{pretty, happy, funny, real} :: 36th Birthday Edition

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}

I know I already posted pictures of the pretty cake my family blessed me with on my birthday this past Thursday, but I have a few more pictures to share! 

These beautiful flowers (along with gifts, chocolates and hand-printed cards!) mysteriously appeared on the table Thursday afternoon.  The children were all giggly and secretive about it and it took me forever to squeeze it out of them that their daddy had come home and quickly arranged them in the vase on his lunch break before hurrying back to the office!  I didn't even know he had been home. . . So sweet! 

{happy}

I was also surprised by my little brother Scott who showed up at the front door with lunch!  He had bought a Pesto Chicken Wrap for us to share and also delivered a card from my parents with a gift certificate for a one hour massage!  My mom, with twelve children of her own, sure knows the perfect gift for a busy mother of many! 

{funny}

And I'm still laughing over the card that a certain oldest son of ours made for me. . . 

(shared with permission from him - he still struggles with Auditory Processing/Dyslexia)

That's what I get for teasing my little brother - who was born the day before my 18th birthday and just turned 18 this week - to "enjoy being 18 while it lasts... 18x2=36, which rounds up to 40, which rounds up to 50, which rounds up to old!"   

"Wow" is right!  I told him he can save this card to give me again in 20 years! ;) 

And according to Chiquita, it was my "26th Birthday!"  

They have quite the range of ages on the cards. . .  At least it was correct on the cake! 

{real}

I may not have my own baby record book (like my husband does) but how many can say they have their very own ceramic Newspaper Delivery Boy figurine announcing their arrival!   This little guy was hand-painted by a neighbor of my parents way back in 1978.  My children got a kick out of seeing him for the first time this year along with a few of my birth and baptism photos! 

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Ice Skating and Pizza on the 6th Day of Christmas

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma M. for all the new hats and mittens! 

The older boys took turns helping Snuggles skate. 

Uncles are the best. . . 

. . . even when they are "it!" 

It was a good thing that the kids worked up an appetite ice skating... The pizza shop isn't kidding when it calls this pizza "Colossal" size!  Thankfully my brothers helped!

At 2 1/2 feet in diameter, the colossal pizza was the equivalent of over 3 family sized pizzas!  They usually charge $43 for the colossal pepperoni pizza, but I had a $10 Restaurant.com certificate, so I thought $33 to feed 12 people (with a box of pizza leftover!) was a bargain!  Bonus: The pizza parlor is celebrating their birthday this week and they just called this morning to let us know we won the $25 gift certificate from yesterday's drawing!  

Over the River and Through the Woods...

A few of my siblings (JoAnn, Kevin, and David) have arrived home from college for their Christmas break! Last night my parents invited us over, along with my brother Brian and his family, my brother Scott, and Aunt Bridget and Uncle Shawn, for a spaghetti dinner and "White Elephant" gift exchange.  It was such a fun night!

 

After dinner it was time for the gift exchange!  

(That is, after those younger brothers of mine nearly gave me a heart attack when Kevin said he wanted to show me something in the trunk of his car, and then a black gorilla - aka: Brian, my 27 year old married brother, wearing an awful mask - growled and jumped out at me...  Some things never change!
Of course, David caught my scream on video. Nice.) 

We had two exchanges, one for the grandchildren, and one for all the adults (plus David... He may be in college, but he's still only 17, at least until next month!).  We started with the gift exchange for the children.  Uncle David drew names to see who would choose a gift first.  As each person's name was called they had the option of choosing an unwrapped gift from the pile, or "stealing" one of the gifts that had already been opened.  

I think my favorite part was watching Rascal unwrap an American Girl craft...

 and Captain unwrap a That's not my dolly... board book! 

The girls were more than happy to steal swap gifts with the boys! 

Everyone will be coming over to our home tomorrow night, so I had better get back to decorating and preparing!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}

Yesterday we spent the day at my parents home and Rose enjoyed picking flowers with Grandma.

{happy}

Sean had to work last Saturday, but the kids and I spent the morning with my two youngest brothers watching our hometown parade and then the afternoon swimming at my brother Brian's house!

The kids loved watching the parade, and they were all very happy when the employees from the local building supply store handed out full size candy bars to each of them!

 

7 kids + sitting where the parade begins = enough candy to fill a piñata! 

{funny}

 

Bud was so cute playing peek-a-boo with himself at the doctor's office on Sunday, 

 as we waited for the doctor to remove his stitches! 

{real}

Bud's injury wasn't to be the last of the "excitement" for the month of June...  On Friday this poor little baby deer was stumbling around our yard... We gave him water and called both the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and the Department of Fish & Wildlife and basically neither of them do anything to help save injured deer.   I was told that if they came to pick him up "he would just be Euthanized and his best chance for survival is to hope that the mother isn't dead already (from trying to save her baby from whatever attacked him) and that she will try and find him during the night once it is safer and has cooled down.  Otherwise this baby will just become food for some other animal (i.e. cougar)."  Ugh!  It was really hard to tell the children that we had to just let him go... 

Right after that I was sitting on the porch and Rose was playing with Snuggles on the swings when she did a face dive resulting in yet another mouth injury.  She had torn the frenulum on the top and had put a few of her bottom teeth nearly all the way through her bottom lip. Thankfully, she didn't have any loose or broken teeth, since it was on the inside of her mouth she didn't need stitched, it has healed amazingly fast, and we haven't had any injuries yet this week!   

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Happy 4th of July! 

{pretty, happy, funny, real} :: 2013 State High School Golf Championships

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

{pretty}

Yesterday, thanks to my dear husband who has been spoiling me lately took a day of annual leave to stay home with all our little ones, our oldest two boys and I were able to take a road trip with my dad to meet up with my mom and watch the final day of my youngest two brothers High School Golf Championships at the State level!  

Even though Kevin and David have been playing golf for years, this was the first time I had ever been able to watch them play!   It was so much fun!! 

The weather was beautiful and it was the perfect day to walk the golf course.

{happy}

My boys were so happy to be able to take the day off school and cheer for their uncles! 

{funny}

After landing in yet another bunker, the boys thought it was so funny when Uncle David told them that he was "going to see how many times he could hit the bunkers!"  He continued on to land in a few more, but I was always so impressed at how well he could get the ball out of those things and right on to the green.

As for the hair?  Well, thankfully, that was actually just a hat that their whole team and coaches (except for Kevin who only put it on for the team photo) wore during the tournament, and not a "new look" for that Godson of mine... Whew! 



And NO, Captain, you may not trade hats with your uncle!  I think your Dad would like it even less than Grandpa! ;)

{real}

I was so proud of both my brothers.  Not only are they excellent golfers, but they have such great attitudes and have become such great young men.   Kevin may not have won 1st place at State, like he did last year, but he still placed 2nd (Way to go, Kevin!!) and is also headed to college in the fall on a full 4 year scholarship for golf!

The High School team they play for (homeschoolers in our state are welcome to join the local public schools for sports) also placed 2nd - setting another new record for the school!

Great job boys!  I look forward to watching you play again in the future... And maybe one of these years you can take that oldest favorite sister of yours out and teach her how to play too! ;)

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