Before I wax lyrical about the wonderful day we all had, I just want to ask this – where have my babies gone? I blinked and here they are at 11, nearly young ladies. Never again will I blink, for the next time I’ll be a grandmother.
I so much want to hold the hands of the clock and prevent time from moving any more. It needs to stop, just for a while. I need longer to hold my babies and whisper the words of love they need to hear. I need longer to teach them all I need to teach them. I need longer to figure out this parenting thing, so that I am able to teach them all I need to teach them. And I need longer to hold them in my arms and tell them how precious they are to me and how utterly blessed I feel to have them in my life; to make sure they know how empty it would be without their giggles, their cuddles, their gentle care when I’m not feeling well. I need longer to make sure they know to the ends of their toes that I love them so much, that I will love them forever and a day. Full stop. No matter what they do. No matter who they become. For they are my babies. Always.
No, I’m probably not coping quite as well as I ought to be with my gorgeous children growing up. For today I ached inside my heart. Pride mixed with panic. Every moment I wanted to capture, to remember, to hold close by. So I took a billion and one photos and have tried ever so hard to limit myself to a few favourites. Bear with me. The few favourites turned into many more than a few.
Every time a member of the family has a birthday Gary takes the day off work so we can celebrate as a family. Every birthday the birthday child chooses the breakfast they want. We had many changes of minds over this but ended up with chocolate granola. As soon as my mum is awake (she lives next door) she arrives round to witness the great unveiling of presents. Today she arrived at 7.20am. Yes, she is a good Granny!
The girls had asked to have a tea party with a couple of their friends from church. Gary and I talked to the girls’ mummies and we all agreed that it would be lovely for them to go to the local coffee shop, just the four of them, without an adult. They spent a happy hour or so getting themselves ready:
Whilst they were chatting with their friends at the coffee shop I got myself busy with the job of transforming our living room, ready for the autumn birthday party we have every single year. Some of our oldest family friends come and it is something we all look forward to each year.
Once the potatoes were in the oven, we went for our yearly walk on a nearby nature trail:
Then back home we went for a bite to eat:
Next up was the fun and games. We do the same ones every year: apple dunking, donuts from a string, sparklers outside, followed by a cake. This year I felt B2 was too young for sparklers yet old enough to grab one so I asked Nik to bring some bands which when you bend them they light up. I then set a treasure hunt outside for lots of chocolate, which the children had to use their lit up stick to help.
I didn’t get any outside photos as my camera simply refused to cooperate! Back inside afterwards though, it began functioning normally again:
They all gobbled down the cake and spent the remaining time making lots (and lots) of noise in our front garden. The girls declared it the best birthday ever and L11 said it had been one of her most favourite days in her life.
Happy Birthday girls, and STOP GROWING! Oh, and I love you both so very, very much!
What a blessed day! I have the same feelings about my sons growing up. Sometimes being a mommy and watching them get older is bittersweet.
Yes, I think I was feeling a bit raw when I wrote that! It’s all good really. I’m sure I would miss out on an awful lot if they were only ever children!
The girls look absolutely beautiful – Happy Birthday to them! Your table looks amazing too. We love that nature trail! It seems like your children are at a wonderful range of ages right now. Having only two that are 16 months apart, for me each age really does whizz by, never to be seen again! 🙂
I can’t believe it has gone so quickly. The old adage is spot on ‘the days are long but the years are short’
It was a great day. Happy birthday girls. Really proud of you!!!
Thank you Daddy! We love you!
Happy Birthday to your gorgeous girls!!! What a wonderful tradition, their autumnal party – and the nature trail looks like such fun! Thank you for sharing your photos?(your table was oh so lovely) . And please, if you find a way to stop the clock, do let me know – our kids do grow up much too fast!
We love our yearly party. I really enjoy any tradition we have year in year out. There is something very stabilising about them (and I could do with any help I can get when it comes to stabilising!!)
Happy Birthday, beautiful girls. You had such a great day by the look of things. Claire, I love your autumnal table – gorgeous. Thanks for the sneak peek into your celebrations. Love to you all. …Our girls were just saying the other day that they miss their cousins, and wondered were you ok in the storm at the start of the week.
Thank you Auntie Sam! Yes we are fine from the storm. C10 was a little scared and worried about trees falling on our house but none did and we are all good!
What a beautiful story. It is true, they grow up waaaay tooooo fast. Everything looked so beautiful. The table was gorgeous and the wood-burning stove makes me long for colder days. All the activities must have been so much fun. Those were the things I did as a child. So glad y’all had a splendid day.
Happy Birthday, C11 and L11. From the pictures, I can see you are beautiful on the outside, and from what your mom tells, even more so on the inside.
Have a most wonderful day, Claire. If you find a way to keep from blinking, let me know.
P.S. There can never be too many pictures:)
Thank you Donna! I really did cull the photos as much as I could. If you had seen all the ones I took……
Happy, happy birthday to your gorgeous girls! Table look stunning and all the photos are just lovely! Your family is precious!
xx
Hello Liezel!! How are you? We miss you around here, but quite understand you have far more interesting things (wink, wink!!) to keep you busy with! I really hope you are have the time of your life!
Such a wonderful birthday. Happy birthday girls!
Thank you Ticia!
Happy birthday to the twins! Wow, the table looks stunning, and what a fun day you’ve all had! You’re making such wonderful memories for your children. 🙂
Thank you so much Hwee!
What a wonderful day. I love the joy in all of the kids faces.
Blessings, Dawn
Thank you Dawn!
These photos are precious, it looks like it was a perfect birthday. This post made me a little teary and sentimental, as my oldest is also turning 11 this week. The other day he said to me, “In five more years I’m really going to have to start preparing for college, mom.” I just looked at him and my jaw dropped as I realized how close that is! WHERE does the time go?!
I’m finding it hard at the moment because all three seem to have aged over night. For most parent the maturing is spread with children of different ages, but all three of mine are going through it at the same time! Someone needs to slow the clocks down!
You have a beautiful family! I can totally relate to the bittersweet feelings you had on your twins’ birthday. It’s hard to realize they’re growing up.
Great games…especially the donut one!!