Half Way To 90

This week I turned 45. I'm only half way to 90...and since I plan to live to at least 100 I'm thrilled to have plenty of fun years to go.

The season is busy and the kids' sports schedule is crazy and Cam was working my actual birthday so we planned a night out for family dinner on the one night we could all make it.

Disclaimer: In case you ever look at my family's photos and think...oh how perfect they all are. In case you ever read my stories and think...oh how Pollyanna they all sound. Well let me give you some reality. About an hour before leaving for dinner one child (to remain nameless) was being crabby and TERRIBLE to a sibling. A bicker fest ensued and then Cam came home in the middle of it. The guilty kid had been sent to their room and Cam went to talk (YELL) at said child. Wow! A big downer right before dinner. Soon three of the five kids were crying. I was hollering at Cam and Cam was still hollering at naughty child. A real mess. We hurried into the van and I had doubts that we should even be going. After a uncomfortable ride in the van we managed to arrive on time for our reservation. Slowly we began to talk and sit close and make up as we waited for our table. We gave apologies and extended forgiveness...even if some gave it begrudgingly. One sweet child sent me a text from Cam's phone saying "I love you. I hope your special dinner isn't ruined". I texted back "the wonderful thing about forgiveness is getting to start fresh". And so we did.

Moving on now. We went to our favorite special place and waited extra long for our favorite table. We even got to have our favorite waiter.

There were lots of toasts and happy times!

I had a delicious dinner of steak and lobster tail and then a huge bowl of peppermint ice cream with fudge sauce. Oh heaven!

It was a lovely dinner and although it started out rough it ended up wonderful!

On my actual birthday my day started with Sean bringing me a cup of tea. He set his alarm on the iPad and got up to surprise me. What a sweet boy! I bought toaster waffles for the kids' breakfast. They are always asking me for them and I thought, "why not, an easy breakfast means a gift for myself". After taking the kids off to school I treated myself to a manicure and pedicure. It was heavenly! A real treat! Then off for some shopping and a few errands. After school the kids helped me tidy up the house. Sis cleaned the whole bathroom by herself to surprise me! Then we got into our cozies and had take out for dinner....Teriyaki! Then we watched Cinderella...my choice. I LOVED it!!! A wonderful day. Too bad it only comes once a year. 

One More...

One more birthday to complete the birthday season! Cam turned 43!! Woot! We went out for dinner to celebrate his special day. We call ourselves The Restaurant Lepers. You should see people's reaction when we come in the front door. You can see them thinking...oh please don't sit by me. We have had people say no to the hostess when they are being seated near us too. Sheesh...without even giving us a chance. We have also had many people come and tell us how great our kids were!! But, we do get nervous when we go out someplace a bit nicer than the usual. It was a special occasion so we risked it.

We went to a favorite local Italian place and sat out on the patio. It was a beautiful sunny day. We had yummy dessert (which you can see on BG's face). And then we walked along the marina and looked at the boats. The kids were very good and we all had a nice time. BG did fall and skin his knees. Poor baby. The picture cracks me up though....he's holding his shorts up so it won't touch the owie.

Happy Birthday to my amazing sweet hard working and loving husband! We love you!!

Tuba is 15

Sweet Tuba is 15! He is growing so fast this summer. He is VERY close to my height now...and weighs in at about 105 lbs. He had his favorite breakfast....mmmmm.

For his birthday we got him a new firepit for the back yard. Our firebug was thrilled!! We had a bonfire and roasted smores. We had a great time. Cam told the kids some stories. Ghost stories turned.....hmmm....how do I describe them....ghost stories turned potty humor? Yes. They start out with dark woods and creaking noises and then end with the scary noises being revealed as an old lady farting! Yep. The kids laugh hysterically...and me too. I'm sure the neighbors wonder who the heck moved to the neighborhood. We are LOUD! We laughed until a couple of us fell out of our chairs. :)

3rd Birthday!

More catching up.

Another birthday in the house! Baby.....not so much a baby....George turned 3!!!

Oh-my-word!! Where has my baby gone? Well, I can pretend...and tell him he's my baby. :)

Three is such a fun birthday! He was OVER the moon about his gifts and cake and GIFTS!! We went to church and then came home for cake and GIFTS! Then we went to see Cars 2. Loved it!

Happy Birthday my sweet snuggly funny power house of a little boy!!

Someone is 8!

Mr. P had a birthday just after we moved. It was a bit hard to plan a party around the big move. We decided on a small party at our new house.....just 5 days after moving. We went with easy. Corn dogs, ice cream cake and lots of playing. No games, no goody bags. :) The boys had a great time. They were all running around our house so I sent them outside to play in the wet yard. Oh well they didn't mind. It was a huge success and it was easy. Exactly what I needed.

