Late summer birthdays and back to school

You know it's back to school / university time when blogs aren't updated... I actually started back last week with my first tutorials and lectures - so today, one day after labour day I feel like I'm already back into things... :)

But of course, I did stay away from the blog for a few weeks while I was trying to get everything ready for the new term, then Anouk got sick, then the birthdays came - Anouk turned 1!! and Mark had his birthday too.

We start celebrating a birthday in the morning with the presents and cake and we sing happy birthday! I set everything up the night before, bake the cake, put out the presents and the little birthday wreath for the candles, Anouk had her first candle...

And of course I tear up as I set it up, feeling so proud of my growing children, hoping they will be happy and surprised in the morning.

Here she is enjoying her birthday cake:

And then, on the weekend we had her birthday party with family and friends and chocolate cake:

The cake completely fell apart when I tried to get it out of the pan (too soon, I know but I needed the pan...) Thank goodness for icing and smarties and big smarties flowers that can be placed strategically over the cracks. And nobody would have ever guessed.... :)

And here is the birthday girl climbing up the stairs in her birthday dress.

Singing "Happy Birthday"

In the morning of her party I was scrambling to get everything ready, cakes finished, snacks set up, the house cleaned and decorated. There's this old lady down the street with this amazing yard full of flowers behind an ugly chain link fence. She has a little stand in her driveway under a sun umbrella where she sells bouquets of her garden flowers for $1.50 each. She is hunched over and walks very slowly and usually sits further back in the driveway binding the bouquets. Every year I am overjoyed to see that she is still there and that her bouquets are there to brighten up the neighbourhood. I see her bouquets sometimes on my walks: in windows, on little tables on front porches, in people's hands as they are cycling through the streets. So that morning of Anouk's party I went over to her driveway and bought up all the bouquets on her little stand and used them to decorate our back porch and the inside of the house.

I found this idea of hanging flowers in mason jars on a string and thought it would be perfect for this:

Here's a picture of our back porch ready for the party with the beautiful flowers hanging and the garland of little flags. These flags are the reason I started sewing a few months ago. I saw them somewhere and thought I should make some of those. I guess it's like when you start knitting, you start with a scarf. And when you start sewing you start with little flags. And you discover how addictive it can be and move on to new and exciting projects and fabrics...

The Monday after the party was my first day back to class - one week before Labour Day - and I had to start at 7 in the morning... And it was Mark's birthday. No singing, no cake for him in the morning, poor guy. We went out for dinner with the kids, which was fun and we extended the birthday celebrations into the week when things were a bit more quiet...

Last weekend we just relaxed, enjoyed three "home days" together and welcomed fall. It's cooled off and it's been raining. And I actually like it. It's been a wonderful summer...