Girls' Weekend

Lat weekend, Sydney and I went on a special girls' trip to Houston.

We had a couple of important folks to see while we were there.  My aunt Kathi's stepson passed away earlier this month and I wanted to see her and her family since I wasn't able to make it to the funeral.  Then we also wanted to go to Zoe's first birthday.

It was a strange weekend... to go from reflection on death and dying to the celebration of young life... but it was filled with wonderful times with my side of the family and I'm so glad that no only we went, but that it was a girls' weekend and I was able to focus on the women in the family.

We started at Danielle's house on Saturday.  Aunt Kathi and her husband came over and the ladies played a very nice slow game of Yatzee.

Sydney got to have some special time with her second cousin, Lily who was so sweet and not only painted Sydney's nails, but let Sydney paint hers, too.

 

It was a really nice day spent with my dad's side of the family; I love these women so much.  It's funny to me that I think of my "dad's" family as a matriarchy.  I guess it's because his mother was so beloved and his grandmothers so formidable, each in their own way.  And I am so grateful for my aunt.  I know with her diabetes that doctors long ago told her to plan for a shortened life span.  Yet I see her approaching sixty with such youth and vigor.  Then I see my cousin, who has long been like a big sister to me and our daughters, a teenager and a preschooler and yet they are so very similar.  We spent the day noting the matter-of-fact way that Sydney tells adults anything and remembering how Lily would do the same as a child (and as a teenager).  Lily is a junior this year and so we only have this school year and next for the two of them to spend Saturdays painting nails.  I hope to do this again with Sydney several times before next spring.

Sunday, we got up and went to breakfast with my sister and her daughter -- another girls only event.  We ate at Cracker Barrel and then walked the mall.  It seemed quintessentially girly to be walking the mall.  We even stopped for ice cream.  I felt better about the whole girliness of the outing, though, when we ended it at the Lego store.  Sydney and Alana each got a new Lego set from the "Lego Friends" line and we also got a twelve year old boy in the store to help pick out a set to take home to David.

From the mall, we went over to my mom's house just long enough to change clothes (from the ice cream incident) and pick up "Uncle" Ben and then head over to Dave and Suzanne's house for Zoe's birthday.  Sydney and Alana continued to play over there.  I am glad that Sydney got so much time with older cousins this visit.

I had told Jeremy that I wasn't sure how long the party would be.  I know from my experience that first birthdays are on a dynamite-like fuse, with the birthday child's inevitable meltdown looming.  They really have to be over and done with in an hour or less to avoid that meltdown and I wasn't sure if Suzanne, with her school experience more with teenage girls than with young children, would have planned for that.

I had to laugh in my head, then, when we got to their house and the first thing Suzanne asked me was for an order of events for the party, to make it go smoothly.  I guess I forgot that when Suzanne isn't an expert on something, she always make a point to find one.  The party was over in less than an hour and no meltdown from the birthday girl!

We started with the pin the candle on the cake, which all of the kids thought was fun.  It was neat to me to see Joey as one of the kids again.  For a while, it seemed that he was trying to be more of the teenager and then the adult, even though in his heart, I think he has always been more of a child.  I guess this new generation of kids makes him feel that he can go back to doing things like playing party games.

I was the official party photographer after this picture, so my camera went up and I had Dave's instead.  I got to take the official family picture on the 1st birthday.  I love that Suzanne co-ordinated with her daughter. I love even more that Zoe has baby legs (leggings).  I love baby legs!

We then did the presents and the cake and ended with the birthday girl happily in a bath while the other kids did the pinata.  Zoe is such a lucky little girl with so many people who love her.  I heard some of the women talking about being Zoe's "aunts."  I know these ladies were friends of Suzanne's and talking about how all of them seem to get the honorific despite no family bond.  I pointed out that Zoe wouldn't have any aunts otherwise.  The ladies immediately acknowledged that it was true that they were like sisters to Suzanne and since Suzanne is an only child, that makes sense that she would make her close friends "aunts."  Then someone said that Zoe has aunts on her dad's side.  I'm not sure if they were thinking of my sister and me, who are actually Dave's cousins, not sisters, but then someone else pointed out that no, on Dave's side there are only uncles.  The potential for many aunts is there, but currently, "only" the seven uncles.  Finally, I had six or seven women agreeing with me.  Zoe has no "real" aunts.  Yet there were at least eight or nine women there who all consider themselves to be aunts.  I know I am thrilled to be Zoe's "Aunt Becky."

Who wouldn't want this sweet girl to consider them family?  I know Jeremy is particularly taken with her and was so sad to miss her birthday.  I love that my husband adores this little blonde haired blue-eyed girl who looks far more like the side of the family her daddy and I share than anything else. My children looked like Nolens when they were babies.  This little girl looks like a Frazer, like my mom's side of the family, and my husband thinks she is beautiful.  I take his admiration of her as a personal complement every time!

Happy 1st Birthday, Zoe!