Saturday, January 30, 2010

Birthday girl

































Apologies for the wacky spacing!!! I can't figure out how to fix it without accidentally deleting photos.

January brought with it the chance to celebrate Anya Rashi's birthday with her grandparents. The first few photos were taken the morning of the party, as Anya Rashi helped me make Chicken Makhani. This girl LOVES to eat raw onions!


Flower cupcakes were the order of both parties, after months (starting in July!) of deliberating between different ideas by our then-2-year-old. In my family, my brother has a January birthday, and I'm happy to say he didn't mind sharing his celebration with Anya Rashi (pink flowers and all!).

A small dream of mine also came true with one particular birthday gift: my Mom repainted and spruced up a little wooden cupboard for Anya Rashi's gift. The cupboard was originally made by my Grandpa for my Mom when she was a little girl. My sister and I played with it when we were kids, and now it's being passed on to a third generation in our family.


The cabinet makes me appreciate two of my grandparents' character traits: they were very fun and creative, and like most who lived through the Great Depression, they were very thrifty. The wood for the cabinet came from a truckload of scrap wood delivered by a local paper company to my grandparents' house in the country. (My grandpa later worked for the same paper mill.)


Every summer, a load of wood was dropped off, and the five kids (one more would be added to the family a few years later) would spend time during the summer removing nails so they could burn it throughout the winter to heat their house. Grandpa built the cupboard out of this scrap wood -- on one side of the cabinet, the raised words from a peach crate are still visible beneath the white paint. The knobs on the cabinet doors are halves of thread spools, painted red to my Mom's little-girl delight. My Grandma sewed most of the family's clothes, and saved spools because of their potential uses.


I'm so proud of my grandparents' legacy, and my Mom was as happy as Anya Rashi to play with it non-stop for 30 minutes after they brought it into the house.


You may notice that we have current photos again! A friend of ours' mother had read on the blog that our camera was broken, and gave us a (very nice!) camera that she no longer used. I felt like God had given me a big hug and reassured me that He is watching out for us as we save each penny for our current adoption. I won't use her name, because I know she would never want "credit" for it -- she's such a sweet woman.

12 comments:

Fenwick 5 said...

She is just so beautiful and I can't wait till she has a sister to play with!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Take care,Gidget:)

Kristi W. said...

Happy Birthday, Anya Rashi!!! Those cupcakes look delicious!

I loved reading about the little kitchen that has been passed down. What a fun family heirloom to have.

And so great that you have a new camera! Yay! It's a good thing since you will hopefully be traveling to India this year...

:) Kristi

The Pfeiffer Family said...

The little kitchen is so precious. I loved reading about all the history behind it. How wonderful to still have such a treasure in the family.

Happy Birthday, Anya Rashi! You are full of smiles and joy. Won't it be fun to play with your new kitchen with your sister? Enjoy.

April :-)

Julie & Patrick said...

Devi loves raw onions too! These two girls have so many similar traits!

I love the cabinet. What a wonderful toy to continue to use, remember and cherish. We have a doll crib that my grandpa made...he has a similar background to your families. It is such a lovely way to teach and share about Anya Rashi's roots.

I can't get over how these kids transform from age 1 to 2. Anya Rashi looks all grown up...and I'm sure she would probably tell you that she is too! :)

Julie

Todd and Michele said...

What a great day! Hope she had lots of fun. Great thing about the kitchen! Aren't heirlooms wonderful. It just dawned on me too that Anya and Dreyden are just 1 year apart. For some reason I though she was much older - Like turning four.

Michele

Cindy said...

Love the new pics!! Happy Birthday Anya Rashi!!

jasonliberty said...

She is beautiful! Happy Birthday Anya Rashi!!!!

ColleenC said...

What a big, sweet girl! Happy Birthday to her!

Jeff and Leslie said...

What a beautiful little girl. Happy Birthday Anya Rashi! The cabinet looks great. What a great gift, for both of you. Look forward to seeing more pictures now!

Candice said...

It looks like Anya Rashi had a wonderful birthday! I love the m&m flowers on the cupcakes! And what a wonderful gift to have the little cupboard made by your grandparents! Glad you are able to take new pics again and share them with us!

CandiceS

Joel and Jenn said...

I loved reading about Anya Rashi's birthday - especially about the cabinet that's been passed down. Legacies like that are my weakness you know - I love those stories. Now that my tears are cleared I can say thanks for sharing that sweet story. It would be a good challenge for us to be more thrifty these days as well! :) I'm glad the camera is working.

Holly said...

She's so precious! Happy Birthday sweet girl!