May 17th – the most anticipated day since Charles and Dianna’s wedding – came! After weeks and weeks of asking and hoping for it to arrive, IT FINALLY DID!
And it came bright and early.
5:55 AM to be precise.
No sweat! Mom and Dad were ON IT! Much evening preparation had taken place the night before, involving building, wrapping, stirring, baking and so forth.
In case you’re curious breakfast was a symphony in pink!
Pink milk, muffins with pink frosting, and pink fruit (in the form of a strawberry) vanilla yogurt (white is also an approved color) with a pink candle on top
The little girl who loved to bring her mom and dad cold scrambled eggs on cookie sheet draped in a tea-towel grew up to be a mommy who couldn’t wait to bring her daughter a birthday breakfast in bed!
Who do you think was the most excited? (It’s a toss up, says I!)
Make that wish!
Don’t mind if I do
Only a few nibbles and sips took place before the pull of presents was so strong that it could no longer be RESISTED!
The Birthday Girl was not disappointed.
Her favorites?
After church we came home and got ready for Millie’s “Family Party” which, by all accounts, t’was tremendous!
The Bench family arrived, Jack carrying the gift and Drew holding these flowers behind his back (a tricky thing when you consider that they were about half his height). Drew always reminds me that chivalry is not dead.
Then Hudson, Braxton and Porter arrived – Hudson was keen to get the presents opened and Millie was only too happy to oblige him
from Drew – his favorite thing in the universe, a painting book. Thanks, Drewby!
and black ballet slippers to match with her birthday tutu, thank you, Amanda!
a home-made card from the Rich brothers (aka a TREASURE!)
Hudson and his mommy must have been on the same wave length as me – as only a few days earlier Millie and I had picked out these SAME goggles for her. She was confused and wanted to keep the ones we’d already purchased. (Note to the mother: must work with your four year old child on party etiquette namely receiving gifts graciously!!)
Candles + Cake = TIME TO GET YOUR GRUB ON!
Then all children pictured above were banished the the basement bellow to watch a movie
But the party was just getting started…Millie’s UNCLE/AUNTS and cousin little John arrived!
Check out Millie’s reaction to their arrival
HOOORAAAYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After our wonderful friends said “adieu” our family stayed a little longer for some serious “cousin time” – it ROCKED!
John reminds me of George Emerson a top his tree in A Room w/ a View. TRUTH! LOVE!
BEAUTY! says Clara. She loves that book too, John-o.
Khali must have got the memo, or perhaps just felt the cousin vibe b/c she called Millie to sing her, “happy birthday!” and followed it up with a video chat. So we ended up having all the cousins together! We also got a call from both sets of Grandparents and a wonderful email from Granny complete with photos of cows they had seen that afternoon a video of a duck who refused to quack!
It was a “GLORIOUS day, Honeychurch!”
When it was all over, the girls in bed, the dishes washed, the house back in relative order– all was quiet. Jan and I flopped down on the sofa to enjoy our Sunday tradition of nachos for dinner. As we bowed our heads to pray Jan paused, and then proceed to pour his heart out in gratitude for the blessing of Millie, for the bounty of wonderful friends and cherished family, for all that is true and good in our lives. (Those nachos didn’t know what had hit them!)
On Weds the 13th celebrations for Millie’s birthday commenced.
Each kid in her pre-school class is invited to bring a birthday treat to share with their class mates in honor of their special day.
I wanted to send Millie in with something other than cupcakes (because everyone does cupcakes) but Jan was out to town, I had three hours of sleep the night before and I was exhausted. Cup cakes it was.
Millie chose the sprinkles and put them on herself
We picked out a special dress for her to wear to school
Armed with her cupcakes she was ready to PAR-TY!!
At school she was issued the standard birthday crown.
I think she really thought she was royalty
She loved it and wore it all day long. Even in the park running around. At one point the wind blew it right off her head – but Jack and Drew ran after it and rescued it. What chivalry! Their gallant deeds made that cardboard crown all the more regal.
