Mercy has been enthusiastically looking forward to her birthday for months. She's had a count down for weeks, and had her birthday clothes laid out days in advance. Her excitement has been contagious, and we've all been anxiously waiting for today to arrive. Mercy requested crepes and bacon for breakfast. I got up at 6:00 am to work on her cake and prepare her meal. She woke up chipper and cheerful around 7:30 and was happy to play with balloons until breakfast was ready at 8:30.
I made up her plate, which consisted of a reasonable single crepe with fresh strawberries and whipped cream and two pieces of bacon. Her response was: I'm not two! I need seven pieces of bacon! I gave her seven, but ultimately she was only actually able to eat two.
After breakfast, we got Grandma and Grandpa on Skype to open presents.
Mercy, as predicted, asked for a party over presents this year. She had her celebration all planned out months ago, including who she was going to invite, what activities they'd do, and what food they were going to eat. She even knew what outfit she was going to wear. And then, Corona virus. It didn't occur to me back at the beginning of March that her birthday plan would be entirely impossible, and by the time it became clear that a party wasn't an option, ordering things online had become something of a crapshoot. We ordered a sewing book and a doll that Amazon said would arrive in time, then later got a message that they wouldn't, so we went to Walmart and bought her an electric scooter. When we got home, Matthew (being typical Matthew) researched our purchase and found that it had terrible reviews, so he got online and ordered one that might arrive in time. Then it turned out that the book and the doll did arrive in time, as did the second scooter, and then we remembered that we had gotten her a really nice sleeping bag at the last REI garage sale months ago, so by today, her birthday pile ended up looking a lot more like a Christmas pile. We decided to hold back the sewing book as a future gift, so when she opened her presents this morning she had the two foot rainbow haired Barbie doll, the sleeping bag, some clothes, and a craft kit from Mom and Dad. The boys each 3D printed her something for her dolls. Abraham selected a doll sized laptop and then painted the screen when it was done printing, and Hyrum designed a toilet for her dolls. She was thrilled with both. Aunt Sarah sent her $5, and the Kress grandparents gave her a beautiful music box with some pins to put in it, which she declared to be her favorite.
Mercy played with her doll while the boys did math and grammar. She and I started on her panda craft, and then Kinzlee and Addie doorbell ditched a gift for her. They even hid some eggs with candy around the front yard for her to find.
We walked over to the school to grab lunch, and when we got back, Malia dropped off a surprise present. Mercy was able to wave at her and it made her day to see a friend's face. They boys ate school lunch, but Mercy ate her favorite: nachos made with Doritos.
Mercy made a card for her birthday buddy, Kaitlyn, who is a young woman in the ward, and the kids and I went to deliver it after lunch. We set the card and a balloon at her door, then stood at the sidewalk to sing happy birthday to her. The boys practiced piano and had google meetings with their classes this afternoon, and Mercy had an assignment to record herself reciting a poem, so we worked on those things for a while, then the kids enjoyed some screen time. They also made the squishy balls that Kinzlee gifted and played a card game together.
We checked the mail around 4:30 and found that a package from Grandma J had arrived. Mercy got a Mini Mouse dress and matching shoes along with a stuffed moose.
A little earlier in the afternoon, the nicer scooter had arrived. We took it up to our closet to charge for a couple hours, then let Mercy know she had one more present. She was so surprised and shocked. We took it to the dog park right away, and while she was nervous at first, she figured it out pretty quick. The boys were equally, if not more excited about having an electric scooter in the house.
Mercy wanted pizza for dinner, but not homemade pizza, so we ordered from Papa John's. We had pepperoni and bacon pizza with frozen root beer, then it was time for cake. She couldn't decide on her own what kind she wanted, so she left it entirely up to me. Her only request was that I not use store bought frosting. I made her a four layer vanilla rainbow cake with vanilla mouse filling and cream cheese frosting. We ate it with cookies & cream ice cream and were all satisfactorily full when we were done.
As we were getting ready for bed, Esther Jensen dropped off a homemade card and package of cookies. Mrs. Hoehne had sent a recording of her singing Happy Birthday, and the Jolley's sent a Marco Polo of the family singing the birthday song. Mercy's friends definitely showered her with love and she loved being remembered even if they couldn't all be together. Matthew had set up the bell tent in the morning, so when it got dark, we situated ourselves with our sleeping bags and mats and watched Angry Birds 2 on the laptop. It was a long, epic day, and I think Mercy really loved every minute of it.
