Three Birthdays and a Funeral

Cue the music, Strawberry has passed away. For those of you not in the know, Strawberry was a fish gifted to the girls from Santa last year. He had seemed rather "lethargic" of late and upon returning from our D.C trip (post on that soon) he had settled in comfortably on the bottom of his home.

The girls didn't notice - he had always liked to hide under the rocks. I announced his departure and decided that this would be a good learning opportunity. Strawberry's death was a chance for me to talk to the girls about dying, about what happens when we die, how those who are left behind might feel.

I told the girls to dig a hole in the yard for Strawberry. Ellery came back inside about 5 minutes later crying hysterically. She could barely catch her breath. It broke my heart. After a proper burial, both girls seemed ready to move on.

And are we ready to move on now too? We have had three birthdays in the past 3 weeks. We started off with Danielle's.

Danielle's family sent her these beautiful flowers.

The girls were all up in her business...ready to get at that cake!

A few days later we celebrated my birthday with cake and dinner out!

And then it was Ellery's birthday. She started off the day with the traditional cupcake for breakfast.

Followed by a family dinner: chicken kabobs, rice and veggies.

And now for a little product placement....

I made these cupcakes for her party at school.

I used this Trader Joe's frosting mix and IT ROCKED!! If you have a Trader Joe's by you -- go get this and make a cake. It will be well worth the effort.

Lator gators...got to get the wee ones ready for a soccer game!