Because Mamo had recently had a birthday, we wanted to welcome her with a cake. She requested a yellow cake with white frosting and coconut. I made a homemade yellow cake that Bags and I (mostly Bags) had made once before. It requires the eggs, among other things, to be room temperature, and I wanted to follow the recipe as exactly as possible. Because I didn't plan ahead well, I tried briefly to warm the eggs in my sweatshirt:
Mamo and Pod rented a car and drove themselves down on the night of Thursday, June 2. Ever tried desperately to stay awake (in her room) until they arrived. She lasted until about 10 P.M. but couldn't quite make it. The next morning, she was so excited when Mamo and Pod got up. She waited outside in the hallway while Mamo readied herself in the bathroom.
We frosted the cake that morning and enjoyed it after lunch on Friday. Ever handled the blowing out of the candle on Mamo's behalf:
Mamo and Ever made little kites and ran them around the yard while Pod (and Jim, to a lesser extent) tried to figure out the Barbie kite Ever got at The Dollar Store a while ago:
Pod is a patient and dedicated man. He spent hours on the Barbie kite - putting it together, trying to fly it, taking it apart, putting it together again the right way, and untangling the string. His hard work paid off.
That whole endeavor was hilarious. There was a lot of "Come on, Barb!," "She's coming down!," "You can do it, Barb!," etc. It just wouldn't have been the same if it hadn't been Barbie. In any event, it turns out that flying a kite is pretty fun. Ever didn't hold it for too long, but Pod thoroughly enjoyed it.
We did a short walk at Batiquitos Lagoon on Saturday before dropping Ever at a birthday party:
Pod did a little more kite-flying Saturday afternoon:
Uncle Lane had told Mamo that he and Robin's stillborn daughter, Melissa, was buried in the cemetery in Oceanside near our house, and he hoped Mamo could find the grave and visit it while she was here. The only cemetery I know of is Eternal Hills, right across the street from Henie Hills (our neighborhood). Mamo, Pod, Ever, and I headed over there Sunday afternoon. At Mamo's suggestion, we had written "Melissa Throssell" on a little piece of paper for Ever to hold and reference so she could help us look. The place is gigantic, though, and we had no idea where Melissa might be. Lane said she was buried by the road, but there are lots of roads through there. Since it was Sunday, there was nobody there to help us. There were, however, about one million squirrels and bunnies bounding over the grass in the same direction. It was as if we were witnessing all of the animals gathering for a convention. It was bizarre and fun. Anyway, we wandered among the graves for a while, searching for Melissa. Pod and I got separated from Mamo and Ever, and I wondered how we'd find them again. Eventually we were reunited. Recognizing that we were on a wild goose chase without a directory, we gave up and drove past Robin's childhood home (just off of Vista Way, close to our house):
Mamo texted a picture to Lane, who was delighted to see this place that brings back happy memories.
Monday was Ever's last day of preschool / preschool graduation. (It was sort of a fake graduation since she misses the kindergarten and transitional-kindergarten deadlines and will be back at Little Bugs Preschool in the fall.) I dropped her in the morning, and then Mamo, Pod, Wren, and I went back at 11:00 A.M. for graduation. First they showed us some of the things they did in preschool, like The Pledge of Allegiance ...
... and a song involving the alphabet and hand motions:
They sang a cute song about graduation day:
They took turns showing and describing pictures they drew of their favorite thing about preschool. Ever's favorite thing was dots, which they did on the day they studied the letter "d."
Miss Paula took a moment to talk about each kid and give him/her a couple preschool mementos. (She had made adorable little books with pictures of some of their extra-fun activities.) She didn't say anything particularly profound about Ever, but here it is anyway:
The kids performed a cute play about a ladybug who shared her beautiful, sparkly spots with all her friends. Ever told me that morning that she was the ladybug, and she was supposed to talk but no one else did, and she was scared. On account of the fear, she had a hard time when I dropped her off in the morning. As I was leaving, Miss Paula was telling her she didn't have to be the ladybug if she didn't want to. So Ever gave up the lead for a non-speaking part. This video was taken by Deb Moffat, so it focuses on Parker:
There was a party after graduation. We all contributed food, and Miss Paula made cupcakes with graduation caps. Mamo and Pod headed back to the cemetery while Ever and I stayed and ate. Somebody had the bright idea to gather the kids and take a group photo at the after-party:
With some assistance and a directory, Mamo and Pod were able to find Melissa's grave. Later that afternoon, we left Pod with a sleeping Wrenzo, and Mamo took Ever and me to the grave. Melissa is buried with a lot of other babies, and there are a lot of other young people buried all over that cemetery. We even visited the grave of Max Harris, the nearly-10-year-old in our ward who was killed in a boating accident during a family reunion a few years ago. I couldn't stop crying the whole time we were at the cemetery because I was thinking about parents who have lost children.
Mamo and Pod flew out of LAX Monday night. The good news was that Mamo would be back soon to help with New Baby, so that made for a pleasant goodbye.
