Happy Birthday, Sarah Koa!

This year we planned a joint "friends" birthday party for the kids, and so on their actual birthdays, we celebrated in a somewhat more casual - but just as special! - fashion. 

Sarah's birthday was on a Sunday, and we (read: P) got up a little earlier so that we (again, just P) could make the Cody family traditional birthday breakfast, French Toast. [To be honest, the kids could care less about this. But I love it. And I'm the mama..]

Sunday birthdays are perfect for crazy-mom-photo-ops!

Then Sarah enjoyed lots of doting attention at church from well-wishers who spied her strategically-placed pink "birthday girl" ribbon. (These kids are going to be so disappointed next year when their birthdays are on boring ol' Monday!)

After church and lunch together, we spread a quilt out on the backyard lawn and brought out several packages wrapped in pink paper, to the great delight of not only the birthday girl but also her ecstatic older brother. He had gone shopping with his dad at the dollar store the day before, and he couldn't wait for Sarah to open the gifts he'd chosen for her (nor to see what other delightful goodies were in store).

Luke's delight turned sour momentarily when he realized that he would have to let Sarah do all the unwrapping on her own; she's improved tremendously in that regard over the last year! And I must note that it is truly a feat of concentration and determination to be able to open gifts at one's own pace while an overly hyper older brother bounces in anticipation approximately four inches away.

Sarah loved her gifts from Luke, which included a glow "gwand," a light-up squishy plastic bouncy toy (of the sort only available at dollar stores), and - best of all - a set of plastic bridal accessories, such as a necklace and bracelet, two plastic wedding bands, and even a tiny cardboard marriage license! It was one of those incredibly cheap-o toy sets that I remember seeing at the grocery store check-out counter as a child (it was always cowboy stuff or fake make-up sets back then - I'm still in disbelief that the boys were able to find one with a bridal theme!), and various pieces fell apart almost immediately, but Sarah was delighted nonetheless. And I made a mental note that we need to start letting Luke select gifts from someplace other than a dollar store, in the hopes that one of these days the gifts won't fall apart with such alarming speed.

She also enjoyed receiving several books from DD and Granddad and from her "birthday twin," Miss Janet - a sweet lady at our church who shares the same birthday and who has never failed to celebrate that fact with a small gift for Sarah. As is typical of my children, they both would've been content to pause all birthday festivities for a reading of each new book, but their cruel parents encouraged them to hold off on devouring these new adventures for a while longer so that Sarah might finish with her gifts.

And I'll confess that was mostly me. I may not have been physically bouncing in my seat as Luke had been, but I knew that P and I had come up with two perfect gifts for our daughter, and I could not wait for her to open them! And if you'll forgive my boasting, I must say I was right. The "Cinderbrella" toddler doll and the bride costume were a smashing success. When we'd finally freed Cinderella from her packaging, Sarah hugged the doll close and murmured a dramatic and breathy, "I love her!" And even better, she let Cinderbrella continue to wear the glittery blue dress for a few hours before finally succumbing to her inexplicable need to remove all garments from baby dolls.

As for the bride costume, well, if you've been to our house at any time over the past few months, there's a good chance you have seen her wearing it. In fact, she wore almost nothing else for a couple of weeks following her birthday, and her delight in prancing around in it still hasn't wavered (she is wearing it this morning, in fact!). I love that she enjoys "dress up" so much; I myself have many fond childhood memories of pretending to be a princess or a witch or something of that nature - although I must admit, I don't remember ever pretending to be a bride! (Perhaps if I'd spent a little more time obsessing over that particular life event, our wedding would've been a little fancier... although I don't actually consider that to be a bad thing...)

I promise she's happy here, even though she looks exactly like a bride in a 19th century photograph.
I think she was concentrating on trying to look demure.

After gifts had been enjoyed and the Birthday song had been sung, we tucked into our new birthday tradition - ice cream! Since I'd be making cakes for the party later on, we decided that an alternative treat (and one that we wouldn't be eating on for weeks) would be appropriate. Sarah had a great time selecting pink (red velvet cake flavored) ice cream from the grocery store a few days earlier, and Luke could not stop talking about how the cake bits were really chocolate. Whatever makes 'em happy....

For the rest of the evening, P and I enjoyed sitting in the backyard as the kids played.

Apparently, the veil doubles as a superhero cape. 

It was a truly great day. And we are so blessed to have such a sweet, beautiful, fun-loving daughter. Happy Birthday, Sarah Girl!