Thursday, October 5, 2017

Lulu is 6

In our house, not all birthday celebrations are equal. Maria's comes at the end of the school year, when our energies are depleted and the fair weather makes us lazy.  Pippa's birthday festivities suffer from their proximity to Christmas; the ranks of guests are thinned by seasonal commitments and seasonal colds.  For Donnie...well, we'll see what happens for our springtime, almost-Easter baby.  Of all the members of our household, Louisa is most likely to have her birthday feted in a big way.  For Louisa's birthday we are fresh from the summer and all our resolutions to be more hospitable are fresh in our minds.  And around here, the end of September is a beautiful time.  Trees grow tawny, apples ripen, the sky shouts blue.

This year, we were lucky to be able to have Louisa's birthday at Horse Listener's Apple Orchard.    The Orchard gave us a gallon of apple cider, sent a fresh-faced lad with a tractor train to give the kids rides, and saved the day by providing us with plastic forks (I forgot that cake is a fork food).  We got to feed the horses, and many of our guests picked apples.  The orchard didn't charge us a cent except the price of the picked apples.   I'm so grateful to them!

As you can see from all the flushed cheeks in the pictures, it was an oddly hot day.   Yet Louisa's joy was undiminished.  Big celebrations suit our vivacious girl.  She enjoys the attention, enjoys the bringing together of schoolmates, neighbors, church friends, and relatives.  She enjoys the sudden influx of novel little things from the pinata.   Once the party is done, she enjoys giving Pippa permission to play with her presents.  Then she enjoys  revoking that permission and taking control of her booty once again.  That is Lulu, in turns generous and tyrannical.  Happy 6th to our princess.


Things for the pinata.   As time goes by, I squirrel away the assorted tchotchkes that the girls receive into an out-of-reach box.  Then they get washed and put in the pinata at the next birthday.  Baubles in, baubles out.  It sure beats paying for new plastic stuff to give away at parties, and I think the kids enjoy the eclectic mix.





Cousin Cat.

Maria is such a photo ham!  We have about eight pictures where she is wearing this identical, exaggerated grin.

Pip and Cat in the tractor train.  The cars look to be made from old plastic barrels.

Beautiful birthday girl!