Wednesday, September 02, 2009

birthday girl


This girl made out like a bandit for her birthday! We made her ration her present opening, for our amusement, which sounds mean, but was actually fun. She had to wait a little between gifts, so she'd play with whatever she opened instead of ignoring the pile in favor of one thing.


We started the birthday festivities by coming to school to deliver rice crispy treats and to watch her play at recess. My girl loves dress up so much! We didn't recognize her when we first walked in, she was covered from head to foot! Sheila came for her birthday and joined in the fun, allowing the kids to dress her capes and crowns.

It was fun watching her play tag with her best friend. Those kids pretty much ran full speed for an hour.

We enjoyed watching all the drama of kindergartener antics - alliances were formed and broken, sides switched and all was forgiven in moments. It was cute. And tiring. Just watching them and I needed a snack and a nap. Which is pretty much what I do all day, broken up with bursts of productivity, like making making blackberry jam or drying fruit in our fancy new dehydrator. Greg and I are very interested in food lately (more than usual) and picked up a couple of appliances we've long wanted, like a deep fryer and dehydrator. Greg made fried fish, southern style, coated in cornmeal. Our goal is to perfect my Grandma's Fish fry, fried chicken and fries. Can you tell we like our fried food? We dried bananas and strawberries and they came out jammy and sweet, exactly how I like them to be. Our next experiment will be with watermelon, which when dried, condenses into a sweet, candy-like substance. Sounds good to me.
In pregnancy news, I have two months left and look like I have one week to go. Probably because I drink sweet tea like its my job, which makes my belly gigantic and I hobble around in an unflattering shuffle, due to my pelvis widening. Oh well. Lately, we like the name Maxfield (since I like Maxfield Parrish), since Maximus is too old Roman for Greg. I was all about Marcus, but then realized it was derived from Mars, the god of war. I'm one of those gals that believe in the power of names and don't want a war-like scorpio baby. So, we are still deciding and will probably name him after we get a good look at him. But, Max does mean 'the greatest' and that's a good thing.

8 comments:

Lorelei Eurto said...

might I recommend Maxwell. it's my nephew's name, and we all quite like it!

maxfield is interesting too though!

i'm so excited for you. our "trying" continues. with advice from my doc to see a fertility specialist next. gah!

mairedodd said...

i really love the name max... your home & school birthday festivities sound like so much fun! and... i like the idea of pacing... i have my kids do that too! :o)

Unknown said...

Happy birthday to Azalea!

Melissa J. Lee said...

Happy Birthday, Azalea! I like Maxfield, too, but I don't mind being old and Roman either (I also like the Welsh version "Macsen"). Max was one of my top boy names, but I got dinged on it.

nina said...

oh, cynthia. i need to see you and your belly in person before two months have passed! where did azalea get the wonderful birthday girl hat?!! i'm always stunned by her beauty- what a lovely big sister she will be.
max - a great name, straight out of where the wild things are. "oh, max, please don't go! we'll eat you up, we love you so!" but max said no." (did you know there is a movie coming out of that?)
sending you big hugs and kisses - xoxo

Anonymous said...

Super cute pictures! I love that girl.

The dried fruit sounds good... Sounds like Greg is nesting!

Unknown said...

Oh what a Beautiful little girl she is! Windswept with rosebud cheeks! Maxfeild is a grand name.
Some of the greatest naps ever had is when one is with child! lol xox

Jean Katherine Baldridge said...

Love that name Max! Your kid is a Virgo like me? I have a hard time believing it--you have given her the wonderful gift of freedom. Give her a big birthday hug for me. She is spectacular!