Friday, January 9, 2009

Butterfly

So let me start this by first saying that since marrying into the Anderson family I have found it EXTREMELY hard to remember any of my nieces and nephews birthdays, and I am sure it has something to do with the fact that there are over 70, but also I think it has a lot to do with the fact that no one wants to "burden" anyone else with their kids parties or reminders. (My family on the other hand, we only get together on birthdays, and I guess I expected that to be the case here too.) Not that either of these ways is the right way I just don't have a system in place to help me remember birthdays. And lets just be honest, Kory is not much help reminding me either. I believe he still owes presents to a LOT of people, I won't mention names, but I am sure you know who you are.

So it's not that I don't try, I usually just don't know about it until one of these events happens...

1. I get an invite to a birthday party,(even if it is not the child's birthday that day, I know when and where to bring a gift, this goes with siblings as well) so this is helpful, but this occurrence is RARE.

Or this happens

2. I get a polite reminder from the said child that TODAY is in fact their birthday. (and believe me, this has happened a few times) I believe Coles words were "Uhhh Amy did you know today was my Birthday?" To that I responded "It is? Happy birthday! What do you want for your birthday?!" To that he responded very sadly and disappointed, "All I wanted were some Sea Animals."

And I don't blame Cole for this, in fact I was quite grateful that he had mustered enough courage to remind me that I had promised him sea animals for his birthday, and it was time to pay up.

Now with that being said, I had another such encounter from my niece Maggie back in December. She came up to me at the Anderson Family Christmas party to show me her very cute boots. I of course beamed to her about how those boots were in fact the prettiest pair of boots I had ever seen! (If you know the girl, this type of enthusiasm is required) She then ever so politely said to me in her angelic voice "Uhhh Amy? Did you know today is my Birthday?" To which I exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, I did not, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! What do you want for your birthday?" To which she responded with out hesitation, "A butterfly!"

So, I thought, and I thought and I thought about where to get a butterfly? Weeks went by and then I was discussing with Kory some of my ideas, and he said, "why don't you just make her a huge one out of your vinyl?" I of course thought this idea was INGENIOUS, as many of his ideas are, but went to work right away.

Needless to say it took me a few tries, but it worked out perfectly. And last night we brought it to her.

She really liked the ribbon I tied on the package...
She was kind of mad at me for giving her this Popsicle stick...I believe her exact words "What the heck is this for?"
Lynus kept standing in front of the camera every time we tried to take a picture of her with the butterfly.


But we eventually got one.
Andy was a GREAT helper and read all the instructions to me on how to put it on the wall. And he said "My Turn" after I took Maggie and Lynus picture in front of the butterfly, I thought he is probably my favorite person to take pictures of, he is ALWAYS so willing.
And then Lynus wanted another turn in front of the butterfly. :)

7 comments:

Shauna said...

It's still intact and looking great. Just so you know. She loves it and it looks great in her room.

rain said...

That was such a creative idea. And, you seriously go above and beyond for nieces and nephews. I really don't think you should ever feel guilty about forgetting birthdays. Like you said, there's only a million of them, and if you got a gift for every one of them every year, you'd be in the poorhouse.

Sarah said...

That's a cool present - did you make it or buy it? I think I'm doing well if I remember some of their names let alone their Birthdays!!

Shauna said...

Amy if my kids got birthday presents from every aunt and uncle they would get more presents than Christmas. That would not be a good thing and I would not want that. I think most kids just want a Happy Birthday said to them. When you asked Maggie what she wanted for her birthday she came up with an answer. And I promise you she quickly forgot it after she said it. So no pressure or worries. A simple Happy Birthday acknowleges them and gives them more than enough. It's attention. They aren't even asking for that. Same goes for siblings. When I get a few texts on my phone saying Happy Birthday it's more than I expected and I feel special.

KaSs MiLeS said...

that turned out really cute! how did you find vinyl in those colors?

Sarah said...

I am so impressed that you made that - good job. I don't think I'd know where to start and I certainly wouldn't want to break your machine trying :)
Just a little observation and it could just be my computer so you don't have to do anything about it, I just thought you might like to know. Your new background color makes it hard to read the writing. Maybe you could change the text color to white?? Just a idea :):):)

Melonius said...

It's right by seven peaks.