Skylark Turns Five! (10/22)

I love the ways in which the younger children pull out the stops to celebrate each other on birthday mornings. 

When I came into the living room on the morning of Lark's birthday, Zeke was deep in hot glue, cardboard, and glow-in-the-dark paint.  He'd disassembled an old remote control car in order to repurpose the motor into a spinning, glow-in-the-dark star mobile for Skylark. 

His grand design was (predictably) built of cardboard, and he coated all the stars in glow-in-the-dark paint.

After a test run to make sure it was balanced and worked, he gave Lark the remote control so she could start it spinning whenever she pleased.

It lasted a couple of months and lit a corner of their room with a soft, whirring glow, and when it fell apart, Zeke snagged the motor back to use on a future invention.

Even the whipped cream got a makeover before breakfast. 

In case you're wondering, her Belgian waffle is covered with whipped cream, berry sauce, maple syrup, and topped off with a necessary sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.

Without exaggeration, Skylark spent several hours with me in the month prior to her birthday picking out the perfect birthday cake, most of which involved elaborate dinosaurs sculpted of fondant. Imagine my surprise (and relief!) when the day before her birthday, she switched her desires to a pink cake with SPRINKLES. The dinosaur was also a priority, but she wanted to use one of hers instead of having me sculpt one. 

Easy peasy! Susannah even made the banner and dino's birthday hat so I didn't ahve to.

Skylark is such an irrepressible delight. Our little Bird, a dinosaur at heart, crinkly-eyed and quick-grinned. Oh, how we love you.  God shelter you, as He has, and as we trust He will.