Happy birthday, Kadija!

Yesterday was my sister Kadija's 33rd birthday.

Happy birthday, Kiz. I love you!

I was 8 when she was born, and I'd been a very happy only child, content to suck up all my parents' attention and love.

But I fell in love with her from the minute she came home from the hospital. She was crazy and cheeky and full of mischief. She gave my parents fits -- and kept us all in stitches.

My other three siblings came in rapid succession after her, and they were like a band of thieves, running together, keeping each other's secrets, the four of them against everyone else. I was so much older, "everyone else" even included me.

But somehow, Kadija and I maintained a special bond. Aside from a love of books, we are absolutely nothing alike. Tahira and I often joke that we think the two of us must have been adopted, because the other three siblings are so utterly and fundamentally different (I am patting myself on the back for my diplomacy with that statement). Despite our oil and water ways, Kadija and I have a closeness -- one of those inexplicable ones that isn't measured by how much we talk on the phone (not much), how much we hang out together (hardly ever), or how much we have in common (not a darn thing).

Mostly, it comes from the fact that I don't agree with many of her choices -- but I try very hard not to judge her. I give her my opinion, oh yes I do, but I love her unconditionally and I would do anything for her -- and she knows it. Similarly, Kadija thinks I'm a bit of a square, with a lame-o life and rigid, Puritan views. And yet, I know this will sound completely contrary, but she is the least judgmental person I know. She accepts me and loves me and is the very definition of what a good friend should be. She is loyal to a fault. Her heart is huge.

Here's a story I'll always remember:

I came home from Kansas City for a holiday vacation. I was still reeling from a break-up from nearly  a YEAR before. I'm not sure where we were going, but the two of us were in the backseat of my parents' car, and I stared glumly out the window. She asked me what was wrong and I shared with her that I had been depressed for almost a year because of this break-up, and the fact that I couldn't shake the depression was making me more depressed.

Kadija is not a mushy person, not in the least. When things are uncomfortable, she often turns to humor. My 18-year-old sister took my hand and said to me, "I've been depressed my whole life."

We laughed, and she held my hand the whole ride -- this girl who eschews affection. And I felt comforted, safe, and understood.

Her comment was funny, but also sad, because I knew it was true. She lives a hard life, my sister does. And now her kids do, too. Much of it is of her own doing, but it's still hard to watch. I know that most of her bad decisions have at their roots profound unhappiness, self-esteem issues and unchecked depression. I wish I could change those things for her. I know that I can't.

She is and always will be my march-to-the-beat-of-her-own-drum, tell it like it is, crack us up, worry us to death, genuine and sincere, devil-may-care sister. She's my very first sibling -- the first person I learned how to unconditionally love.

No matter how old we get, or how our roads diverge, in my heart, the two of us are always holding hands, staring out of the car windows, as life whooshes too quickly by.

41 revolutions around the sun! (Or something like that.)

Wait. Is that right? You know I'm no good at math. If I turned 41 yesterday (which I did), does that mean I've now gone around the sun 40 times? 41 times? Or 42 times?

Is this a ridiculous question? Whatever.

Happy birthday to me!

Yesterday, I planned to go into work and sit in my air-conditioned office, occasionally stopping over to Facebook to "like" all my Happy Birthday posts, and then go out to lunch with my co-workers, who had planned a trip out for Indian buffet.

But Michelle called in sick (she'd been feeling poorly all week) and so I ended up staying home with Cary, Dean and Clair, whose idea of celebrating my birthday involves me being at their beck and call and refereeing fights and celebrating THEM. The prospect of being stuck in the house all day with those three nuts is bad enough on a regular day (the fighting, the noise, the messes, the whining! Lawd!) but on my birthday, it just seemed completely untenable.

So I packed us some brown bag lunches and hustled on out to the B&O Railroad Museum, where we have a membership, for a free day out and about in the sun!

Faithful readers of this blog will know that those "meh" looks on Cary and Dean's faces mean, "Holy cannoli! It's the CONDUCTOR! I'm bursting with excitement!"

Later on, we went to pick up Cary's glasses, which were finally ready. (More about that in a later post.)

These are his new glasses! Isn't he the CUTEST?

