January 12, Clara's cast came off. It was pretty traumatic for her. The saw cut (shallowly) into the side of her foot, barely missing a small pressure sore.

A few days later, it snowed a little bit. The kids bundled up and raced outside. Clara stood in the garage and cried the whole time. She had to be ignored, as the snow was melting before our very eyes. As it was, we did what we could with what we had:




A few days after that, Sydney turned four. She was really excited to be four. "I'm so excited!" she'd exclaim, over and over in the days leading up to it.

She had a special morning breakfast and enjoyed opening a few presents from G&GB.





The next day she and a few friends went to an indoor playground. Rules of the place prohibited birthday celebrations, so midway through we (me and two friends who thankfully saw the silliness of me trying to do this alone and decided to stay) shuttled the kids out into the lobby, where they (the kids, not the mommies) sat on the cold tile and ate chocolate cupcakes and spread frosting all over tarnation.

It was pretty ghetto. But I guess the girls had fun and that's what really counts. When Talmage turned four, since I didn't know any better, I stayed up 'til the wee hours making that Radiator Springs racetrack cake. We hosted a birthday party here with a few of his friends, who we tried to entertain with mediocre games. One kid threw up. It was a very stressful experience (the entertaining part, not the throw-up part) and I don't know as if the benefit was any greater than the good time Sydney had with her friends at the playground where we just let them run amuck. So, I think, given it is not "my thing", that birthday parties around here will generally continue to follow the same grain I grew up with, i.e. benign neglect. "It's good for your character!"