Thursday, May 5, 2011

Cinco de Geburtstag

 Alissa and a bestie, Maddie
 The best of buds, as of late
 Content with three rolls of duct tape
Best grandma ever!!!

My kids have always been the best sports about my "I can't do full blown friend birthday parties every years" sort of limitation as a mother. Last year we did mega parties. This year, not so much.

My mom, once again, saved the day. She shows up to make the birthday dinner for Alissa just as I'm off to a 5:30PM appointment with the pediatric allergist with Mia. I got home and the waffles are made, the strawberries cleaned, the world in order. Maddie came, last minute, and so it was officially a party. 

And Alissa...definitely one of the better human beings on the planet. You know how it's so totally exciting to watch your 12 month old learn to walk? It's a hundred times better watching your little kids turn into good people. The evolution can be a touch slow, and occasionally exhausting, but so worth it!

Alissa is all spunk and kindness. She's cautiously random. She has changed a LOT during this school year. She's empathetic and compassionate. She has an amazing ability to suck it up and keep moving forward when Mr NastyLife (as Kaisha calls it) shows up and knocks over her world. She cares about people. She's not easily influenced toward negative things. She loves Jesus and values the grace extended to her through Him. She loves going to church and youth group and YoungLife. She can do really hard things. She's creative and artistic and has come into her own style; her room is the coolest. She's a huge help to me. She loves her little sisters (not always an easy thing to do). She puts restrictions on my bedtimes and gets herself up and out the door before the rest of us even know it's daylight. She has maintained a best friend long distance for ten years. She's becoming an equal to her two older siblings. And she's beautiful. Oh, and did I mention smart? 

2 comments:

tara said...

Fun, fun! But what is 'Geburtstag'?

So proud of all of your kids! Love them!

Kristine said...

German for "birthday". Alissa takes German in school. We throw it around at home a little bit. We can talk in German in front of little people without them knowing what we're saying.