I ordered this book to help prepare him for glasses -- and because that little boy looks like Cary to me. It cracks me up!

And my Dad drove all the way from his side of the world -- over an hour -- just to bring me a plant, and pose for pictures with Cary, to show him that all the "good-looking fellas have glasses."

My Dad always makes me feel so special!

Lester took me and the whole family out to dinner at Gertrude's, which is at the Baltimore Museum of Art. It was the kids' first visit to a "white tablecloth" restaurant. At first, it looked like we were headed for disaster. Clair was whining like crazy and wouldn't sit in her chair. The boys were whining like crazy and playing with the knives on the table. People were giving us the judgy eyes. But we ordered their food first, so it came pretty quickly, and after they got a little food in their bellies, things calmed down and we ended up having a really nice meal. Dean kept trying to wave down the waiter (we stopped him this time) and when they brought my dessert, he blew out my candle (of course); Clair ate a good fourth of my $23 crab cake and Cary sat contentedly eating his food and fancy donuts and looking around at everyone and everything like, "Well would you look at that?"

I didn't take any pictures, because the kid-wrangling was a full-time job. But we didn't get kicked out - so #winning.

Earlier that morning, the kids came in to my bedroom singing "Happy Birthday" and presenting me with a homemade card and small gifts (a heavy-duty lobster cracker, because the one I had was garbage, and a new fluffy pillow because my old cheap one was flat and giving me neck-aches).

And last week, just because I am the luckiest girl in the world, Lester set up a whole surprise date night where he:

Sent a car to pick me up from work (thanks, Uber!)

Selfie on the way to the restaurant! I felt like a movie star!

Met me at the Thames Street Oyster House, a FABULOUS seafood restaurant in Fells Point that I highly recommend if you are ever in Baltimore. He was at the bar when I got there, looking dapper, with a glass of sangria ordered for me.

It's not every day a tall, handsome man (my natty beau - get it?) meets you at a restaurant bar with a drink at the ready.

This was the view from our table!

I devoured this lobster roll, which was so damn good, I can't EVEN. But, guess what? I left the fries on the plate! Yay for restraint!

See? No lobster roll. Plate full of fries.

Because I was saving room for this bread pudding with warm caramel sauce. Oh. Em. Gee. Soooo good!

Took me out to a play at the Hippodrome Theater. The show was hilarious.

I ran into my gynecologist at the theater, who was out with his wife. #Awkward.

And then, whisked me off to a room at the Four Seasons (!!), which we got through a hook-up from our friend Antwyne (thanks Antwyne and Mari!), where we stayed the night (thanks to my sister Tahira who watched all the children for us!)

Tahira made a pizza with the kids! They loved it.

Look at  Matty giving Clair a kiss because he LOVES her so much. And check out Clair looking so over it, because he ANNOYS her so much. Poor sweet Matty. One day, she's gonna be your best friend, Matt Pat. Just wait.

And to top it all off -- my awesome co-workers re-scheduled my Indian buffet lunch for today! And invited Stacey to come back and eat with us!

Soooo, basically BEST BIRTHDAY EVER. (As usual!)

I'm so blessed and lucky and happy as a clam. I hope the next 41 (40? 42?) rotations around the sun are just as perfect!

Fun, friends and facepainting on Memorial Day

This Memorial Day was busy, busy, but a lot of fun.

We went to Spirit's 5th birthday, which was like a mini-festival, complete with a moon bounce, a magician, a popcorn machine, and a facepainter. (People are determined to put my eat-your-Duncan Hines-cupcakes-and-go-play-with-your-cousins parties to shame!)

It's a flower, even though she kept calling it a butterfly.

The facepainter kept exclaiming about how still Clair was, and how relaxed her face was. Dean, not so much.

My little monsters.

Technically, I think Cary is an avatar, but whatever. He still roared at people.

The magician was a huge hit. I have not seen my boys both crack up so much at the same things before. But they thought his antics and his magic were heeelarious.

I was always just a hair too slow to catch Dean in his full-on belly laugh.

Cary giggled through the whole thing. P.S. I think it is so funny that both my boys like to chew on straws (these are from juiceboxes), just like my uncles and cousins on my Mom's side.