I cannot believe my baby boy is 8!! He is growing into such a big kid. He is reading all the time. I love to hear him in bed at night reading Calvin and Hobbes and laughing out loud. He got monopoly for a gift and has been beating all of us at it! He is the land baron!! He has been such a huge helper too. He is very sweet to Tuba and helps me a ton with him. Sometimes when Tuba is being a stinker for me Mr. P will ask him to do it and Tuba will comply. He is also growing a ton! He is eating ALL-DAY-LONG too. I guess that is what happens when you ride your bike all day long! I can't complain when I look at him and he is the skinniest kid.

Happy Birthday my sweet, smart 8 year old. I love you to the moon...and back!

Whoa!

I'm exhausted! Birthday extravaganza weekend. Today I got up to dirty bathrooms, dirty house and laundry up to the sky. All my weekend chores went undone as we celebrated Busy Guy's 5th Birthday. Everyone was well. Yipee! Whatever Baby George had was short lived and didn't spread. Thank YOU God!!
First thing Sat. morning the boys had testing for TKD. I was SO nervous that I cried and then thought I'd get sick. Of course the boys weren't nervous at all....just me. They did perfect. They had to perform in front of about 50 people and in front of the judges table. They did not get to go together and they did....PERFECT. We are so proud of our Orange Belt Boys!


After testing we went out for a victory lunch and then back to the TKD center for Busy Guy's birthday party. Loads of fun!
On Sunday after church we headed to my mom's house for birthday dinner and cake. It was also Grandpa and Auntie's birthdays this week too! We had a great time. Here is Sis snuggling on my sis....and on top of baby cousin due in July. :)

The Flow

I'm a planner and I love tradition. Every Saint Patrick's Day we have a big Irish dinner with beef stew and soda bread and mint chocolate chip ice cream pie. We take a hiatus from fasting for Lent to celebrate two of our boys' special day. Busy Guy was born on Mr. P's saint day! So fun. Now that Busy Guy is getting older he is having a "kid" birthday party as well as family dinner.

I am feeling stressed about this week. BG is snack person at preschool tomorrow. We did green muffins, slices of cheddar cut-out in the shape of shamrocks, apple slices and mint Hershey kisses with juice and fun shamrock napkins. Next up is dinner on Thurs. I was feeling bad that BG was sort of forced to have the Irish stew dinner each year when everyone else gets to pick what they want to eat. I mentioned to the boys that I could cook something else and they were glad....not many stew lovers in our clan. BG debated what to have and then he asked if we could go out for our favorite pizza. Hmmmm. At first I wasn't sure but the next comment form BG had me on board. He said, "you won't have to cook and clean". Well, I do love both of those things but this week I'm a bit stressed with all the birthday activities. So, we will be going out for Italian food at a restaurant owned by a Greek family on Saint Patrick's Day. LOL. Saturday is the b-day party. More posts about that later. The boys are also testing for their next belt level on Sat. Yipee. Wish them luck!

I'm rambling....the real point of this post was to say that I am a planner but sometimes I just have to go with the flow. It's good for me to be reminded of this fact. With all of these birthday/saint day/kid activities planned I am feeling extra pressure. Tonight Baby George got sick. Fever and throwing up. Ugh. I started to fret about how the week will be impacted. But, I know that no matter how it ends up getting changed it will be fine. It will be fun because we will all do it together. As long as this germ doesn't spread too far!! Yikes, I don't even want to go there in my mind.

Oh, and one more thing. A sweet BG story:

This week Sis had a terrible reaction after dinner (two nights in a row) she broke out in hives....all over! We think from tomatoes. So, she went in for a blood draw today to test for allergies. She did not cry or even wince! Amazing. Back to the part about Busy Guy. Upon hearing that Sis could not eat tomatoes...ie: pizza sauce he quickly offered to change restaurants. What a nice little boy! We are still going for pizza as there are many other choices on the menu...but we are taking Benadryl with us just in case.

40!

Tomorrow is my 40th birthday! It's one of those milestone b-days. I fondly remember my 13th, 16th, 21st, and 30th as other milestone birthdays. This one is going to be great too.

I had set some goals for my 40th b-day. Most of which have to do with health...okay, and beauty too. ;) I did not loose as much weight as I would have liked (is that ever possible?). But I have been working out at the gym regularly and have shaped up! My clothes fit so much better I feel great. I'm going 4-5 times a week and doing cardio and weights. I have been better about taking my vitamins...but still have improvements to make and have been good about flossing too. I've been getting more sleep which is helpful overall.

