7 Late Takes: Birthday Party, Valentine Crafting, 4-year-old Camera Work, and WIWS

--1--

I left John Paul in charge of the babies while I went downstairs to get dressed the other day.  I returned to find that he had taken 193 (mostly) out-of-focus pictures with the camera, including at least 40 of our St. Cecilia picture.

Yup.  Soooo we had a nice chat about not touching the good camera...  In case you were wondering, here are some things a 4.5yo thinks are worth capturing:

L-R, starting at top:  Babies in the corner, messy floor, laundry basket, crucifix, blurry Mary Claire, blurry MC again, Jesus' sacred heart, nativity, icon of american saints, babies wreaking havoc, Christmas tree STILL up, Christmas candles in the advent wreath, St. Cecilia, nativity again, St. Polycarp

--2--

The great thing about planning a birthday party for February is that if your 3-year-old spies a heart-shaped cake on pinterest and decides that she wants hearts as the theme for her party, THE DECORATIONS ARE DONE!  And they can stay up for the rest of the month...

Note to self, when making peppermint buttercream with crushed peppermint, remember that a peppermint chunk will jam the piping tip and you will have to use a sandwich bag to "decorate" the cake anyway...  Ah well, Cecilia was pleased!  We kept it simple with cake, ice cream, and blackberry lemonade (with vodka for adults who cared to partake):

1 pt blackberries, muddled with 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 gallon lemonade, done!

 --3--

I wasn't planning on decorating really at all, but then we ran to the dollar store to get balloons and grabbed some streamers, window clings, and a centerpiece (that John Paul promptly broke when we got home), so she did get a few actual decorations:  

Although they were put up rather frantically - I felt badly because we had friends over that morning and were going to have a nice relaxed play date but then I had to decorate the cake amidst John Paul trying to grab frosting and cake crumbs all over the place...  

And this heart garland I was planning on doing anyway - we have a prayer intention written on the inside for each day in February, so even though much of the garland kind of looks like teardrops, it's red and pink and festive enough for me :)  I also have heart doilies from the dollar store that we're going to incorporate somehow...

I'm never one to decorate for "holidays" and it occurred to me that maybe one reason the secular world embraces Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, etc. as "seasons" (at least at the grocery store) is that not having a liturgical year to focus on requires creativity in the observance of other holidays (or "holidays").  So I suppose it's a way of living "liturgically" but in a secular sense of the word, observing the "holiday" seasons in terms of crafts and decorations and cuisine.  It really makes me appreciate the fact that our calendar (and really helpful blogs!) dictates what to observe when, so we're not at the mercy of the "special" aisle of the grocery store (which has had Easter candy out since the beginning of January).

--4--

This week's posts:

Tons of linkers for this month's volume of What They Said - check them out, you won't be disappointed!

A tribute to Cecilia on her third birthday

Mom Style: Winter Edition

--5--

Cecilia asked for three little kittens for her birthday, so I spent waaaaay too long cutting and sewing these, but she looooves them and so do the babies - handmade birthday ftw!

Named (by her) as Kitty Kitty, Chalk, and Midnight

--6--

I took very few pictures during the actual party, but just to prove all the kids were there:

Mary Claire with her uncle (Andrew's brother)

John Paul sucking on a cold pack (and Cecilia's new ballet slippers in the background)

All the girls flock to their uncle!  And a lovely view of our fingerprint-ridden windows ;)

--7--

Aaaand since it took me until Sunday to finish these, here's what I wore today!

I call this look "Safari Chic" - not so sure about it, but the price was right!

"Take a picture of me doing some of my ballet moves!"

I used ThredUp credit and ended up getting both the belt and dress for free - both new with tags!  The dress ended up having some minor discoloration on the back, so I sent a picture and email to ThredUp customer service and they immediately refunded me part of the purchase price - so nice to have a quick response and resolution, because I still wanted to keep the dress but was annoyed they hadn't caught the error...

Linking up with Fine Linen and Purple for What I Wore Sunday, and Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes