Waving Goodbye to Papa Every Morning

 

 

Aidan is Nine!

 

Our Little Fire full of fire added another candle this year!

We had weekend company again (I don't know what it is with boys wanting to travel hundreds of miles to visit our daughters for a few days), but we were still able to celebrate him properly on the day itself, and by "properly," I mean with sausage, hard-boiled eggs, waffles, berry sauce, whipped cream, syrup, cinnamon sugar, and NERDS for breakfast. (Akk. He couldn't finish it because he felt sick. At least he's smart enough not to plow through, anyway.)

We had meatball subs and roasted brussels sprouts for supper (His request! Can you believe it?!), followed by ice cream sundaes sans bananas (also his request, which is definitely believable).

A brief interlude of Tadhg instead of the birthday boy, because he was so adorable. We bought Cherry Sprite for the first time, and Tadhg was very excited to try it. One sip in, and he had declared it the yummiest soda he'd ever had in his whole life.  Go Red 40!

I usually have the birthday child make their sundae and then plop candles in it, and then the ice cream melts while we sing. This time, I realized I could just put the candles inside the ice cream cartons, and that's the way we're doing it from here on out.

Oh, Aidan. Nothing beats a birthday boy full of delight on his big day.

We love you bunches, little stinker. I'm so glad you're ours!  

Lephtover Phone Photos

The only reason why so many of my phone photos pheature phood is because my children are phenomenal and make me yummy things to eat. (If I were of a suspicious nature, I'd be worried that I'm bound for a hot oven in a gingerbread house.)

Breakfast from Millie. Perfection.

Homemade bread, lemonade, and fancy olive oil dipping sauce that Ezekiel made for me on a day full of struggles (note the "A" and the sunshine scored on the loaves). What a boy.

Some neighbors have been restoring their barn for years now, in hopes of turning it into a coffeehouse. Right before Andy and Wendy had to return to Alaska, they had the grand opening, and I took the two little girls for a late night and their first coffeehouse coffee ever.

This man is my favorite. He took me on an early morning Ithaca booksale adventure for my belated birthday date. We got there a couple of hours early and waited in line on the sidewalk with other crazy people. John was the only one who brought not only camp chairs but also a folding table and card games.

It was the nicest date. For breakfast, we had bagels and coffee from the bakery around the corner, and then for a couple of hours he beat me over and over again in every game we played.  And it was wonderful!  Then we ignored each other for the next four hours in different sections of a book-lover's paradise. :)

May was the month of weird dates. John and I sometimes go on "Dump Dates," in which we load up a vehicle with recycling and garbage and take it to the county landfill. This time, he took me to a great restaurant after the fact. There I was, in my dumpster clothes and smelling of garbage, eating out with my Heart. And it, also, was wonderful!

These pictures are for Mom Owen. While cleaning out part of the basement, I found a leftover Christmas present from you.  Oops. 

The verdict? Everyone loves getting surprise Christmas gifts in May! It was a true May-ree Christmas. (Groan.)

Extra photos from Millie's phone!  Her happy sourdough.

Skylark is going to make a wonderful old woman someday. She's already got the skill of fingers dripping with costume jewelry down pat.

I forgot we also were given two Holland Lop bunnies in May-- Clover and Caspian.

We don't do anything for Mother's Day, usually, but Millie made me a gourmet breakfast...with coffee!

Ransom is too cool for his mismatched britches.

A good use of dandelions.

In which children wish to invite cute snakes to tea:

In which Ransom discovers that humans have necks:

April

 

April brought us Easter, a visit to VA to meet Tim's family, a family get-together and too-short visit with our Alaskan family, a day trip to CMoG, and also all the April birthdays, with scant photo evidence. Our April Fool opened the month, and then (absent) Dude's, mine, Cadence's, and Zeke's birthdays arrived in rapid succession. By the end of April, we'd all gained 15 pounds and were ready for a break from feasty food.

Apologies to all who still come here. I'm stapling these up here as fast as I can to get it over with, because, yes!, I finally have a new camera!, and I want to take pictures again! 

Our Nixie is Nineteen!

 

I failed in documenting her momentous birthday, but I blame this guy.  Annika's birthday fell 2 weeks post-surgery, but she begged us to take a whirlwind family trip to VA to see Tim (and his family...but mostly Tim) for her birthday weekend-- 2 days of traveling for two days of visiting.

We're suckers, I guess.

The ten-hour drive down took about 13 hours, and it made me realize that trips such as this are not a more than once-a-year option for a large family with young children and middle-aged parents. 

John's parents timed their visit to Nashville with our visit so that they could see Annika on her birthday.  We drove down separately and left at different times, yet he still managed to meet us on the road.  Do you see that black truck blowing by us?! That's Dude and Grandma Owen. That man did not want to join us in a 13-hour drive, and his exhaust in our faces proved it.

                        

While we were there, four of the girls stayed with the Vernots, and they graciously hosted the rest of our family in an airbnb owned by friends from church.  It was a new and memorable experience for the children. Ezekiel and Susannah each GOT THEIR OWN ROOM! Cadence and Aidan slept IN THEIR OWN SPACE! Thankfully, no one expected this luxury to continue once we got back home.


And there was the bonus of affable cows and early blossoms next to the house, too. 



                                            



                                            

                                                         

            

                                                




On Annika's birthday, we were on our way to the Vernot's house to see the birthday girl when John stopped in at a comic shop. A black truck pulled into the space behind us. You guessed it-- we happened upon another unplanned family reunion. 

Those are all the phone pictures I have from Annika's actual birthday. She got home a couple of days after we did, which was a few days before Easter, and we had to cram her family celebration into two separate days. We had waffles with the works for breakfast one morning and a Greek feast and fruit trifle a couple of days later with family.

And all I have to show for it are these pictures from Millie's phone. 

This post somehow seems symbolic of all the larger changes occurring right now, but the truth is we love this girl, we cherish this girl, and we are happy to celebrate her in whatever cracks we can. <3