A birthday, Mother's Day, and some decorating

Big sister is now 7. I'm still struggling with the reality that I am old enough to have a 7-year-old. I'm still 20, right? No? Ah, well. We did big sister's family birthday party the day before mother's day. She requested her annual barbeque. What is amazing, considering the weather we have had this year, is that we actually had nice weather for it! Usually it is cold and windy and we persevere with a BBQ anyway because that is what she always wants. But this year it was beautiful! She loved having everyone over, and loved her hamburger, rainbow jello, and cauliflower. (Cauliflower was literally on her list of things she wanted for her birthday. Not even joking.) She loved all her presents, too. Her favorite was her set of scriptures with her name on them. We also got her a tote for her scriptures and her own mini hymn book. She'd asked for that one since Big Brother hijacks the hymnbooks during sacrament meeting and she gets annoyed at not knowing the words. Anyway, she loves the scriptures and is excited to read the Book of Mormon again with her own scriptures. I have no idea what we'll get her for her 8th birthday, since that is the more traditional time to get scriptures for them. But when your 7-year-old asks for scriptures over a Nintendo DS, you say ok! On her real birthday, she got to decide what we ate for each meal. Breakfast was sourdough pancakes (leftover from Mother's Day), and for lunch she requested In-N-Out. After school we went and got her pictures taken, along with big brother and then headed to Olive Garden for dinner. We even let her order her own dessert, a massive chocolate cake thing. She got spoiled, to say the least! This past Saturday she got to take one friend to a movie. We went and saw Rio, which was very cute. We especially liked all the parts that my cousin Seth worked on and seeing his name in big letters on the big screen! I even convinced her afterward to do Jamba Juice for lunch instead of McDonalds. Score! I think she has been sufficiently celebrated for awhile.

A word on the belly shot. I am bigger than I have ever been, having already gained more weight than I have with any of my other babies. And I still have a month and a half to go. True to tradition, he is sitting lower than the last baby. They have all been lower than the previous child. He is already head down, and the pressure feels awesome. Not. I will request, once again, that there be no "You're so tiny" comments. They just tick me off. I can't do anything without great effort, and I pretty much hurt all of the time. Telling me I'm tiny marginalizes that. Ladies and gentlemen, I am only 5 feet tall, and protruding out that far makes me big.
End. Of. Story.

Mother's Day was very nice. I have chosen to see it as an opportunity to cherish my children and be the best mom I can be on that day. If presents and niceness happen, that is nice. Mostly I like to focus on being grateful that I can be a mom, and being grateful for these little hooligans. I was presented with a beautiful new carpet cleaner so I don't have to keep borrowing my mom's. Since we have carpet under our dining table, this was the perfect gift and I love it! I also received many handmade cards and drawings throughout the day. Big Brother even laid a rare kiss on my lips, so the day was pretty much perfect!

In decorating news, we have finally put stuff on the girls' walls in their new rooms downstairs. I finally got their pictures of Jesus and the temple and their blessing dresses framed and husband hung them. My fabulous friend Kristi came and painted murals on their walls above their beds. The girls love those. Little sister lays in bed for a few extra minutes each morning staring at hers. I will not be posting a picture of hers, since we used her name in it. But here is big sister's:

So cute, eh? It just makes the whole room!

Big sister's blessing dress. Thanks to my Dad for getting the frames to work! I also put the words to the song "What Heaven Sees in You" inside the frame. I think it all turned out pretty nice!

Little sister's blessing dress. I need to fix it, the dress is coming off the back. But you get the idea...