We all love our Mercy girl so much. She holds her own unique place in our family and we would definitely be incomplete without her. At seven, she no longer feels like a little girl anymore and is now fully in the realm of proper big kid. The world is kind of a crazy place these days, but also a truly wonderful time to be alive. I'm excited to see what life holds for this silly, compassionate, energetic baby of mine.
I made up her plate, which consisted of a reasonable single crepe with fresh strawberries and whipped cream and two pieces of bacon. Her response was: I'm not two! I need seven pieces of bacon! I gave her seven, but ultimately she was only actually able to eat two.
After breakfast, we got Grandma and Grandpa on Skype to open presents.
Mercy, as predicted, asked for a party over presents this year. She had her celebration all planned out months ago, including who she was going to invite, what activities they'd do, and what food they were going to eat. She even knew what outfit she was going to wear. And then, Corona virus. It didn't occur to me back at the beginning of March that her birthday plan would be entirely impossible, and by the time it became clear that a party wasn't an option, ordering things online had become something of a crapshoot. We ordered a sewing book and a doll that Amazon said would arrive in time, then later got a message that they wouldn't, so we went to Walmart and bought her an electric scooter. When we got home, Matthew (being typical Matthew) researched our purchase and found that it had terrible reviews, so he got online and ordered one that might arrive in time. Then it turned out that the book and the doll did arrive in time, as did the second scooter, and then we remembered that we had gotten her a really nice sleeping bag at the last REI garage sale months ago, so by today, her birthday pile ended up looking a lot more like a Christmas pile. We decided to hold back the sewing book as a future gift, so when she opened her presents this morning she had the two foot rainbow haired Barbie doll, the sleeping bag, some clothes, and a craft kit from Mom and Dad. The boys each 3D printed her something for her dolls. Abraham selected a doll sized laptop and then painted the screen when it was done printing, and Hyrum designed a toilet for her dolls. She was thrilled with both. Aunt Sarah sent her $5, and the Kress grandparents gave her a beautiful music box with some pins to put in it, which she declared to be her favorite.
Mercy played with her doll while the boys did math and grammar. She and I started on her panda craft, and then Kinzlee and Addie doorbell ditched a gift for her. They even hid some eggs with candy around the front yard for her to find.
Mercy made a card for her birthday buddy, Kaitlyn, who is a young woman in the ward, and the kids and I went to deliver it after lunch. We set the card and a balloon at her door, then stood at the sidewalk to sing happy birthday to her. The boys practiced piano and had google meetings with their classes this afternoon, and Mercy had an assignment to record herself reciting a poem, so we worked on those things for a while, then the kids enjoyed some screen time. They also made the squishy balls that Kinzlee gifted and played a card game together.
We checked the mail around 4:30 and found that a package from Grandma J had arrived. Mercy got a Mini Mouse dress and matching shoes along with a stuffed moose.
A little earlier in the afternoon, the nicer scooter had arrived. We took it up to our closet to charge for a couple hours, then let Mercy know she had one more present. She was so surprised and shocked. We took it to the dog park right away, and while she was nervous at first, she figured it out pretty quick. The boys were equally, if not more excited about having an electric scooter in the house.
Mercy wanted pizza for dinner, but not homemade pizza, so we ordered from Papa John's. We had pepperoni and bacon pizza with frozen root beer, then it was time for cake. She couldn't decide on her own what kind she wanted, so she left it entirely up to me. Her only request was that I not use store bought frosting. I made her a four layer vanilla rainbow cake with vanilla mouse filling and cream cheese frosting. We ate it with cookies & cream ice cream and were all satisfactorily full when we were done.
As we were getting ready for bed, Esther Jensen dropped off a homemade card and package of cookies. Mrs. Hoehne had sent a recording of her singing Happy Birthday, and the Jolley's sent a Marco Polo of the family singing the birthday song. Mercy's friends definitely showered her with love and she loved being remembered even if they couldn't all be together. Matthew had set up the bell tent in the morning, so when it got dark, we situated ourselves with our sleeping bags and mats and watched Angry Birds 2 on the laptop. It was a long, epic day, and I think Mercy really loved every minute of it.
We all love our Mercy girl so much. She holds her own unique place in our family and we would definitely be incomplete without her. At seven, she no longer feels like a little girl anymore and is now fully in the realm of proper big kid. The world is kind of a crazy place these days, but also a truly wonderful time to be alive. I'm excited to see what life holds for this silly, compassionate, energetic baby of mine.
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