Acorn Pie (or Isa's 2nd Birthday Party)

I've been wanting to blog for a long time.  I mean, really blog.  Sit down with a cup of coffee (sigh...) decaffeinated tea and just write about the sweet times we've been having or share some of the thoughts always bouncing around in my head.  But for some reason it keeps getting bumped, I guess I feel like I'm still struggling to get back in control of our house and routines since I've been slacking for the past month.  Things haven't been too out of control, but there's just always that "one more thing" that I want to get done before I really relax.  And, besides, I keep feeling like I need to catch up with everything that's been happening before I get to sharing about whats happening now.

But today was one of those days that deserved to remembered, and a good reminder to me about how important it is to focus on the life that's happening today instead of what I've got to do tomorrow or what I didn't get done yesterday.

When we came home from the park this morning, I noticed the yard was filled with acorns.  I flashback-ed to the memory of 1 year-old Annika happily gathering acorns outside of my parent's house when fall first arrived in Texas.

November 2009

Cutie, right?  She loved it so much.  Whether it be acorns or dinosaurs, the girl is a born collector.  So today, I grabbed 3 year-old Annika and a little basket and we headed outside.  It was such a beautiful warm afternoon, and it was really nice (for both of us) to just take our time and do something as simple as digging through the grass to find the shiniest uncracked acorns. (Well, that's what I was looking for.  Annika liked the deformed, cracked ones.)

We filled the basket and had big plans to make an acorn pie. A pretend one, by the way. She was all business when we got inside and went straight to the kitchen, put on her new apron and chef's hat (from our sweet friend Jodi) and got started.  She didn't even ask me for directions, she went right into warming them on the stove, adding spices and milk, and stirring them up.  I can only guess that she picked all that up from when we made a pumpkin pie recently.  A real one.  But anyways, she was the big boss in her little kitchen. 

Originally, the acorn pie was supposed to be for the two of us.  And maybe Daddy, if he was lucky.  But after I set a nice little table-for-two in the playroom with her special china tea set, she suddenly decided that we needed to invite all of her dolls to the party.  And wait... this wasn't just going to be any party, no, this was Isa's 2nd birthday party!  (I can hardly believe we almost missed it. I mean, I don't think she ever turned one, so I certainly wouldn't want to miss two!)

So change of plans from a Mommy-daughter tea party to a playroom-wide bash for Isa's birthday.  I think even Isa was surprised.

It was actually a lot of work for an impulse make-believe party.  Besides the arranging of twelve place settings on the floor and dishing out of acorns, it was no small task to find twelve dolls that could manage to sit up on their own.  Chicken actually got demoted from the party circle because she doesn't bend into a sitting position.  Poor Chicken... I always feel like Chicken gets shafted.  Chicken probably hates Isa.

And Gracie did alright at first, but had trouble once the party started.  I cracked up when Annika just said, "Uh-oh, Mommy.  There goes Gracie again."

 Still makes me laugh.

After everyone had acorn pie, I thrilled Annika with the privilege of serving real candy to her dolls.  She allowed each guest one Smartie in their teacup, and then ate every bit of left-overs when the party was over.  (Actually, she finished them off way before the party finished!)  I took a little video that I'll hopefully get on facebook soon.

I love that we are at a stage now that she can direct/contribute to our play-games.  All it takes is a little spark of enthusiasm and attention from someone, whether it be an adult or another child, and she will happily join in and let her imagination run wild.

And I know she had a good time hosting Isa's 2nd birthday party, because she just ran out of her playroom and said joyfully, "Mommy- Isa's three!"