Millie also requested that whenever she was wearing it that I refer to her as “The Birthday Girl.”
and he brought the best part of Kansas back with him!
When Millie woke up very early Friday morning – we are talking 3:00 am early. She came into our room and saw her dad and was THRILLED! (How do kids do this, I wonder? How do they have energy and exuberance right after waking up in the wee small hours of the morning?)
“Daddy! You’re back!”
Jan was excited too (but maybe not so exuberant) he hugged Millie and took her back to her room, and re-tucked her into bed. She asked him, “Did you say hi to Dorothy?” and “Was she so beautiful?” For Millie a trip to Kansas did not involve Sprint’s head quarters. All Millie knows of Kansas is the Wizard of OZ.
Because Millie’s dad understands the heart of his little girl. He brought her a special something…
She poked her head around the door to find…
TOTO!!!!!!!
Millie was pleased, but didn’t want to fully celebrate Toto’s arrival until she had tucked her tootsies into these shoes
She wanted to BE Dorothy. But wait, OH, NO! they no longer fit – which resulted in some serious tears, but mom had an idea
A bow to match Toto’s
(dang it, moms are so awesome!)
Millie then declared, “Now all we need is the rest of the costume.”
Then there were more tears – but not from Millie
Clara woke up and those tears quickly turned to smiles upon seeing dad
She was delighted to be introduced to Toto
WELCOME HOME, DAD! (and welcome to the family, Sir Toto)
Father dearest, Allow me to welcome you home properly with poke in the nose!
I am sitting on the sofa looking at the Anthropolgie website and having a MAAAARVELOUS time. Eno and Alli very kindly gave me a gift card to Anthro and so, you know, I am in the market for something “too tremendous”!
Lets pretend like we are looking at the website together, okay?
***Confession: This is actually the second time today I have looked at the Anthro website. Earlier in the day I was looking at it while sitting next to Millie, still on the same sofa (I swear that I do more than just sit on this sofa looking at the Anthro website all day long!) she glanced over at my computer, caught sight of these earrings and said,
“Oh! Those are fabulous! They look like what the Indian’s wear.”
You said it, little mama! I must be raising her right.
Let me show you what I have found so far. AH, ME! So many things are positively dazzling.
For example, me likes:
If I could I would invite you over right now and serve you something sparkling in this little glass. “To the crown!”
Then I would pull out these plates and give you a little nibble of something scrumptious. (You can have seconds. I made plenty!)
Is it just me, or do you think this swim suit is totally awesome? If I had Bette’s little bod you better believe I’d be strutting my stuff around the Madison Community Pool this summer pretending like I was Grace Kelly. (Speaking of Grace Kelly – Brynn, remember when you came to visit us in London and we pretended like we were Grace Kelly? That was fun!)
This just in! I actually found something at Anthro that isn’t CRAZY expensive. SUNGLASSES! I looked through their entire line of sunglasses and all of them were in the 24-28 dolla range. Has my gift card found a purpose? Will these sunglasses come home to live at my house?
Stay tuned for further developments.
I miss you girls.
(Bette and Tess – remember I told you we’d go shopping if you could find a way to make it out here this summer. I can tell you right now that I see sunglasses in your future – and I don’t even own a crystal ball!)
When I was a teenager I once said, “Everything British is better.” I still believe that to this day. Especially in the husband department. When Jan is around everything is better. He happens to currently not be around but luckily he will be back tomorrow evening. Kansas will be the poorer but we here in Madison, NJ will be the richer.
When I miss him most is at bed time. When you’re flying solo by the end of the day you don’t have much left to give. And the whole bedtime thing feels so daunting. Millie knows it far too well for me to skip anything. So there isn’t much that can be done except to just DO IT.
Our evening routine with Millie involves all the usual suspects:
Without fail there is a trip to the potty, a brushing of the teeth, a laying out of the jammies, and reading a verse from the scriptures.
When Jan is at the helm he adds an extra step and makes sure that the first thing Millie does is choose stuffed animal to sleep with. The night before he left for Kansas Millie chose Zebree. While Millie trotted off the the loo Jan did this…
He likes to set up the little critters as if they are waiting for Millie. So sweet!
