We celebrated Nan’s 65th birthday with a dinner with friends.
It was so nice to just sit and visit and make merry on account of Nan!
birthdays
Teenager in the house!
Stewart turned 13 this year with a moderate amount of fanfare.
We started the morning with his requested birthday breakfast: spinach/artichoke pastries.
We followed that up with a few gifts. A new head for the drum set. TWO Adventures in Odyssey CD sets. A pair of pajamas. Three shirts…
Tabitha gave him a roll of tape. Marie and Nigel chipped in to buy him a Wii game.
They did a few minutes of tummy time with Katriel.
Then off to Seabreeze for our last trip of the summer. We’re growing tired of it, I’m sad to say…
Home for his dinner of choice: angel hair pasta with Alfredo sauce, broccoli, and grilled chicken.
And a half-baked (metaphorically) cake. (I’m slipping…) 😦
My boys
Once upon a time I considered myself a boy-mom. These days my fellas are quite outnumbered. They are still my princes.
With summer birthdays a few weeks apart they had a small campout in the yard this weekend. Swimming, movie, obstacle course, and Narnian/Middle Earth/lightsaber battle.
Or something like that.
A gift from her brothers…
Even more special because of the effort it took to open!
More Marie is NINE
I think Marie knew I couldn’t pull off a big party this year… she didn’t seek one and was more than agreeable to a few friends and a pizza. And a fruit rainbow.
I (Mama) was sporting a massive headache… so Marie, Daddy, & the brothers executed some fun games that involved raw eggs.
Yes… raw eggs.
They played this fun sponge and bucket game.
And the favorite… spin the nail polish. Marie went first and painted one nail, then picked a color, spun it, and whomever the handle pointed at would then have to paint a nail with that color. This person then picked a color and spun the bottle, etc., etc. Whomever filled their 10 nails first won. This game took almost 30 minutes and in the end, Marie won.
They enjoyed some cupcakes that Marie frosted. SHE thanked ME for “letting” her frost them. Actually, her words were, “I can’t believe I’m actually getting to do this.”
Marie is NINE!
This was a special year for Marie… her birthday was on a weekend, which meant the whole family would be here in the morning and she could start her day with her gifts. Nan joined us for breakfast. I forgot to take a picture. We had spinach artichoke pastries. (I love this girl!) Nan gave her a CD player/boom box.
Mommy and Daddy gave her three Pocahontas books, a princess coloring book, face paint, and a princess movie. Those were the things she told me she might like one of. They seemed so reasonable, we got them all.
We packed a lunch and headed to Seabreeze. (Go figure.) I had count-‘em THREE adult helpers with me – so Mommy got to take photos AND (drum roll please) I got to try the Hydro-racer AND go on the Helix. It was a lot of fun.
About 3PM Marie started to complain of a headache. Being the very well-prepared mother and nurse that I am I went to the gift shop and spent $1 on two Advil. 😉 It didn’t cut it. She curled up on a bench for a while. We knew it was time to go home.
She had a rest. She decided she WOULD be able to eat her pasta with shrimp and Alfredo sauce (hop to it, Mom!) and we had a yummy dinner.
And pie. Let’s not forget the pie.
Happy birthday, sweet Marie. The first girl in the bunch you radiate joy and energy. May God bless your days.
Johanna Star is Three
As always, birthdays are a big deal around here. But we didn’t have a big PARTY for Johanna this year. See, it’s ALWAYS a party here… or something like that.
Actually – everything is just moving along at a slightly slower pace around these disciples’ house this year. I’m not about to blame it on having a new baby. I’m blaming it on me getting older.
But even though we didn’t par-tay like we normally do, we had a splendid day.
At 6:30 A.M. Marie and I hit the road and got bagels at Brueggers. Johanna is a big fan of bagels.
We were home in time for our traditional “wake-the-birthday-child-with-the-birthday-song” serenade. We did this without Katriel as she decided to sleep in that one day.
Nan joined us for breakfast and brought some gifts. It seems I did not take photos during that portion of our day.
A little later Johanna’s speech teacher came by with a little something for Johanna. She felt badly at how abruptly services ended. I had to tell Johanna that we wouldn’t be seeing Mrs. Chapman again. There were a few tears but Mrs. Chapman ably eliminated those by reminding Johanna of the mini bag of M & M’s she had brought, along with a book and some bubbles.
A short time later Auntie Emily and Baby Anna came to visit. Anna brought Johanna a sweet princess T-shirt. She has worn this shirt since with a great deal of glee. Again… I seemed to have failed to record this with my camera.
After lunch our friend Ella came by also baring gifts. We had hoped Ella could stay for supper, but baseball interfered.
I tried to get a few photos of our three year old… she was less than cooperative.
Nan and Nene came for dinner. We ordered pizza. Ba and Poppy couldn’t join us as Ba had surgery last week. Daddy picked up hats and those silly blow-y things. We are a wild-and-crazy-bunch, no?
After dinner we opened family gifts. Nigel gave her a print of Tic-Toc-Croc from Walt Disney’s Peter Pan. He found the picture online, printed it, and went to the store to buy a frame. (Said frame was broken before the day was done. Just sayin’.)
Mom and Dad produced a box FULL of clothes… none of them fit. 😛
And she opened her very own “bike,”
I slowed her down long enough for a photo. Hey – I thought I had a princess hat on. Nope – I’m a monkey… Figures.
The requested Bolt cake (finished around 3PM for a 6PM slicing…)
Even Katriel joined us to sing Happy Birthday.
Coming home day…
Forty-“one”derful years
I turned 41 this weekend. Here are some photos to prove it.
Saturday night with my mom, sister, in-laws and Brookses. We are light on pictures….
Sunday morning I got my cards and gifts. Marie made me a stitched project. I love it!
And a video with my gift being opened. This is crazy-funny.
Sunday night we went to Bugaboo Creek.
In true Butler fashion Stewart lost a molar while enjoying his steak. 
Apparently Johanna WILL eat salad when we are at a restaurant. She had a cold this weekend and was pretty out of it.
Do you SEE how huge I am? See how WIDE my face is? My belly is significantly larger… significantly.
*Sigh*
Dayspring Disciples 
