A Birthday Party for Dr. King

Sofia has been engulfed in the story of Dr. King's life. She studied about it at school and learned about his life, his work, his legacy and the injustice of racism he worked tirelessly to eliminate. She shared the story of Rosa Parks with us more times than I can remember. There is something about the five-year old mind and how in touch they are with injustice. Dr. King's story is forever ingrained in her mind--I don't think she'll ever forget what she has learned from him.

I shared the story with her that my Mom used to share about riding the Street Car in New Orleans in the 60's when the conductor would insist on any "colored" person getting up so that she could sit down. She always spoke about the injustice she thought it was that they would have to get up so that she could sit down just because she was white. My Mom always said she would refuse and sometimes they would be so insistent it would make her cry and apologize for the way the conductor and others treated the "colored." It was really special to share this with Sofia--to give her a real personal example that her grandmother lived and experienced many times. I'm grateful for my Mom's example to stand up for the racism and injustice that existed so prevalently back then and even still exists today. I'm also grateful for Dr. King's example and so is Sofia.

She prayed several times the week of his birthday thanking Heavenly Father for Dr. King and his life. It was precious. For the Martin Luther King Day holiday she had from school she suggested we make him a birthday cake! We had a lot of fun making it: a yellow cake, chocolate frosting, and yellow sprinkles...all Sofia's choice. She made a sun with the sprinkles on the cake. And loved getting to blow out the candles for him!

Sofia putting the candles on the yummy cake!

She was so excited!

Sydnei was oober excited too! After all at the age of 19 months, she does know what cake is...

Sydnei looks so serious here, waiting for the party to get started. I love her big blue eyes!

Papi lighting the candles...it got a tad hot for his hands!

Blowing out the candles!

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes by Dr. King:

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

Santa Came Early This (last) Year

Miss Sofia shows off the new bunk beds!

He even came early for my birthday. A couple of days before my b-day these gorgeous bunk beds showed up in the girls' room. We had them custom made by an awesome couple that have their own business called Bunk Beds West in Milwaukie, Oregon. Their work is amazing and these bunk beds are even more beautiful in person. They're built solid and were so reasonably priced. We had shopped around the stores forever looking for this and couldn't find a decently priced and well built set of bunk beds anywhere. We found Bunk Beds West on a google search and after doing some homework and seeing their work first hand we were sold. For $1,100 we purchased a twin over full bunk bed with a trundle twin bed drawer underneath plus it came with three brand new mattresses. You can't beat these bad boys.

Top Bunk where Sofia Sleeps

The bedding was my favorite part and a total splurge. We purchased the bedding from Pottery Barn Kids and they coordinate but are different in their base color: pink and lavender. They look so darling and the whole set up it so pretty. We'll be using these killer beds for the next 20 years of raising our kiddos. I love that 4 kids can sleep with this one unit! Score!

Bottom bunk where Sydnei Sleeps and room for one more!

The twin trundle bed right underneath the bottom bunk.
It's not attached so it can be moved to a different part of the bedroom.

Sofia and Sydnei are in love with their beds and Sydnei was an EASY switch to the big girl full-sized bed at 17 months old!