Birthdays and Beginnings

Ptolemy tried to trade birthdays with Tziporah, but it didn't work.  Today was still Tziporah's birthday, depsite Ptolemy's insistence that "We traded birthdays, wenember?  Tizzy's birthday is in July now and mine is today!"   Poor little guy, he doesn't like how cold it is outside the spotlight.  I was stuck on "Wind Beneath My Wings" all day.  "It must have been cold there in my shadow..."  ha ha.  Everyone was in Tziporah's shadow today as we celebrated her one and only first birthday!  We did reminisce about other first birthdays.  At Golda's, she held a bouquet of balloons and kept saying, "Byoon!  Byoon!"  Xanthe's first birthday, we celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese in Vegas.  Xanthe was still in China, but we later received pictures of her on her birthday wearing a little flower crown and wearing a cake.

Today, the cake was a day-old Smith's in just the right color to match Ari's party theme.  Freestone really wanted to test it to see if it was good! 

Everyone in the family tried to teach Tizzy how to say "balloon" so she could be as adorable as Golda was, but Tizzy couldn't say it.  She can say Mama, Dad, Golda and "kitty kitty kitty kitty."

The kids got Tizzy ready for church in this hip, happenin' pant suit.  It's not a political statement; it just matched the color scheme.  And it was Ari's when she was a baby, so it's special.

As per Ari's request, there were abundant strawberry fields at the party.  Not 30 minutes after I posted my plea for chocolate-covered strawberries, Nikki sent me a text to the effect that, since she had Jeff and Richelle's kids this weekend, (that's a total of nine kids, folks!), dipping strawberries would be fun and keep the kids busy.  Yes, Nikki is Wonder Woman in disguise.  Thanks, Nik!

Look at Tizzy's little pig tail!

 I love pictures of Scott and his mom.  She always says Scott reminds her of her dad.  He reminds me of his mom.  :)

 Landon loved his cupcake.  This picture hides the pink all around his mouth from the frosting!

Look how happy and relaxed they are after dipping strawberries with nine kids.  And did I hear they also went to a boat show?  Knowing Nikki, that's probably just the tip of the iceberg!

 Beautiful Jersey

Scott's "twin," Ryan.  He loves babies.  This is his!

We love this guy

 Freestone made peanut butter cookies last night and saved the last one for Tziporah.  (Most of them went to Brother Varney, who plows our driveway whenever it snows and who loves peanut butter cookies!)  Freestone was so excited to give Tziporah her cookie.  In fact, he was excited about the whole thing.  Early this morning, he came and asked me if he could wake up Tziporah.  NO!  "But it's her birthday," he protested.  We waited.  Freestone loves this baby!

 And she loved her cookie.  It was a good appetizer for the cake!

 Beautiful Rolayne

 

 Ah, the cake.  Tziporah was confused at first, when we sang Happy Birthday, but quickly got the hang of digging in and licking frosting off her fingers.  Then she wanted to share!  In retrospect, red and brown wasn't the best color choice for a cake mess.  She ended up looking like a horror movie version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  Scary!

 

 We got her cleaned up and changed so she could open her presents, but by this time, the kids had stolen the camera for a photo shoot downstairs, where kids were also spilling paint on the carpet.  Lord of the Flies, I tell ya.  Upstairs, we had fun watching Tizzy open her nice gifts while we stole seconds of the delicious cheesecake Marlene brought.  The family really came through for Ari's party vision!  Thanks, everyone!

 Alas, the party had to end because we were due to deliver our third daughter, the party planner, to the church for New Beginnings.  Come November, the Crestwood Ward Young Women will have THREE Dopp girls in its ranks, when Ari turns 12.  Tonight was Ari's preview.

 We also brought along Ruby to lead the singing, Scott to be the audience...

 ...and Golda and me to play.  We played an arrangement of Be Still, My Soul with the amazing Jennifer at the piano.  Fun!

The audience had to guess which new girl was which by her feet and clues given.  Everyone knew it was Ari when they said that the person who inspires her is Golda.  Sweet little Ari!  The theme of the night, in keeping with the general Young Women theme for 2013, Stand in Holy Places, was "Oh, the Places You'll Stand," with a Dr. Seuss twist.  The Laurels did a great job of tying in the YW values with different Dr. Seuss books.  So much fun!

And look at these fun refreshments.  I think I might have to copy/borrow these ideas and props and have a Dr. Seuss party!

Aren't they stunning?

 When we got home, the kids who have been nice enough to stay little instead of growing up on us (so far!) were playing computer games and being nice, under Freestone's watchful eye.  As exciting as it is to experience New Beginnings and anticipate a new phase for Ari, I sure am glad Tziporah is still a measly little ONE.  And a very cute one at that.