So, to celebrate 40...here are 40 things I LOVE! Random and heartfelt and just a small list...

1. Being a Mom

2. My husband

3. My family

4. My friends

5. God

6. Orthodoxy

7. Adoption

8. Dark Chocolate

9. Babies

10. Hot tea with milk and sugar

11. Books

12. Book club

13. Magazines

14. Sunshine

15. Red wine

16. Kisses

17. Snow

18. Elephants

19. Turtles

20. Teaching

21. Losing weight

22. Kittens

23. Blogging

24. Where I live

25. Hawaii :)

26. The ocean

27. The beach

28. Vacation

29. Hamburgers

30. Ice cream

31. New Clothes

32. Laughing

33. Snuggling

34. Scenic drives

35. Anything coconut

36. Having my hair brushed

37. Painted toenails

38. Cooking

39. Baking

40. Organizing

31. Valentine's Day

32. Smores

33. Singing with my kids

34. Massage

35. Chocolate chip cookies

36. Date night

37. Flannel sheets

38. A clean house

39. Green grass

40. MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Gotta Love the Girls

I'm crazy busy with the usual things and then Christmas prep and my birthday squeeze into the month. Whew! I can't seem to catch up or stay on track for anything. Every year I vow to do things earlier and not become stressed by the hustle and bustle. Well, I'm stressed and hanging on by a thread...the kind that's unravelling quickly.
But, in all the fast paced hoopla going on in my life I had the most amazing thing happen. On Sat. morning I was home in my nightgown when there was a knock at our door. I opened the door to find two girlfriends holding a latte for me. Wow! They handed me a craftily written poem telling me to pack my bags for an overnight trip to the city! Wowwwwwwy!
We stayed downtown in a beautiful hotel, had wine and appetizers (all loving packed by these great friends) in our room, went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (yum!), had fun at a martini bar and walked around the city and enjoyed the Christmas decorations. We stayed up way too late chatting. The next day we had lunch and then came home to husbands and kids who missed us! Nice!!! What a blessing these women are to me. Thanks you two!!!! Love you SO much.

Makin' a wish for the next year!

Last of the B-Days

Happy Birthday to Cam....and goodbye to the birthday season! We celebrated the last two summer birthdays this week. Now, no more birthdays until Dec.

Look how cute this is! It looks so much like Baby George!!!

Cam and his dad (his dad died 7 years ago).

Always the fun dad!! The kids love those shoulder rides.

Cam running up and down a hill with the kids and packing them around Army style.

Riding Cam! Heee-haw!

Sitting and snuggling at the zoo.
Holding hands with Tuba at the bonfire.

Birthday Time Again

It just can't be. My baby is 2! My sweet baby boy is getting so big. I'm glad he still likes to cuddle with me. Here he is two years ago. Beautiful sweet baby.Sis and I getting some time together. She had been home only 4 days when baby brother was born.

Proud big brothers. Busy Guy is missing from all these photos. Yes, he was at the hospital too...but he was just TOO busy to be in any photos. He was busy pushing all the buttons and alarms found in my room! No joke. He did make it into our family photo (shown on my blog side-bar).

And...the big boy today. Cake! Yummy. He would not look at the camera and would not smile. Stinker! He did however LOVE the raspberry and whip cream cake....and really loved the truck and trailer with motorcycle on top of the cake.

Happy Birthday to my sweet cuddly baby boy!

7th Birthday Boy!

It was Mr. P's 7th Birthday. Oh, how the time has flown. Cam and I got all teary looking at the photos of when he was born. We had waited and prayed for so long for another child. His big brother Tuba was over the moon. He couldn't really understand the concept of a new baby coming but when he came up to the hospital to meet the baby...he was thrilled! Here's that bundle of joy 7 years ago. Precious!
Tuba's reaction to meeting his new brother.

He jumped right into my bed so he could hold his new brother. Tuba was 7 years old when Mr. P was born. He was so tiny though due to the Ketogenic diet he had been on for 3 years.

Cam with his two boys. Look how proud Tuba is!

And...here is Mr. P today! So big. The birthday started out at 5:30 am when he woke up and realized his VERY loose tooth was out...he quickly located it in the back of his cheek. We had the traditional pancake breakfast with birthday candles in the pancakes. Then we were off for a day of fun. Mr. P choose to go to 321 Bounce. It's a big building filled with bouncy houses and bouncy slides. So fun!

