Five

At five, L seems to me to be smaller than I remember K being. While L is smaller physically, she has personality to spare. She loves to be in the spotlight and puts on shows for us regularly, our living room her stage. She wants to be a rock star when she grows up.

She's feisty and fun but knows just the right time to cuddle. She still has remnants of the curls I so loved when she was around 18 months old. She gets the worst cases of bed head. She sleeps on her stomach with her arms wrapped around her pillow. She loves to play with her brother unless he has something she wants. She knows his buttons and K's too. She's athletic and can hang with the boys all the while in a princess dress. She looks just like her father.

She can do anything she puts her mind to yet she surprises me sometimes with her shyness. But she doesn't hold back too much. She told me just the other day that she liked a boy (I've spoken of him before). She said, "Mommy? I really like H." "I know you do, baby," I replied. "No, Mommy, I really like him."

I think we're in trouble.

Seven

I truly can't believe seven years have passed since K was born. While she wasn't exactly the tiny baby I had envisioned (9lbs, 12oz isn't a newborn; it's a three-month-old), she was this perfect little being for whom I was responsible. I remember picking her up out of the bassinet at the hospital. I was all alone with this precious baby, tears in my eyes experiencing a love I'd never known before (and only slightly scared).

The very first thing I noticed about K were the dimples on both cheeks just under her eyes. Those are not very common and were a completely unexpected surprise. She still has them and they make me melt every time I see them. She knows it, too.

I have watched her grow and change over this last year. She's physically much taller than she was at six, almost up to my shoulder. She has gone from looking like a little girl to looking like a young lady.

She has a very tender heart, always one to reach out to those in need. She loves to read, is quiet at school and loud at home. She looks out for H and has a lifelong friend in L. And she still finds comfort in her mother's and father's arms. May it always be that way.

It's scary in a way. We still have the 'tween and teen years to look forward to so I'm going to cherish the time I have when she still wants to hold my hand, sit in my lap, and will let me kiss her goodbye at school. She's growing up too fast but she'll always be my baby.

Fruits of Summer

I have always had a love/hate relationship with summer. Summer is just plain hot and I really don't like being hot. Sweating is not something I cherish. I spent all my summers during college at a camp in Alabama so trust me when I say I know hot. And humid, too. Oh, it's humid here. We tried to have a picnic at the park today but it was just too hot to stay more than 30 minutes. The kids weren't thrilled about having to leave but Mama couldn't handle the heat any more. So we took the picnic home.

On the other hand, there are the wonderful fruits of summer that I just love. Blueberries, strawberries, plums, tomatoes, blackberries and peaches. Of those, peaches are, by far, my favorite. I have fond memories of driving down the interstate to get to the closest peach orchards. We'd stop at the farm stand and get their fresh, homemade peach ice cream. Oh, it was heavenly. And our local farmer's market always had lots of Chilton County peaches that I still prefer to any others. (I realize there is much debate about who grows the best peaches but I'm an Alabama peach fan.)

So when my in-laws stopped in South Carolina on their way down here and purchased a boat load of peaches, I happily took some of them off their hands. Oh, were they good. (Not as good as Chilton County peaches but close.) A friend of mine called them "back porch fruits" because they were so juicy that you had to eat them on the back porch to keep from making a big mess inside.

I found a recipe for a peach pie and knew these delicious fruits were destined to be baked in a pie, surrounded by caramel, encased in a buttery, flaky pie crust. I had enough peaches to make the pie with some to spare. Those were cut up and served with breakfast the next morning. There were no leftovers.

Changes

Well, it just about killed me to change the "About Me" paragraph to the right to reflect the girls' changes in age. I got teary watching K open her presents last week and laughed watching L open her presents at her birthday party. I have so much to say about each one of them. I have enjoyed getting to watch them grow and change over the last year, watching personalities blossom. Not only do the look different, they have very different personalities. They are currently happily playing with each other in their room, enjoying one of L's prizes from her party. I'll post all about the birthdays when I can access my big computer that has all the pictures on it. Hope all is well!

The Case of the Delinquent Blogger

Oh, I've been so neglectful of this blog as of late. It's getting to be that season around our house where things kick into high gear. VBS was this week and I was very involved in that, mostly behind-the-scenes. I'm no teacher but organizing registration I can do. We had a great turn out even though lots of families were on vacation for the 4th of July.

Speaking of July, it is a big birthday month around here with K's one week and L's the next. Usually it isn't so stressful but this year is L's 5th birthday and that means she gets a big party with all her friends and balloons and cake and the rest of the works that come with child's birthday party. We do big parties at 5, 10, and 16 and family celebrations for the others. I got that idea from S's brother so kudos to him and his wife for sharing that with me. It seems to make the parties that much more special and is a lot less work for me.

I've been busy making arrangements for said party, reserving a large water slide for our back yard, printing and mailing invites, and just generally organizing everything. It seems to be falling into place but this week is proving to be a crazy one. I am thankful that we can do this for L but I have a feeling I'm going to crash next Saturday night.

I plan to return to regular mundane blogging at some point just not this week. Happy 4th of July everyone!