Marie is 12!

Twelve years ago the doctor said, “It’s a girl!”
I was first shocked- I only “knew” boys; then over the next 24 hours I grew so excited.  Before God showed Abraham the stars in the sky, He knew this little girl would be my daughter.  I trusted Him then and there to show us how to be girl-parents. 

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We woke up Marie with our traditional birthday songs.

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And I somehow convinced my jam-loving crew that today was the day to get the raspberries we needed for jam.  We picked for 90 minutes in 90○ F sunshine.

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We grabbed some pool time.

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And I did the jam up quickly.  (Raspberry jam is the most expensive, but the easiest to make.)

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Nan, Nene, Ba & Poppy joined us for dinner.  And what a dinner it was!  Marie and I fabricated our own dish of tortellini, Alfredo sauce, mushrooms, and spinach, garnished with fresh tomatoes.  Oh yeah.

She opened a few gifts and cards.

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And then we sang to her over her requested frozen strawberry cake.

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Marie wasn’t the only one getting new things on this day.  Look at the smile on Johanna’s face for her new math book.  (That joy stops around grade 3.)

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And I got some souvenirs from the berry patch.  Oy.

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To remember

Johanna finished her math book today. 
We had too many days where we’d push off math in order for me to get to the older kids’ work.  She continued into summer like a trooper and it paid off today. 

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Katriel follows me around the house in the morning wondering if I’m almost done my coffee so she can drink the last bits of it.

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Last day of baseball–pizza party

Dad was out of town, so it meant Mama went to the game and enjoyed the pizza with the whole crew.  I was even able to see some of the games (although little Miss Three Year Old didn’t exactly settle in for inning after inning).
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What is a mom to do when her 3 year old decides she no longer wants to wear the ears she brought with her?
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Hanny had her own soda.  Yes, she did.
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Hanny got to blow the horn to warn the teams that the end of the game was near.

Airport/National Guard Field Trip

We don’t do a lot of field trips during the school year.  It is just really hard to interrupt the day, plus they are very often a bit of a drive and it ends up eating up a large part of a school day.
There are also VERY few field trips that can or do appeal to the age range in our house.
But five of the six kids were interested in the field trip for the airport/National Guard.  It was pretty cool.  VERY informative.  A lot of fun.

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As we were walking back to our car I ran into my Uncle Kevin and grabbed a selfie with him after chatting a while.
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Rapunzel?

Tuesdays are a bit busy.  Mind you, they are not crazy-busy, but they are busier than some of the other days.
For some reason, Tuesdays also seem to draw out the imp in Katriel.

Now, about an hour before this photo was taken, she had caused the toilet in the upstairs bathroom to overflow while I was doing school with Marie.  It took more than thirty minutes to clean, mop and sanitize that room.  And I didn’t freak out when Marie carefully informed me that water was showing up on the kitchen ceiling.  Nice.

Oy.

While I was doing school with Nigel, Hanny burst in my room (where we were doing school) to tell us that Katriel had markered on herself.  I got up – truly more concerned with what else she may have markered on and what kind of marker was she using – and found this.

When I first saw her she covered her face with her hands and braced for the coming scolding.  I actually held it together and tried to decide if I should laugh or cry.  I was kind of shook up.  I decided to take a picture while I stabilized.  She smiled and posed; she made sure her hand art was in the photo, too.

Oy.

I asked, “What were you doing?”
”I’m Rapunzel!”
”You look more like Mother Gothel, Katriel!”
Thoughtful look on her face.

Later she told someone she was being Mother Gothel.

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Marie cleaned her up.  Marie often jumps in when she thinks it may keep mom from popping an artery in her brain.

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When Tab went to gymnastics and the other three to Spanish, I went to Target with the little ones to sugar up.

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Just another day in paradise.

(My cross-eyes didn’t work.  That makes it funnier!)