Next we came home for a quick lunch and put the wee ones down for a nap. Mr. P, Busy Guy and I went to the mall to buy me a new pair of sunglasses....courtesy of Sis and her expert sunglass arm removal technique. :0 The boys needed a haircut so we stopped in and did that too. Since it's summer I let Busy Guy get that mohawk he wanted so bad! Doesn't he look tough? We came home picked up the tribe and headed to the beach. They were having a Farmer's Market which we perused and bought fresh raspberries. Off to the park to play for a bit. The sun was out and the breeze was lovely.

The train tracks run along the edge of the park. These two characters were so entranced when the train rolled through. They sat down to watch it go by.

Next on the agenda....led by the birthday boy...was a ferry ride. We can walk on and go for a ride and then back.

After the ferry ride we went to dinner at Ivar's for some fish and chips. Then off to home and swimming lessons. After swimming we went home for cake and ice cream! What a day!!! It was so much fun. I was so tired!

So tired that this morning I woke up to hear, "Mom, the tooth fairy forgot to come". Oh!!! Whoops...that tooth fairy. I told Mr. P that his shelf (where he put the tooth) was so messy she probably couldn't find it. LOL. He is cleaning the shelf today. ;)

From Here to There

Our first Christmas as parents. Man oh man...Tuba and Baby George sure look alike...except BG is chubbier.

12 years and 4 more kids later. This is at the tree farm getting our Christmas tree. I think we look even better...it must be all those kids keeping us young;)

I had a great b-day week. I even got that back rub!!! We'll be having left over cake tonight...or maybe this afternoon?

Mr. P sang ALL the words and did ALL the hand motions at his Christmas concert...what a change from last year. He's such a little "rule" follower. He kept his eyes right on his teacher and stood tall and still....meanwhile the kid behind him was picking his nose and wiggling all around and the girl next to him got down off the risers and danced in front of the group. You've got to love those pre-school shows!

Tuba's behavior has been better and he's had good days at school. His seizures have been better too. I pray they continue to improve and go away soon.

Sister is walking all over the house. She can turn and walk in a new direction now too. She's going about 10 steps at a time and can also stand up in the middle of the room on her own. The bad thing is she keeps standing up on the stairs and yesterday fell down them. She looked like a gingerbread man cartwheeling down the stairs...it sounds funny but it scared the heck out of the both of us. She was too scared to cry and just clung to me...poor Sis.

Busy Guy has been singing all the Christmas songs. He picks up a song the first time he hears it...amazing. Yesterday he was singing Away In A Manger and doing the hand motions...rocking the baby, etc. Super cute.

Baby George is still a little sweetie. He lights up when he sees me and smiles and smiles. He is making new sounds too. He's a little afraid of Sis and sort of winces as she comes near. He has had his hair pulled a few too many times:0

Cam finished his first quarter of grad school....YEAH! One down and six more to go. I don't know if that sounds good or bad? It did go by quickly...at least for me anyway. As I watched him write all those papers I just kept thinking, "I'm glad it's not me!".

The Week

It's my Birthday Week....YEAH! It's actually my Birthday Month...but I get a few eye rolls if I say that too much to my hubby;) We have a fun filled week with lots of Christmas things as well as my BIG day. I'm turning 38!!! Holy cow...I've never felt like this on a birthday...I'm feeling like I'm getting old....er! I guess the fabulous 40 is looming nearer? I told Mr. P that I'm turning 26. He believes me...and so do I...at least until Cam pointed out that I would have been 14 when I had Tuba. It's possible?

Yesterday my friend/God Mother of our kids gave me my birthday present. She came and watched the kids (minus Baby George) while Cam and I went Christmas shopping and out to The Keg for dinner. I ate the biggest steak. Yummy and so relaxing. It's a cinch to go out with two adults and only one child.

Tonight is the pre-school Christmas concert. I wonder if Mr. P will actually sing out loud this year...not just "in his head" like last year. He knows all the songs and sings them at home...so we'll see. We are getting all Christmas dressy and going to the show.

Tomorrow we are going to see Santa (getting Christmas dressy again) and have photos with him. Then...on to my Mom's house for my b-day dinner. Yum:)

Thurs. is my actual b-day and we will go to breakfast and then I'll get an hour long back rub/foot rub from Cam....hint-hint! Then Cam is going to class for his final...I know it...why does he have school on my birthday...whatever! I did order an ice cream cake to have for dinner...oh, I mean dessert. It's chocolate cake with Gold Medal Ribbon ice cream...mmmmmm.

I think the theme of my birthday must be food. Well, it does make me happy:) Cam did buy me a beautiful silver chain to wear my Ethiopian cross on...I'll post a pic later. It's beautiful. Plus, my chair is coming soon.

The photo is of me...awwwwww. I'll try to eat my cake this year a little neater...no bibs.