When Millie returns from the bathroom, she gets to pick a book.
Then prayers
A drink of water
And to bed
That is a tired little face. I love to kiss it good night.
I know Jan does too, so if you are reading this from your hotel room know that we did all the same things tonight but… it wasn’t the same without you. oxoxox, Lize
I know, it sounds crazy. But I did. And I have witnesses.
Just ask Neylan McBaine, or her brother-in-law Quen Smith. Quen was the one who spotted him.
When we realized it was him I pulled out my phone and called my mom. Our exchange went something like this..
Me: Mom, you are not going to believe this, but Hugh Jackman is in the park. He is standing 10 yards away from me.
Mom: NO WAY!
Me: YES WAY!
Mom: We’ll start praying!
Odd, your thinking right? What an odd response. But if you know me well then you will understand why my sister Tess sent out a mass text to my family to ask them to start praying for me.
Let me explain…
It was fitting that Neylan and I were together when we clapped eyes on Mr. Jackman. 18 years ago I read a book about a person who became a hero to me. Neylan read the book too b/c in those days there wasn’t a single thing that we didn’t experience together. She knows ALL about my years and years of loving this book. She loved it with me.
The book was about this darling man, Edward Sheldon.
I get a little emotional just looking at this picture – tied up in his sweet face is so much of youthful longings, my love of things beautiful, my desire to do what is right, and my yearning to understand God’s purpose for me.
Ned was a remarkable human being. He had everything – and I mean the world at his fingertips – and then it was all wrenched away from him. But he refused to be defeated. He chose to love in the face of massive disappointment and rejection and carry on when most of us would have thrown the towel in.
He was born in Chicago in 1918, went to Harvard, had a hit play on Broadway before he’d graduated, was engaged to the “it” girl and beloved by all who knew him b/c he was such a generous, humble, enthusiastic and loving friend. In his late 20’s he was diagnosed with a very rare form or rheumatoid arthritis which left him paralysed and blind.
He spent the next 30 years of his life bedridden. But these years were remarkable years where Ned became the epicenter of American theatre – he influenced EVERYONE from Eugene O’Neill to Helen Hayes.
The person I am most grateful he influenced was a 14 year old girl named Eliza Julia Kelly.
When I was accepted to the masters program at RADA I knew what I wanted my thesis to be about. Ned. So I went to Cambridge, MA with my mom to Harvard’s theatre collection and looked through the boxes of Ned’s personal papers. I saw his handwriting in the margins of his play manuscripts. I’ve done his temple work with the help of my parents and Cameron.
In London my adviser didn’t really understand what I was trying to do. He gave off the vibe that he thought my idea was pretty rummy. It wasn’t hip and groovie, he was more interested in the students who were writing about the globalization of theatre. He didn’t really know what to do with me and left me to my own devices. The play didn’t work. So I wrote a screen play – not knowing anything about how to write one. This draft pretty much stunk. And for the last seven years I’ve wanted to write a decent screen play about Ned’s life. I have notebooks full of my efforts. Last year, by some miracle, I was accepted into Ela Their’s writing lab. Ela is NY’s best screen writing teacher, and in my opinion one of the best teachers in the whole world, period. Under her inspired tutelage I wrote the first 30 pages of a decent raw draft. Then I had a baby and the project was again put on the back burner.
What does all this have to do with Hugh Jackman?
Well, I realize that I am not alone in thinking he is an incredibly talented actor. He also seems to be a man of integrity and goodness. And to date he is the only one I know of who could play the part of Ned.
So when I saw Hugh in the park, it wasn’t just a moment to brush shoulders with “the sexiest man alive” it was a chance to meet the man who I hope will one day play Ned Sheldon. My family knew this, and so they started praying.
