Sylvia Turns Seven!

I don't know how it happened, but my baby girl has turned seven! That big little girl you see signing the number '7' is Sylvia!!  So hard to believe that seven years ago, I gave birth to her in the bedroom, my one and only home-birthed baby. 

 As I do for all my babies, I let them plan out a birthday menu for the whole day and then we go shopping together to get what we don't have. Sylvia wanted waffles for breakfast, tacos for lunch, sloppy joes and onion potatoes for dinner. She wanted a cherry cake with vanilla frosting and cherries on top and neapolitan ice cream to go with it. 

 Since this is an odd-numbered year and all the kids turn odd-numbered ages, we won't have any birthday parties this year. Andrew and I have agreed that kids don't need a party for every birthday and this is how we can easily keep track of who had a party and who didn't. It's pure luck that we had all four kids on even numbered years.

We keep it simple with birthdays and besides the special birthday menu, I hang up the birthday banner for each kid. We give two gifts-- something to wear and something to play with. In this case, a pretty dress for a pretty girl and a baby doll to play with. Grandma gave pajamas and a Lego set. A phone call from Grandma and Grandaddy made her day, too!

Sylvia is such a sweetheart, always thinking of others and perfectly happy to play on her own.  She doesn't care much for movies and usually, while everyone else is watching a movie, she'll wander off and find something else to do. She's sensitive, easy to cry and gets upset when she does something wrong. We always say that she has an old soul, she seems so content with life and it's not often she'll complain about things, but just keeps going, life goes on.

We love that girl-- our one and only born in West Virginia baby. 

Happy Birthday Sylvia!

We love you so very much!!

xoxo

Catching Up- July Edition

So much going on these days.  A birthday, loose teeth, stormy nights, canning, fireworks..  And that's just the beginning of July!!  Oh my! What does the rest of this month hold for us?!

Peter had a birthday. 4 years old now! What a big boy!

Since we had a double birthday party for him and Evelyn last month, his actual birthday was pretty low-key. I made him his favorite meals: pancakes for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch, cake and ice cream, and spaghetti for dinner. He seemed to have a pretty good day and liked all the presents he got from us and Grandma.

Fireworks!

The small town down the road from us had delayed fireworks, which turned out to be a good thing, since we had a thunderstorm the night of July 4th. They held the fireworks on Friday, July 6th, and we decided to go.  It wasn't so hot then, and we knew that it would get cooler once the sun went down. The kids had a great time, making friends with other kids there and running and playing in the field next to where we parked. As soon as the first boom! went off, the kids scattered back to their families and we settled down to watch the show.

Pretty good show for a small town. A lot less crowded than Washington D.C. would have been, that's for sure! I think the fireworks lasted about 20 minutes and there were some really spectacular ones, too! I liked hearing the kids ohh and ahh in awe and jump when there was a really loud boom!

I remembered to break out the glow necklaces before we left, which turned out really handy in spotting the kids when they were playing off in the distance! Just look for the glowing arms and hands!

We got a scare on the way home when the hood of the truck popped open on us while we were driving! Talk about heart stopping! And in the dark, on a pitch-black mountain road! I'm glad Andrew was driving because I think I would have crashed! Luckily for us, he kept his cool and turned into someones driveway to see what happened.  Nice people stopped to help, armed with a super bright spotlight which was so much better than the little, puny, kid's flashlight we were using! The hinge of the hood got over-extended and we had to get it back into normal position before we could get the hood shut again. About 15 minutes of fiddling with it and we were back on the road to home again.

Before:

Peter got into the clippers and shaved a few bald spots on his head. Time for a haircut then.

After:

He's so cute, after we cut his hair he gave me a big smile and said:

"I so handsome!"

Why, yes you are, little guy! Very handsome!

Happy Birthday to...Piggy??

 There's always one of those toys that, after all the other ones have been given away, tossed, donated, or broke, still hangs around. We have a little pig, given to Evelyn when she was a baby, that has always been a favorite of one of the kids at one time or another. It goes in the toy bin awhile, then gets rediscovered and played with. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Lately, Piggy has been a heavy favorite between Gretchen and Sylvia.  They have him dressed in baby doll clothes, set him down for naps, bring Piggy to the table for meals.. Then a few days ago, they announced that it's Piggy's birthday in a few days. They set about drawing pictures and putting together some presents.  I thought it might be fun to surprise them and secretly make a cake for Piggy's birthday:

And were they surprised!!

 The Birthday Pig and his guests.

 Piggy seems pleased.

I think Piggy wished he could always be loved by us, which most certainly will come true. He's a keeper!

Another Year Gone

My birthday has come and gone.

Another year wiser, I hope.

Family came two days in a row to help celebrate my birthday.

That's the best gift right there-- spending time with family.

My kids gave me hand made cards-- so precious!

I made cake Friday to share with my Aunt, her birthday was on the 7th.

It was german chocolate, her favorite.

The kids wanted to know why it was called "german" chocolate and we explained about different chocolates and locales and Germany. Andrew went on to tell them that they are part German, since Andrew and I both are part German.

Sylvia piped up, "And now since I'm eating [german chocolate] cake, I'm even more German!"

Too funny!

I made a second cake on Saturday, to share with my Father-in-Law. His birthday was on the 10th.

This time it was both of our favorites-- Pineapple Upside Down cake. yum!

I don't need much, as long as I have my loved ones, I'm happy.

Here's to another year!

Nine

Evelyn turned nine today!!

Hard to believe that's it's been nine years already. It doesn't feel like yesterday that I held her in my arms, but it certainly doesn't seem like it was that long ago!

She is turning into such a smart, beautiful young lady. We are very proud of her!

Strawberry cake with vanilla frosting, as requested.

We weren't planning to have a birthday party since we didn't have one for Sylvia or Gretchen back in January, but Grandma and Grandaddy wanted to be here to share her special day and then my Aunt and Uncle came over and then next thing you know, Andrew's sister and her family joined us! Turned out to be a pretty special day for Evelyn.

Can you just hear the cries of "it's not fair!" coming from her younger sisters? Oh brother! I spent much of the day fielding complaints from Sylvia and Gretchen over every little thing and by evening time, I'd had quite enough griping. It was either hush up or go to bed right. this. minute. It worked for about half an hour before they started up again. I think I was more ready for their bedtime than they were!

Happy 9th Birthday Evelyn!!

We love you very, very much!

Birthday Girls

2011 is the year of odd-numbered ages for our kids. Through no planning, all the children were born on even-numbered years. This month, Sylvia turned 5, and Gretchen, 7. I like to make the day special for each birthday by asking them to plan the menu and pick what kind of cake they want.


Sylvia requested cherry cake with chocolate frosting, so I made a yellow cake and folded chopped cherries into the batter before baking and between layers I put in cherry jam, then topped it with homemade chocolate glaze poured over the top. It was rich and yummy.

Gretchen wanted strawberry cake and strawberry frosting and I confess, I bought the cake mix and frosting at the store for this one. She was with me on our 'mama/one kid' day out and we went through the baking aisle and she spotted the cakes and frosting section. So I let her pick out what she wanted. It was good cake, but man, that frosting was sweet-- it made my teeth hurt!

On Saturday, my Aunt and Uncle stopped by to give the girls birthday gifts, so I made yet another cake-- this time carrot cake with raisins added, yum! Next Saturday, Andrew's folks are coming over for birthday gifts, so I'll make another cake-- not sure what yet. Four cakes in a month, that's some kind of record for me!

Happy Birthday girlies-- We love you both so very, very much!

Love,

Mama and Daddy

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Gift Idea

Thanks for all the GREAT Birthday comments!

I had a really good birthday, spent the day with my family

and I didn't have to cook or do the dreaded dishes!

:o)

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My Father-In-Law and I both have birthdays in September, so we had a double birthday party for the two of us a couple weeks ago. When we asked Andrew's Mom what he wanted for his birthday, she said that he'd be happy with his favorite candy-- caramel creams and licorice. I didn't think it was enough, so the kids and I made up a batch of oatmeal-apple cookies to go in the gift bag. But what to put the cookies in? Well the container the oatmeal came in was pretty nifty, and the label peeled right off, which left a nice, white cylinder to play with-- why not? So out came the permanent markers and I got busy decorating it:

To personalize it a bit, Andrew went through his old photos and we copied this one then glued it on the container. It's an old pix of his dad on a ferry and his mom put one of those conversation stickers above the guy next to his dad-- looks like he's not feeling too good. The sticker says, "Don't bother me now!" and then I wrote underneath: I'm tossing my cookies! I've got a sick sense of humor, I know! :o)

Below the picture, I wrote the ingredients: Dash of kisses, Lots of Hugs, Little bit of this, Little bit of that. Calories: Absolutely zero & guilt free!

Good to the last crumb! Yum yum!

What are you looking under here for? Nothing to see- move along!

--

I had fun drawing on this and he got a good laugh out of it when he took it out of the bag. I thought it was a good way to recycle a perfectly nice container and I have saved the other oatmeal containers for future gifts. Christmas is around the corner, so I can use them for the holiday goodies I like to make and give as gifts. Just thought I'd share the idea.

*

Success!