 

Clair, petting the magician's bunny.

The boys' friend Marcus was at the party too. We'll be seeing a lot of Marcus, because they're going to be in the same class at Friends next year!

 And we got to hang out with two former Sun people who we don't get to see nearly enough. Uncle Dusty (Rashod) and Athima!

Me and Rashod go way back to the Sun's features desk! He very much disliked me at first, because he said I was too cheerful. But I won him over -- with my cheerfulness! Today, I can always count on him for friendship, honesty, loyalty and salty language. (Not to mention, good music suggestions.)

Clair let Uncle Dusty help her with her bubbles. This is monumental. She usually throws him so much shade.

Colby, Brent, Kevin and Lester AKA (the fellas).

Jen and her two girls, Athima (yay!), Andrea and Lester.

Keegan and Molly (Jen and Kevin's girls) and Clair were quite adventurous. Keegan and Clair are just two months apart. Molly will be 5 in November. It was fun to see all our kids playing together.

Dean followed Andrea around like a lovesick puppy, holding her hand and asking her to play, chase him, and take him to the bathroom. I told Andrea she better tell her fiance, Zac, that he has some monstrous competition.

Love this photo of my sweetie. She wore her sandals proudly, saying, "I wear my sandals. And I not cry!" That's my girl!

We also went to swim class, Lester took the kids to the park and the grocery store, we both went separately to DC to do various things at Lester's house (which should soon be on the market, yay!) and I cooked for almost seven straight hours yesterday. So there was nothing relaxing about this 3-day weekend.

But I don't imagine those kinds of long weekends will come again for quite some time.
Not with these three around.

Cary looks annoyed. Dean looks like a big boy. Clair looks adorable and devilish. In other words, the uje.

Clair is 2!

Our baby girl turned 2 on Sunday!

We celebrated by having a relaxing day, just the five of us. We went to church, came home, the kids had lunch and took a nap. And while they were all sleeping, I made cupcakes, decorated the living room with party-themed goodies and strung up some balloons.

When the kids came down from their nap, they were thrilled!

And we had our very own birthday party, complete with kids music, a few small presents and an activity: decorating the cupcakes with sprinkles -- as many as they wanted! (They took that part to heart, believe me.)

Clair mostly wanted to eat frosting and sprinkles. She enjoyed her presents for a few seconds, but then she wanted more sprinkles. Note to self: Never buy presents for 2-year-olds, no matter how small. All they want is sprinkles. And balloons.

Also at the "party," I gave the boys some pirate gear, which has proved to be a huge hit.

AAARRGH!

My little baby girl is 2, y'all. Two years ago I was still in the hospital, sore and crying because she wouldn't nurse, and soooo, sooo happy that my little Curve Ball had finally arrived.

She has turned into such a beautiful, spunky, hilarious, determined, loud and lovable little person. I am so glad God knew better than we did when we declared we were done having children.

Happy birthday, Clairzee! We LOVE you!!!

(P.S. I haven't forgotten about my promised post about girls' weekend. But I couldn't let my baby's birthday go by un-documented!)

Mom's birthday/my anniversary/Angel-takes-photos weekend!

My wonderful Mom's birthday is on Sunday. She'll be (cough, cough, ahem!) years old, but she doesn't look a day over 40.

To surprise her, my Nana (her mom), and her two sisters Fern and Valerie drove down from Boston today!

Aunt Fern is on the far left, my Mom's in the middle. Auntie Val is on the far right and my Nana is in the middle. The other two dudes are two of my Mom's brothers. (Uncle Mike didn't make this reunion.)

With all that family in town, we knew we needed to do something fab. So we're having a party this weekend!

I'll be busy, busy, busy (what else is new?) cooking for the party, dealing with the kiddos and basically being hostess-with-the-mostest, because my Dad has made me Chief Party Planner.

But I am so excited because my girl Angel C. is coming to take photos of the party, and some portraits of the Jackson girls (that's my mom and her sisters and Nana)! The photo shoot is my gift to my Mom and to Nana, whose birthday is on the 10th.

I get to see my family! And hang out with Angel! And get some kick-ass photos!! (You can see some of Angel's beautiful portraits at asc-images.com.)