And so I did it, after an hour of pretending not to notice him, I approached him and spoke to him. I told him about Ned and that I was writing a screen play in-between changing diapers. I FELT LIKE A GIGANTIC GOOBER! But I did it to show the Lord that if he was generous enough to line up an opportunity like this I was going to have guts! and I was going to take it! I don’t think it really matters what I said, just that I took the chance to talk to him. Because it really and truly felt like a gift from Heaven.
And Hugh was so kind to me (aka the GIGANTIC GOOBER) and do you want to know the thing that struck me most about him? It was that he was a human being. A regular guy. He may be the top paid actor in Hollywood, a Tony award winner, the host of the Oscars, the star of last weekend’s top grossing film – and I am just a stay at home goober, I mean mom – but the thing we share in common is this – He is God’s son. And I am God’s daughter. And in God’s estimation, we are equal.
Standing next to him in the park I felt that equality.
And I am going to, with God’s help and His perfect grace, write my brother Hugh a stink’n awesome screen play to star in.
Bliss. It was bliss, my friends. The evening before I had been doubting that my husband would come through this year – I was a fool. Jan is the KING of providing me a birthday of bliss. He nails it every year. And this year was no exception.
A few highlights of the day…
I dressed myself and the girls in coordinating outfits. Which leads me to a confession – if Laura Ashely Mother & Child were still in full force I would be deeply tempted to purchase matchy matchy outfits for me and the girls. I KNOW it is SO LAME! But there it is! Luckily for people like me there is J. Crew and Crew Cuts – which Millie and I wore(me the Crew and she the Cuts) and Clara provided the “accent” in a floral number – she looked like a little Spode dish…as you can see.
Knowing of my deep need to be “matchy, matchy” with my daughters Jan provided this perfect gift:
Eat your heart out Maria Von-Trapp. Gretel was cute and all, but she didn’t have plastic princess shoes like Millie D. And yes, we are going to make culinary masterpieces together in the near future. I am thinking a little mac-n’-cheese might look good on our aprons.
Amanda brought us her famous cup cakes but with a new addition – peanut butter frosting. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Thank you so much, AJ!
Best of all though, and the thing that made me feel like an absolute love glutton was a website that Jan put together where every member of my family and some of my dearest friends wrote me love notes.
I just cried! It was so wonderful! People were so generous (I still haven’t been able to read it all).
This is my mom. The person she’s holding is me. She raised NINE such persons. I don’t know how she did it.
She means everything to me.
When I was a wee one she was the center of my universe. She could do no wrong. She was IT! The beginning and the end. (Actually, she still is all of this to me, and more!)
And now, I am the center of the universe for two little girls of my own. I have kept another human being alive for the last seven months on food that my very body produced. Crazy!
Last night I was up three times. The highlight was at 3:30 AM when I was helping my seven month old with her constipation issues. Enough said.
If you’re a mom of little kids you know what I am talking about.
We are needed. Depended upon. When we’re around the world is bliss. When we are not around tears happen. Lots of tears.
I have thought a lot about what it means to be needed in this way. It is one of the things I most cherish about motherhood and one of the things that makes me want to get into my car and drive away… far, far away.
I love having so much purpose in my life, what I am doing really matters – loving these girls, teaching them, helping them make sense of the world, protecting them, celebrating life with them. It is beautiful – but it is also, as my friend Liesa put it, “freakishly hard”.
Little kids take, they take a lot, and they take it out of you. And as tiring as that can be it is also wonderful. I have thought about how, as an adult I have built up all kinds of protective walls that sometimes make it hard for me to receive love from others. Children have no such walls. I wonder if this is part of what the Lord meant when he said that the kingdom of heaven was the heart of a child?
They are not afraid to recognize their dependence on us, they have no qualms about asking for what they need, they have no problem receiving our love. The miracle of all their taking is how they give us SO MUCH back.
It is pretty dang cool, being a mom. I am sure grateful that I get to do this every day (even though I am so tired I think I am going to die).
I have put a this little slide show together in our honor – for moms everywhere, for you, for me… for all of us! And I had an absolute blast basking in the collective beauty of your lives. You and your kids make this look good.
