Maeve is 6

Well, Maeve, you are 6 years old today. 6 years ago you made us parents and we are so proud of your love for school, your family, and how much you've grown over the last year. You became a big sister again and are always kind to your brother and sister.

We had quite the day to celebrate Maeve. We had some highlights like presents and reading at Maeve's school. That was definitely our favorite part of the day.

But...mostly it was a slight disaster.
We had swimming on her birthday night so we went to dinner at McCormick and Schmick's the night before. Online it said they had mussels, her favorite food. But of course when we got there we figured out that they were out of season so she was really sad that she wasn't going to get her favorite food. She ended up ordering and loving her salmon and Cecilia and Kyle were good at the restaurant so it wasn't a complete disaster. I was determined to get her a favorite dish so we headed to Trader Joe's where I had purchased mussels a month or so ago and made them myself. Of course, no luck. So we got some donuts for the morning celebration instead.

On her birthday, we started the day at 5:45am and Maeve loved her presents from her family. But Cecilia didn't really understand the rules of the birthday so she was quite the pill trying to open or play with Maeve's presents. Luckily Kyle was sleeping through it all - until 7:30!! I made star shaped pancakes and she loved those but just trying to get out of the house, set up birthday gifts (she got the new Osmo app from us and loves it but we should've set it up beforehand!), and get the kids dressed made for a crazy morning. In the midst of it all we told her she didn't have to wear her uniform because we had a pass for her. She mentioned that it was a Mass day (Wednesday) so that we had tears when we had to tell her that a 'no uniform day' wasn't accepted on Mass day. I was really sad too since her birthday hadn't really gone the way she wanted and mostly because of us! So I emailed her teacher to let her know the situation as Maeve was convinced that no one would remember her birthday if she had her uniform on (since other kids didn't wear one on their birthday).

So I drop of Cecilia and Kyle and check my e-mail before leaving daycare and see that her teacher e-mailed me back and said she didn't have to wear a uniform. So I race back home to get a shirt that she can change into and walk her into school so I understand what she can do. So she ended up changing after Mass (her choice!).

The highlight, as I mentioned above, was reading to her school. They put on a wonderful birthday program with a special birthday chair, song, and we brought in a book to read, a book to donate and baby pictures. The kids got to ask questions and compare her picture to what she looks like now. They were so cute. She looks different as a baby because "she had no hair" and what's the same is that "she has the same eyes!" They wanted to know what she was going to have for dinner (she said tacos...haha...when she really wanted "chicken on a bone"), what the theme of her birthday party was, and what presents she got. It was really a nice program!

Then the evening came....we went to swimming where she did a great job (and Cecilia too) but then she was upset about the shower in the locker rooms, the upcoming doctor's appointment that Cecilia has with the eye doctor tomorrow that Grandma Jan gets to come to (as Maeve wants Grandma to come to her doctor's appt on Friday - of which we've had to talk at length about the fact that she won't be getting a shot...hopefully) and then she threw away her favorite toothbrush...cue more tears...
So the night ended like the day began and we're exhausted. Which is probably how we've felt most often over the last 6 years!!