My Biggest

Kennedy turned seven in September. Seven y'all. What in the world?!? It's just crazy and I can't even. Birthdays for K are a new animal now that she's in school because, you know...you gotta do the whole school party thing plus the whole real party thing -it's fun, but well, it's a lot. 

This year we actually attempted to tackle the whole "school rock" thing in addition to the other two birthday items - I mean, it's not like I was 70 weeks pregnant or anything. Ha! 

For those of you who don't know or haven't heard (I would be included in that group prior to moving here) some schools have these giant rocks in front of their buildings called "spirit rocks". The premise for some schools being that you can paint it if you reserve it and make a donation to the school (of like $1) or for some (like mine) you reserve it if you want to paint it for your child and that's about it. Mostly they are painted for birthdays but sometimes schools will paint them for sports teams, holidays, etc. 

I sought out the advice of rock painters who've gone before me and developed some sort of rough plan and then packed all my painting supplies up one afternoon and headed up to the school. If I remember correctly, it was a Saturday night and it was super hot. Like I said, I was the total definition of bare foot and super pregnant so I donned an old painting shirt, some shorts and some flip flops and was sure to pack my ice water which might as well have been an appendage at that point. 

I get up to the school and turned on some tunes in the car and just got to work trying to beat the shower that seemed was sure to start at any moment. The thing with rock painting - there's dry time between everything so it's not really a quick job. I was sweating buckets and despite my efforts to not be over the top meticulous I wanted it perfect (I know that shocks y'all). Anyhow...I did in fact finish before it rained but the night did not end as I intended. Y'all buckle up! 

Right when I started loading things back in the car, as the sun was going down and rained seemed certain, I realize that my radio has gone off and I find it odd so I get in the car to determine what happened. Y'all probably know where I'm going with this, right? My freaking car battery was dead. I'm talkin' DEAD!! Awesome. My phone has like zero battery left, I'm huge and pregnant. It's hot and about to rain and my husband is at home with all my babies who at this point are in the bed. What to do...what to do. I tried calling my friend who lives near by but she didn't answer. I knew calling my sister was just crazy because she'd be in the car 30 minutes just to get to me then 30 on the way back home and that was just nuts. About when I was feeling the need for a paper bag to breathe into I remembered the volunteer fire department across the street. Now all signs are pointing towards that being a major blessing, but here's the thing: my shirt is BARELY covering my belly, my feet are dirty and swollen in flip flops and I'm wearing OLD SCHOOL SOFFEE CHEERING SHORTS (note: they are super short). You got that mental picture? First of all, I'm sorry but second of all - it was going to be amazing walking over there looking like that. I did what I had to do though, because it was getting dark and I wasn't getting any younger or any less pregnant. 

I ran (read: waddled) across the highway and walked around to the only lit up door at this joint and rang the door bell. A fireman comes to the door and opens the door but leaves the storm door shut and stares at me. I start trying to describe what I'm doing - "painting over at the school..yadda yadda yadda (hopefully he realizes I don't mean vandalizing) locked out yadda yadda, and now I'm stuck and it's dark...husband is at home" and at this point another fireman is behind him looking over his shoulder at me and they are both just staring with zero reaction. Like, crickets - seriously...silence. I'm not sure if they were waiting for like an "I'm about to drop a baby on your porch" punchline or what but I had to basically spell out "I NEED A JUMP" to them. SERIOUSLY...SPECIAL. Anyhow, they came over and jumped the van and then were super kind enough to follow me home to ensure the pregnant little lady didn't get into any more trouble and I greatly appreciated their help and kindness. Before they followed me home they made sure to ask me what kid this was and then when I told them 4 they made sure to add in the same sentiment I hear on an almost daily basis now. Wait for it: "boy, you're going to have your hands full". Well, excuse my french readers but NO SHIT is what I want to say EVERY.TIME.SOMEONE.SAYS.THAT. I mean, duh! Argh...I digress. 

Without further ado - the product of my "interesting" evening: the rock! 

Here it is before I began:

 and after: 

 She chose a dolphin theme for her party this year...don't ask me why because I've not got the answer. I thought then and still think now that a dolphin party is totally random but whatever, it's what she wanted and what she got - win, win. Anyhow, I decided to try to keep the rock with the theme of the party so that's why it's beach/ocean scene. 

 It's kind of tough to see (because like I said I was painting at dark thirty) but there are dolphins jumping out of the waves all along the bottom. 

And now the rock reveal: 

 She really liked it but oh my word how much more she might appreciate it one day when she reads the story that goes with it. Ha! 

 The big 7!

 Happy birthday girl = happy Momma. Mission accomplished. 

On the same day of the rock reveal, we also had our school party with her friends at UA. The kids were studying apples since it was fall and I knew that because I'd been communicating with her teacher. Because they were studying apples, I elected to kind of run with that for her school celebration. We checked out lots of apple books from our local library and ended up choosing to read Applesauce Afternoon to her class. 

Along with reading Applesauce Afternoon, we created a power point presentation to share with the class about making apple sauce. We shared where we got our apples and how they go from tree to sauce in your bowl. The book we chose also talked about making applesauce. The treat we created to share was applesauce cupcakes with spiced cream cheese frosting. The kids loved them and seemed to really enjoy the presentation. So fun! 

 She had a really good celebratory day at school and because it was a half day, we even went out to lunch with her BFF after they were dismissed. 

What more could a birthday girl want? 

Oh, a dolphin party. That's coming next!