April Birthday Showers, Or, Our Fool on the First

Part of the reason for taking a flood of snapshots in one month is that April  is birthday-heavy on Mt. Hunger. We celebrate four birthdays plus Dude's birthday, which results in April unfolding as four straight weeks of cake, ice cream, and decadent breakfasts. Not a bad way to ring in spring...

As per (new) tradition, Annika spent the day of her birthday with John four hours away from home, visiting the Durkee-Pooles and running the Sloppy Fools trail run while the rest of us moped about waiting for their return.

The Sloppy Fools was her first race ever last year, so this year she was an old hand. Not only did John run it with her, but Owen made the trek, too, which made it even more exciting (if you can imagine). The only thing that could make the race better is if all her friends and family ran it, too. I think Owen is just the first in her scheme to trap everyone in the mud on April 1st.

Aaaad, I have no pictures.

But here are some from the day after she and John got home!

Zeke and some of the other children wrapped up little gifts for her. Ezekiel had individually wrapped some especially good-looking rocks. I was impressed by his wrapping abilities.

Annika was first in her age group (not hard to do when there aren't too many teenage girls running), and she got a gift certificate for a local running supply store. She picked out a green hat, which made this year's race even more exciting.

Birthday breakfast:
peach caramel rolls, sausage, eggs

Giant candle.

Birthday supper was probably spicy chicken bread bowls or enchiladas, but it doesn't matter because her dessert was cheeeeesecake.

I love cheesecake as much as she does.

A few days later-- don't get confused by her continuing to wear her new favorite outfit-- Grandma and Grandpa Owen came over to celebrate again, and she received more camo gear. At long last, she owns more than one tattered t-shirt.

And THEN they pulled out the big gift. Just so you know, when I heard this might be an option, I suggested they wait for a benchmark year, perhaps 16 or 18, but Grandma Owen would not be swayed. She said that Annika had helped so much with their move that she deserved a....

A....What's this?!  A box that says "Genesis Archery" on it? Whatever could be inside?!!!

I love this picture because Annika didn't notice the writing and was utterly surprised to open the box

and find this.

Then she tackled Dude and Dudette.

(I'm not kidding.)

In this picture, I'm pretty sure Dudette is drowning out my sputters and protests by explaining just why buying her a bow wasn't outrageous and over-the-top and just what a good deal it was.

But I'm still right.

Outrageous.

Over-the-top.

Then we pulled a cake from thin air to celebrate Dude's birthday, which is only three days after Annika's. Happy birthday, Dude!  (Wait, how come HE didn't get a bow?)

We gave him a giant candle, instead.

And, to top off this long post, here is what made this year's Sloppy Fools race the race that no other race will ever eclipse. In addition to grinning her way through the whole race, visiting with friends, and getting a green hat, this year there was a raffle for the attendees with a pair of new trail sneakers as the prize.

Guess who won the raffle?
When the sneakers arrived, the kind man who organizes the race also included a code for her to register for next year's race for free because it's her birthday.

WHAT?!

I'm going to start smiling more.

And she's putting those sneakers to good use.