Happy Birthday Rustin! Love, Your Sisters

This was one of those moments that make all the hard work of being a mom worth while.  On the morning of Rustin's 13th birthday party I asked the girls (Tess and Chloe) and their friends who were over (Hailey and Josie) if they would bake Rustin's birthday cake while I was gone at his first football game of the season.  Tess and Hailey love baking and they said sure! They also said they would come up with a design for the cake and then frost it when I got home!  Chloe and Josie started blowing up balloons before I left and said they would decorate.  I took off for the game around 11:40 feeling like things were pretty well in hand for his party that started at 6:00 that night.  It was a crazy game.  The other team scored twice before the Saber's had and we had to mount a major come back.  Rustin and his team worked hard to tie it up right before the end of the fourth quarter.  The overtime began and they both held each other on the first sets of four downs.  On the second set of downs, the other team scored.  When it was our turn again we got the ball down to the one yard line and for the next 3 plays couldn't get it in the goal.  It was a devastating loss because we worked so hard to come back and then came so close to winning, but didn't.  It was 109 degrees out and Rustin was exhausted, hot and extremely mad.  He was in tears as we walked to the car and started feeling better once I got some burgers and a cold drink in him on our way home.  As I turned the corner to our house with my worn out little football player, this is what we saw....

My heart was immediately too big for my chest and I have never loved my daughters more. Rustin was very impressed and didn't want me to park in the driveway and block it.  He jumped out of the car all happy and checked the mail for his birthday card from Russ's parents which always holds the thrill of cash!  With football woes forgotten and card in hand, he went inside and told the girls how much he liked their surprise! 

I had no idea that the girls were going to do anything like this!  I just thought they might blow up a few balloons and bake the cake.  They each made several letters and showed me whose was whose.  You can see Tess's letter 'P' in the middle of 'happy' has a lacrosse stick on it.  Each one was a little masterpiece and labor of love. On either side of the garage and on the front door were smaller signs that said "Rustin's Birthday Bash!" Last but not least, there was a mylar birthday balloon tied to the handle of the front door.  What a welcome!

The fun didn't stop outside. Chloe and Josie had blown up all the balloons and wrapped the banister in streamers and added some of the balloons for the perfect touch!  The cake was baked, cooled and ready to frost.  All this was done and we still had almost 3 hours till party time.  Hailey made the chex mix and helped me whip up the frosting. Rustin added some streamers to the doorway.  Then Tess frosted an extremely difficult design onto Rustin's cake for me!  This was perhaps one of the best days a mother could have.  I was so thrilled to see that my girls have enough love in their hearts that it just naturally overflowed in an expression of love for their teenage brother.  They had no idea how his game had gone or that he'd been extremely upset, but they absolutely made his day, and mine. I love them all so much it's hard to put it into words!

Happy Birthday to Rustin and Happy Mother's Day to me!