we should rule out before taking her to the doctor. Back in November, Sean took her to the eye doctor, and sure enough, she needed very slight vision correction. They negotiated over glasses frames and eventually settled on a snazzy blue-green polka dotted pair. I think they really suit her, and better still, they seem to have helped with the headaches.
Cute in her glasses! Also, DIMPLE!!!!!!!
The Maya girl had been eagerly planning and anticipating her birthday party for weeks, deciding early on that she wanted an under-the-sea theme. She continues to be obsessed with goodie bags, so we purchased and filled those. She requested to have a heart-shaped cake with pink icing (you know, to go with her under-the-sea theme). Because SO MANY kids were coming, I made a couple dozen chocolate cupcakes as well.
Trampoline fun at Maya’s 7th birthday party!
You may recall that Maya is not fond of the smell of fire. We made a deal with her, which she agreed to: we would get a single “7” shaped candle instead of lighting seven individual candles. When it came down to it though, she cried real tears and discovered she was unable to extinguish the candle while pinching her nose shut. Luckily, her friends stepped in to help.
Ian had fun at Maya’s birthday too!
We decided on Tumble Tech since she had been to a friend’s birthday there and really loved it. The kids spent about an hour in the gymnastics area and seemed to have a ton of fun. We hastily had snacks and cake in the party room, which was not well organized, especially for such a large group of kids. Then ended their afternoon in the parkour area of the facility.
After packing up the leftover food and all the gifts, we hurried home to open said gifts and then loaded up the car for a trip to Dallas. Why would we drive all the way to Dallas after a frenetic day of party prep and partying execution and party aftermath? Cats.
Our two fancy cats
Over the summer, I had gotten the bright idea to introduce the kids to the songs from the Cats musical. They really latched onto it, singing along and asking questions about what some of the lyrics meant. We knew the traveling show was coming through Austin, and Sean had been watching for tickets. They day they went on sale was a rough work day for both of us, and so we didn’t get to check into tickets till that evening. Sure enough, by then they were essentially sold out of any seat we might have wanted. He very quickly made the decision to buy tickets for the Dallas show instead; it just so happened it was on the logical weekend for Maya’s birthday celebration. And so, we drove to Dallas Saturday night for wonderful seats at the Sunday afternoon performance of Cats.
The kids did great. They were fidgety, but they really loved it. We were sooooo close to the stage. We could see the expressions on the performers’ faces, the detail of their make-up, and maybe a bit more of their anatomy than we had bargained for given their tight-fitting costumes. Ian in particular has already asked to see it again. Go figure, since he regularly tells us he wants to be a singing dancer when he grows up.
Coupla hams, these two!
The weekend before Thanksgiving, we were scheduled to take the kids to see Frozen II at an Alamo Drafthouse family party. Maya and Ian dressed up, Maya in her snowflake dress, Ian in his Anna costume. They made snowflake wands and reindeer hats. They decorated snowman cookies. They participated in a singalong. Heck, they even watched the movie. I think they had fun, but both of them had a tough time sitting through the entire show.
Fruit turkeys!
Lolli and Pop made the long drive to Austin to spend Thanksgiving with us. We had to work it in pretty early thanks to variable fall weather, but Maya got to take her long-awaited bicycle ride with Pop. Lolli had a cute craft prepared for the kids; they built turkeys out of halved pears and other various fruits, toothpicks, and googly eyes. They chilled out and watched Lolli’s favorite movie, A Christmas Story, which the kids hadn’t seen before.
Well, I think *one* of them is comfortable.
I had the benefit of working my Thanksgiving dinner prep in at a leisurely pace. We had ordered brisket ahead of time from Franklin Barbecue. I tried out deep-frying some turkey legs for the smoke-averse daughterling and anyone else who preferred turkey over brisket. (Who *are* you people???) Between Holly and I, we made six pies for four kids and six grown-ups. There was dressing, green bean salad, mashed potatoes, hasselback sweet potatoes, creamed Brussels sprouts, and store-bought yeast rolls. I think those dumb rolls were the only dud in the bunch – everything else was straight-up tasty.
On Friday, the kids put up their little Christmas tree and spent time with their grandparents. And then on Saturday, Lolli and Pop started their long journey back home.