Is a handsome (don’t need to tell you that if you’re reading this post, you’ve got eyes and can see for yourself, he’s one good looking cat), talented, funny, bright, kind, a true friend,a joy to be around and happens to be the best birthday present I ever got.
(me holding the best present I ever got)
He came to world on May 10th, 1981. On that same day, four years earlier, I joined the human race. Which is to say we share a birthday. And without a doubt he is a gift. To me, to my family, to all who know him, to the world at large.
Let me tell you just a little about him.
Ian is a love. He really LOVES people. When he was made a bishop the Stake President said to me with tears in his eye, “Ian has bishop love in his veins.”
And the person he loves the very most is his wife, Allison. He’s completely devoted to her. He is so deeply connected to Allison it sometimes is hard to separate them in my mind.
He is 100 % true, through and through, to her. He loves her so much. And she loves him right back. His love and devotion to her is one of the many things I love about him. You know those couples who just make you happy because they are so happy. Well, that is Ian and Allison. When you are with themyou can just feel their connectedness, their happiness, their love for each other, their enthusiasm. They are both so enthusiastic. They are like little kids! And you just want to be NEAR them. They are so much fun.
He loves his nieces and nephews and boy do they love him! He is an off the charts, so cool you can hardly stand it uncle. He is just such a blast. He puts his whole heart into his relationships with the little people in his life. He gets down on the ground and rolls around with them, he listens to them, sings with them – he does it all!
Uncle Eno loves his little peeps and he is loved in return.
He loves baseball and is particularly devoted to a certain ball club.
He took Jan to his first Yankee game when we moved to the States five years ago. They now share the “Yankee bond” and have been to more games than I can count, including flying to other states to see their boys in action. People, we are talking devotion. True devotion. I remember one year for his birthday he went to a Yankee Red Sox game and I actually prayed that the Yanks would win so that Ian’s birthday would be a delightful one.
Ian is real, he is down to earth. He lets you know what is on his mind and in his heart. You don’t have to wonder with Ian.
He is a tender hearted fellow. He is not ashamed to show his emotions. He cries at movies and doesn’t feel the need to hide those salty wet things that fall from his eyes.
He loves the Lord and is devoted to His work. Ian knows how to serve. The man works hard to do what is right.
Ian is FUNNY. And when I say funny, I mean F – U- N- N – N – Y! Few people can get me laughing harder than Ian.
Ian is shiny.
What do I mean by this? I will tell you a story to illustrate: Ian, Cameron and I took a writing class together last year in NYC. The class was full of really wonderful people. They were a bunch of New Yorkers, but they weren’t super crusty & cynical (like New Yorkers can often be). This was a group of kind people. But even amidst a crowed of top notch, good people my brothers stood out. Once I remember sitting across a table looking at all the faces of the people that I really loved in this class. When I looked at my brothers their countenances were shining. There was light coming off of them. (BTW, Ian is an excellent writer and is writing a swell screen play. He is a man of many talents).
I think Ian’s light is generated by his very good heart.
He is honest (ask him to tell you about the 47 inch TV at Sears story sometime).
He is kind.
He cares about the needs of others.
He is a good, good man.
And I love him.
Happy birhtday to us, my little Bro! I am so glad you were born!
Unfortunatly, this particular yellow just made me look sallow.
Dang-giggity! How I wanted to look like this cutie-pie.
But no, I did not. Just boxy and sallow.
So I sent them back to Johnnie B.
Oh, well! Next time I will try to pull off some yellow the way Chris Martin does (the man is in black perpetually- do a google search, you’ll see). Dang, he is groovy! I wonder if I could get Millie to throw some yellow thingy giggers around me so that I could do yellow the way Chris does yellow.
just when everyone is getting sick of it and giving up their blogs, guess who is getting on the blogging bandwagon...me! That is about the time I catch on to whatever is trendy and cool, long after it is trendy and cool. At the very least I hope to amuse my sisters and my mom. I know how to pick an audience, don't I? I am not entirely sure if there will even be a theme but if you stay tuned perhaps we'll figure it out together. oxox Lize