I love it when a party goes as planned. With the exception of a few missing guests (we missed you!!), most everyone on the invite list showed up. I made sure to cook 90% of the food the day before, so I could enjoy myself at the party, too!

The menu: Pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, hot dogs, 2 kinds of potato salad (one is Andrew's Grandmother's recipe and the other is mine), chips, veggies and dip, and of course, cake and ice cream.

Evelyn requested a 'buggy' cake, so after much thought, I came up with a caterpillar cake. Cute?

It was hard frosting this, especially on the cut ends of the cake, but I'm happy with how it came out. 10 candles:: 2 for Peter and 8 for Evelyn. M&Ms for the spots, twizzlers for the feet and mouth. (there was going to be a butterfly cake, too, but the frosting just wasn't cooperating, so it got shoved into the freezer. I'll probably try to frost it when it is frozen and use it for Peter's cake later on his actual birthday. I'm sure he won't mind having a butterfly cake--it's a bug, isn't it? maybe I can switch it into a regular ol' fly? hmm)

Evelyn and the kids sure liked it! Peter fell asleep and napped while we had cake and ice cream. He was a cranky thing before I got him down, so I didn't want to wake him. He'll have some cake and ice cream on his actual birthday in July. There was plenty of cake left, so I'm kind of glad the butterfly cake didn't work out. That would have been just too much cake!

The pool was a big hit with the kids!! I am so relieved. I worried all night, after we filled it, that we'd wake up to an empty pool the morning of the party. We made sure the water guy "approved" of the digging out we did before we filled it all the way up. It isn't perfect, but so far so good. *knock on wood*


After the pool was filled, we still had water left in the water truck, so we filled up all the bins I had previously used to try and salvage water from last time. Turns out I am glad we did, Peter has lots of fun going from one bin to the other and we use one bin for dunking feet before getting into the pool. Of all the big bins he could hang out in, he chooses to sit in the bucket! Silly Peter!

-

I'm sad to see the weekend end, it was such a nice long weekend with Andrew off beginning on Friday and not having to return to work until Monday evening. We are enjoying the luxury of our own pool and the only downside is the kids begging every waking moment when can they go swimming again. "Can we go swimming yet? Now can we go? Is it time to go swimming yet? When can we go swimming? Now? Is it time yet? Can we? Can we? Can we??" I can't blame 'em. I remember when I practically spent the whole, entire summer at the pool when I was a kid. Only difference was, there was a lifeguard there, so Mom or Dad didn't have to go with me all the time.

The Big 6

On Sunday, we celebrated Gretchen's sixth birthday! She had been anticipating this birthday since, oh, last fall and counted down the months, weeks and days! The last few days have been the hardest for her, as every morning she woke up asking, "Is it my birthday yet?" I think it is made harder when Sylvia has her birthday only 10 days earlier, and Gretchen sees the gifts, the cake, the special birthday menu that Sylvia gets and it only makes her impatient for her own special day.

Finally, the day arrived! The Big 6!

We celebrate birthdays with special menus, planned by the birthday girl/boy, and so Gretchen requested pancakes for breakfast; sandwiches and mac and cheese for lunch;

meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas and chocolate cake with strawberry frosting for dinner.

Very yummy meals!

After blowing out the candles.

She is about to lose her first tooth, it's all loose and wiggly, and a permanent tooth is already emerging and pushing it out, but she won't let me pull the loose tooth. Trying to even get my fingers on her tooth is a struggle with her giggling and trying to be brave about it. I managed to grab it once, but with her squirming, I didn't get a good grip, and it was enough for her. Maybe tomorrow...

This is a kid that doesn't adapt to changes well, and losing a tooth is a big change for her. She gets upset when she outgrows a shirt or a skirt and throws a hissy fit when I pass it on to Sylvia. She likes to sit in the same chair at the table and when guests come for dinner and 'mess' up the seating order, she pouts and glares at the person sitting in her chair. When I worked at the consignment store and our home routine went all kablooey, she started to pull her hair out in clumps and I would find hair all over the car, the bed, the couch. It took a long time for her hair to look nice again, and I try to give her a lot of notice when we do something new or different. She is a great hostess, though, and loves to set the table with napkins and help me carry drinks and condiments to the table.

She likes to do things her way and will let me know when she is ready for something. It's hard to get her to do her school lessons sometimes and she will act silly and talk goofy instead of focusing on her reading or writing. I have to remind myself to be patient with her when she gets in her moods and I take full advantage of the moments when she is willing to cooperate with me. I don't know who she takes after more, me or Andrew. She is just her own individual and we love her for it.

Happy Birthday my lovely Gretchen.
May we celebrate many many more!