Rick Celebrates the Big 4-0!

A “leisurely” brunch started Rick’s birthday… much more relaxed than the day before with trying to get to church on time which is always a challenge with one bathroom and 5 kids.  He probably gets the best birthday breakfast out of anyone all year long.  Even though these are leftovers, Rick approves.

After a day recovering ourselves and the house from the celebrations of the day before we had Rick’s parents, his sister and his brother-in-law over to our home for dessert.

He opened his presents first while we waited for our homemade ice cream to harden up a little bit more.  He got a Kindle Fire from his parents which he is enjoying for its internet capabilities and church magazines, so far.  He got a couple of Jeeves and Wooster books from me that he’d been wanting to read as well as an umbrella, more socks (I’ve been throwing his socks out all month every time I get a hold of them in the laundry) and this Songbook pictured above.  We have the entire set of three song books now and I highly recommend any or all of them.  The illustrations in each are beautiful, in the hymnbook it gives a history or background on the piece and this newest addition has even camp songs, some of which I haven’t heard since childhood.  The Christmas Songbook is excellent too and has a little something for each aspect of the holiday season.  We love to sing from these around our piano, especially on Monday nights all year long.

I set a beautiful non-Christmas-y table to serve the cake on.  The night I first met Rick the conversation turned to the downfalls of having a birthday right next to Christmas and his birthday was always celebrated ON Christmas out of convenience.  He grew up hating that so I try to make it as separate of an experience as possible for him.  This is not an easy task for me either!  Rick’s family brought the cake and with all 11 of us there was still more than half of it left; it was so huge!  Rick tried out his new ice cream maker from Santa and made Ben & Jerry’s homemade Chocolate Oreo; ice cream at its finest and it filled our chocolate void!  It was sooooo good!  I cannot recommend eating it often, it’s that good.  After we sang “Happy Birthday” and served everyone there were simply too many of us to sit down in our modest kitchen so all but the youngest of our children were free to wander.  And yes, Rick survived turning 40… it didn’t hurt and he’s too busy at the moment to have a mid-life crisis.  I am glad to have him in the same decade as myself once again.  Happy 40th, Rick!

Decisions-Decisions-Decisions

I love to read… It’s a relaxing escape for as long or as short a time as I have.  It’s an exercise in imagination.  It’s an education into the reality of history and its effects on individuals.  It’s encouragement and inspiration to be a better person.  Naturally books are always on my wish list.

Now how do I choose which book to read first???  And I need to find just need a “little” more time

Christmas Visit With the Tooth Fairy

One of the things that Santa brought Kaitlyn in her stocking caused another exciting thing to happen.  That bright red crispy juicy Christmas apple was so crunchy that it made Kaitlyn’s loose tooth hurt a little bit and then wiggle a LOT.  As Kaitlyn went around showing everyone in the family her wiggly tooth…

suddenly it popped OUT!!!  Her very first tooth fell out on Christmas day and it left her with a brand new smile.  I think Kaitlyn looks pretty cute with her more grown up grin.  This is one busy household with a visit from Santa one night followed by a visit from the Tooth Fairy the very next night.  Kaitlyn left her tooth under her pillow on Christmas night and the very next morning found four shining quarters in its place AND… another wiggly tooth in her mouth!

Christmas at Home

Our children did very well with waiting a little bit longer to open presents this year.  After church we gathered in our Living Room for the fun and surprises.

There were two packages from Santa under the tree which looked similar; one to the boys and one to the girls.  They decided to open these altogether first and found CD players for their bedrooms.  They were so excited.

Baby doll pj’s for Kaitlyn,  Elmo pj’s for Nathan who is missing his old ones,  a new outfit for Kaitlyn.

Sparkly horse shirt for Lindsay,  PJ’s from Santa for Haley,   a new CD for Kaitlyn with some favorites.

A little boy baby doll for Nathan,  Legos for Tristan, and a Snoopy shirt for Lindsay; all from Santa.

More horse themed goodies for Lindsay, some old favorites of Mom & Dad’s for Tristan.

Santa brought Rick an Ice Cream Maker… our old one died last summer.  And he got socks!!!

Santa found a larger version of this dress for Kaitlyn for pennies to stay matching her very special baby doll, a new journal for Lindsay and Nathan enjoys his new alphabet apple from his Grammy while eating a pretend chocolate chip cookie which Kaitlyn made for him.

Lindsay found a joint gift from her parents and her Grammy and Pops concealed in an Altoids tin; one session of riding lessons for the months of January and February.  The fact that these months are cold is not an issue in her book as any month is a good month to spend with horses.  She squealed and jumped up and down just a little bit in excitement.  Tristan holds a book from Grammy and Pops as does Kaitlyn hold a set of books.

Nathan found his first big pillow wrapped under the tree, Kaitlyn got a tiny American Girl doll from Grammy and Nathan is enjoying his soft new scarf.

A beautiful new apron for more kitchen fun and a new book from Cousin Porter.  (Kaitlyn’s tooth was hurting).

Nathan checks out his new baby and carrier…

and gives baby a carefully placed kiss sweetly on the forehead.

Kaitlyn and I loved this sweet little book about giving a special Christmas gift that only you can give (your love), we discovered matching aprons from Grammy and stockings were gotten into for its sweet treats and tissue wrapped surprises.

The kitties were very good this year it turns out.  Santa left them lots of fun surprises and treats.  I discovered our kitchen table in disarray in the later afternoon with one tuckered out kitty in the middle of it.

Kaitlyn enjoyed time with her gifts before going to her grandparents house for dinner.

We missed our family that we were not able to be with or see this holiday but thinking of all of them and holding our memories of them close in our hearts we had a very merry Christmas!

“Away In A Manger”– Solo by Nathan

Merry Christmas from Mr. N.

 

Away in a Manger–by Mr. N.

Christmas Morning - 2011

Christmas morning this year was a little bit different than usual in that it was on a Sunday… so there are no pictures of children lined up on the stairs in their jammies this year… instead we were trying to make sure that everyone was dressed and fed and through our single bathroom so that we could get to church on time.  But it was still a fun and special morning.

We did notice that Santa had paid our home a visit.  The children were still curious about the packages around the tree but they did a very good job just looking as they passed through the room while they were getting ready.

We noticed that Santa had eaten his cookies and left us our magical key right by the plate.  Children had to be dressed in their Sunday best before they could sit down to their brunch in the kitchen (except for Nathan).  Kaitlyn and Nathan donned matching Santa socks which they’ve been enjoying all month.

Our table was all set for our traditional brunch which was eaten a little earlier this year than usual.  Nathan thought the kisses strewn all over the table at breakfast time was a real treat.

There were steamed mushrooms,                 a big pot of hot chocolate,

the infamous “strata” that some of my children dream about all year long made with homemade French bread (making it infinitely better),

a fresh fruit bowl,                                                   and homemade cinnamon buns.

It was delicious… but slightly hurried so we could get out the door on time.  We just had a little over an hour for our church meetings today instead of the usual block of meetings.  We were able to go and sing Christmas songs with the congregation and listen to the Christmas story read between special musical numbers.  Tristan played “Still, Still, Still” on his cello with his Dad accompanying him as one of the musical numbers.  Rick accompanied a number of vocalists as well.  And my favorite number was the last one; “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” played with hand bells by a large family of two parents, their 7 children with their spouses and a number of grandchildren who were either small enough to be held or were big enough to play with a little help from their grandma.  The hand bells were so Christmas-y to listen to and it was fun to see the whole family up on the stand.  The meeting, with family and friends, was a wonderful way to spend Christmas morning as it reminded us again of the true meaning of Christmas time.