And...tomorrow is me and Lester's 6th anniversary! 

AND...Nana and my Aunties brought LOBSTAH! (Gotta say it the Boston way!)

So this is going to be a great weekend! Can't wait!

Busy, busy, busy!

It must be this time of year, because when I look at all my friends' blogs, no one else is posting either. Busy-ness abounds!

I know the Davises have been really busy and will be for the next few weeks, it seems.

Here are a few things that have been happening in our lives that I didn't have a chance to record before now.

1. While I was away in Atlanta with Clair, Lester and the boys were hanging buddies.

They went to see a "Goodnight Moon" play! And met the actors!

They look bewildered.

 They rode on the famous Dentzel Carousel in Glen Echo Park.

They went to the National Building Museum in Washington D.C., and visited the "Play, Work, Build" exhibit.

And they capped off the weekend by watching some of the Sunday football game at Nana's and Granddad's house!

Busy, right? In between all that, Lester also took the kids to "Make Your Own Pizza" at Uno's and did the grocery shopping. I'm tired just thinking about all that stuff.

2. I got back from Atlanta and really needed a nap. But my work-life has been crazy, and this past week, personally, was also a whirlwind week for me.

I had my staff retreat in Potomac and a staff happy hour at a nearby restaurant/bar (also in Glen Echo, coincidentally).

That's me in the pink, giving a presentation!

After the happy hour, guess who came to hang out and eat and drink (some more) with me? Beth!! Laura C. was supposed to come, too, but got busy trying to make that paper, yo! (You better werk, Laura C.!) and we also invited my love, Angel C., but she was busy making a human being.

I don't have any photos of Beth and me gabbing it up, but rest assured, we looked fabulous and we had a blast. LOVE my blog friends turned IRL-friends!!

3. Then, at the end of the week, my lovely, wonderful, super-amazing friend Shreya had her annual dinner party for all her girlfriends. This is the one where her chef-husband (who is an attorney by day) makes a 4-course gourmet meal and serves it to all of us. And the food is always out of this world. This year, the theme was "NOLA" and the gumbo, shrimp 'n grits, po' boys and bananas Foster were all so good, seriously, I am still drooling.

My friend Jen and my friend Kelly. I had a photo of me and my friend Renee, but I look like a cow in it, especially next to Renee, who looks amazing in a dress she MADE, so I decided not to post that picture. I know that goes against all the "Show Me the Mommy" empowerment jazz, but whatevs. Get over it.

Also, this year, Shreya really put her husband to the test by having 43 women at the dinner. FORTY-THREE!

That's Shreya at the head of one of the 3 long tables of ladies. She's saying wonderful things about all of us individually while her husband, at the sink, is getting the first course prepared. I can't say enough about Shreya's Girls' Dinner.

We always talk about how awesome Shreya is for treating her girlfriends to this kind of pampering and love, but for real for real?? Her husband Jason gets the gold star!

4. And finally, this weekend, my sister watched all three of my children so I could take Lester on his French-themed birthday getaway!

We stayed in a hotel, where we played French music and had other French-themed fun. I won't go into details. Ahem.

We had a sublime dinner at this French country restaurant in Ellicott City. Top-notch. I highly recommend.

Sunday brunch. Continuing in the French theme: French-press coffee!

This was my first time ever leaving all three kids; I admit that I was more than a little bit nervous. But the kids did GREAT; they went to Russy's football game and ran around like crazy people, having a blast. Then came back to my Mom's and conked out!

Matty and Clair, the pacifier twins.

Deanie and Clairzee - without Mommy or Daddy and doing just fine!! Who would've thunk it?

Why is Cary in the stroller? No one knows.

 I was so surprised! Tahira and my mom said that Clair hardly cried the whole time. and the boys were well-behaved.

And when we came back to get them Sunday afternoon, Cary and Dean took one look at us and said, "We missed you, mother and father! Hooray, you're back!!"

HA!!! No, what they actually said -- with sour faces -- was: "Noooooo! We want to stay here!!" And then refused to give us kisses or hugs. Oh well!

Now we know we can leave them with family and they'll be just fine. I predict more outings for Lester and me from here on out!

But first, after all this busy-ness, I need a NAP.