Sunday, February 08, 2015

Happy Birthday, Faith!


This weekend was a big weekend, with Faith turning 6 today, and me having my birthday yesterday (42 but who's counting?!).  We weren't in Hawaii this year, but it was still fun.  We brought a plethora of desserts to Bible study on Friday to celebrate, including this cake decorated by Anna, Grace, and Faith while I was at a co-op moms meeting on Thursday.  Aunt Ann gave the girls some cake decorating tips, bags, and idea books for Christmas, and they had an absolute ball putting all sorts of stuff on this cake.  Now Anna is already making grand plans for her cake.

We also made 6 pounds of chocolate-covered strawberries (my request, LOL), and decorated cut-out cookies that I failed to take any pictures of.  We never got around to making cut-out cookies at Christmas time, so I told Faith we could make them for her birthday.  We used the castle, slipper, and crown cookie cutters that we used to make the little sandwiches for our before-school tea this summer, as well as some heart cookie cutters.  I used a new recipe for the dough, and I was very pleased with it--it was not too sticky, it was easy to roll out and work with, and it tasted really good.  Definitely a winner!  (I used basically the same frosting recipe as in the link, except with no corn syrup.)
Today we had Faith's special birthday dinner.  She requested:  hot dogs in crescent rolls, fruit salad, and green beans.  (Me:  "The kind I stir-fry?  Faith:  "No, the short kind--the ones that come in a can . . .")  I am so totally remembering this so that in several more years, when Faith is planning food for her wedding reception or something, I can say, "Oooh, how about something special??  Like canned green beans and hot dogs!"  LOL!  She was quite happy with it all!
She opened presents tonight too.  She got a mini-American Girl doll and book set (Felicity) that I actually bought last year before Anna's birthday.  I knew Sam's would never have them again, so I bought a set for each girl right then and there and just saved them!  She also got a princess Color Magic coloring book, the "Frozen" dvd, some special Frozen cereal (I think it was Christine that gave special cereal to Elena for a birthday or Christmas, and I thought that was a great idea!), and some books from Grandma and Grandpa G. that Faith is quite excited about reading.
After presents we ate some chocolate banana muffins I made this afternoon.  They taste like yummy cake, and I had some bananas to use up!

Faith is having a really exciting first few months of 2015.  She has lost her first 2 teeth, for one thing!  They hung on for forever because she didn't want anyone to touch them, and once they finally came out, her new teeth are already almost in.  She is still having a wonderful time in her little art/science co-op on Thursday afternoons.  What a great little bunch of kids and moms! Faith is also taking a beginner's gymnastics class.  Because Anna and Grace are playing basketball this season, I didn't sign them up for gymnastics, so I figured it would be a good time to start Faith.  She is enjoying it, especially the social aspects, LOL.  After this session ends for her (and now that she is 6), I'll be able to sign her up for the regular class at the same time as Anna and Grace.  They won't be in the same skill level, but they'll meet at the same time.  Yay!  Faith is also taking swimming lessons with Elena.  I was worried when I signed her up because the page said there had to be 3 people in the class.  We never heard from the local rec center, though, and when Christine called, they said the instructor was going to teach the class anyway.  So it is just Faith and Elena, who were at the same level!  This turned out to be a very good thing, because after the first class, the teacher told Christine that everything they had done was what they were supposed to do in the last class of the session, so the girls really should be in a higher level of class.  Except that the rec center wouldn't let them sign up for a higher lever of class, since they weren't 6.  So he was just going to do that higher level class for the 2 of them, and by the end of the 8 week session, they should be swimming across the pool.  Isn't that amazing?!  They are both coming right along and having a fabulous time!  Bob wants Faith to do swim team this summer, but we'll see when the practice times are.  That may possibly be a bridge too far for me, LOL.  I absolutely can't spend the whole first 2 months of summer hanging around the pool for 3 hours every morning with Verity.  Gah.  I have too much to do!  Anyhow, we'll see what happens.

The most exciting thing Faith is doing is reading!  She has really come into her own the past few weeks.  My mom read a bunch with her when she was here over Thanksgiving, which got her going, but the thing that really motivated her was the "Read to Succeed" program, where you get a free ticket to Six Flags if you read for 6 hours by the beginning of March, I believe.  That was no problem for Jonathan, Anna, and Grace to knock out, but I told Faith we would have to read 15 minutes a day to get up to 6 hours.  She has done so, and it has really paid off!  Now she is even reading silently.  Yay!  Now that she has a nice new supply of books at her level from Grandma, we are all set to go for awhile!  So 2015 is starting off to be a great year for our little curly-girl!

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