Happy 4th Birthday, Miriam!

Well, today's the day we commemorate the 12 hours of uterine contractions and noises like a sumo wrestler that were required to bring our sweet little girl into the world. Ha ha, just kidding -- we all forget about MOM'S labor in order to let Miriam be princess for a day (of course, one might argue, when is she NOT?). Miriam had a great birthday. We didn't have a party this year, mostly b/c we thought we'd be travelling to Steubenville soon so we could celebrate several birthdays with family. At least, that's what we've been telling everyone. The REAL reason is that Mrs. Pickles just didn't have enough energy to plan anything big this year. Fortunately Miriam's not old enough to care. She's just excited about being four. For the last several weeks we've had to listen to: "I'm tired of being three! It's HARD being three! I want to be FOUR!" So now she's reached the happy land of fourness. When she woke up this morning, she told us, "Now I'm four! Am I bigger?" And of course we told her that she was SO much bigger than three that we couldn't carry her downstairs anymore, she had to walk like the big girl she was! She wasn't sure what to make of this. She was very proud of the fact that she was bigger, but wasn't sure she was willing to give up being carted around by Mom & Dad. (We'll still carry her of course -- she only weighs two more pounds than last year, after all!)

Last night we got together with some other families from our church for a pot-luck St. Patrick's Day celebration, so I brought a cake so Miriam could get sung to by a bunch of kids. She was happy, the kids were happy to get cake, everybody wins! (Mr. Pickles made FABULOUS bread pudding with whiskey sauce, so the parents were VERY happy too!) :)


strawberry/chocolate birthday cake (picked by Miriam)

Miriam in her birthday dress, with flowers she picked from our garden.

birthday girl
I've had the fabric for this dress for almost a year, only just now got around to making it. I like the idea of making dresses for the girls for their birthdays. Miriam was VERY excited about it -- when I pulled the fabric out last week and explained what it was for, she asked if she could try it on after her nap -- I can't work THAT fast, kid! The whole week has been an agony of waiting for her. I would let her try on little bits at a time -- like the bodice, then the dress sans sleeves, then finally the happy day when it was all done! She enjoyed watching it get put together. I have so many fond memories of sitting next to my mom while she sewed for me. It's neat to be able to pass that on.

Present time!

VERY excited about the purple gluestick!
(I thought Grandma E. might like to see this one.)

She's such a girl -- she LOVES her new clothes! (Mr. Pickles provided the prop...)

anyone for tennis?

So as far as Miriam's concerned, her birthday is complete: she got sung to, she had cake, she blew out candles, and she opened presents. She hasn't opened all her birthday gifts yet, actually -- Mommy and Daddy still have to give her something, the schmucks (like she noticed -- she was so excited about the birthday dress I don't think we really feel obliged to get her anything else!); plus two more packages are at the Post Office. Will post more birthday cuteness as it occurs.

So finally, after a great weekend, at the end of the day we heard this from a tired birthday girl: "I don't want to be four anymore! I want to be FIVE!"