On Turning One and Recreating Memories

We celebrated Timmy's very first birthday at home with some delicious cake that I really shouldn't have sampled since I'm still trying to avoid eating everything that makes life worth living in an effort to fend off migraine attacks.   It really was delicious though--especially the icing. 

I took copious amounts of pictures to commemorate the occasion with the evening light streaming in and making his little head glow while he played with his new toy and licked his new book.  Later that night, however, when I attempted to load all my beautiful pictures onto my computer I realized that I hadn't actually had my memory stick in my camera and there were, in fact, zero birthday pictures. 

Well, you can't have zero birthday pictures from your sixth child's first birthday.  Maybe their third birthday or their eleventh, but certainly not their first.  That's the sort of childhood trauma that keeps the therapists in business.  So I did what any self-respecting mother would do and recreated the birthday festivities the next day, with the one quarter cake remnant positioned just so in the frame so as to appear fully intact. 

Timmy didn't mind having another go at the cake and hopefully these fake memories will suffice to ward off any feelings of neglect later on in his teenage years. 

Hopefully :) 

37-Eleven

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When you start getting messages asking if you and the children are all right, you know it's time to dust off the old blog.  When I was pulling these pictures I realized that I hadn't taken a single photograph with my real camera in all of July.  I guess that's what interstate moving with six kids will do to you. 

I've been swamped here getting the house set up and starting our homeschool year off and just finding a new rhythm for all of the routines that go with managing a fairly large household.  Like, where do I store all the shoes?  What day should we clean the bathrooms?  These burning questions will plague me for at least another fifteen years or so. 

Lack of household routines can't stop birthday celebrations though.  Chris took David and Henry to Busch Gardens, per David's request--and the free annual visit for military they offer--to celebrate.  I think he thought he would be celebrating there himself, but the boys were not quite up for the extent of roller coaster riding he had envisioned.  They had fun though and rode all the slightly less terrifying rides and ate a truly ridiculous amount of park food that more than made up for the free admission. 

We did official birthday celebrating for both Chris and David this morning and the spider in the box prank (aff link) that David has been planning for weeks went off without a hitch.  Chris really jumped when the spider sprang out instead of the Swedish fish he was expecting.  David also made a pretty amazing, if not wholly appropriate birthday card, that also got a lot of laughs.  And of course, David asked for the same birthday cake he's asked for since he turned five because he likes to eat the same things that he already likes, just like he prefers to re-read only the books he already likes.  Maybe one day he'll branch out into other cake worlds--coconut maybe?  Or upside down?  Maybe the trouble is that he hasn't been exposed to the whole variety of what a cake can be.  I guess I should get baking and start cultivating better cake appreciation skills in my children.  At least Timothy doesn't seem to have any problems eating whatever cake-like substance comes his way.

All in all it's been a very successful birthday weekend so far.  Chris has gotten to do several of his favorite things:  go to an amusement park, clean out his new and so, so dirty garage, and even assemble some IKEA furniture.  Okay, only two of those things are his actual favorites. 

Now if I can just finish getting the house set up the way I want it (i.e. all the homeschool supplies find their homes where I don't have to look at them) maybe I can get my camera back out and share some pictures of the new place.  It's not Vermont, but it's ours.

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PS I know the boys are all in desperate need of haircuts.  It's on my list.  With the way Margaret's hair is progressing she will be needing her first haircut sometime around her own eleventh birthday. 

On Summer Moving

 

 

We are down to our last week in Vermont and the summer has flown by.  I sat down at the beginning and made a plan which involved all the things I wanted to go see and all the books I wanted to read and I'm afraid I was a bit too ambitious and only got to a fraction of either. 

Six weeks seems like such a long time until it's passing you by. 

We did finally visit Billings Farm since everyone here said it was a must see and they are participating in the Blue Star Museum program that gives free admission to military members--which was good because while it's a cute place I wouldn't say it's worth a full price admission.  We also made it to the Vermont Teddy Bear factory which was well worth the $4 :) 

I did manage to get all of my home school planning done, books ordered, and everything printed and ready to go--except for our math.  I waited too long on that and now I have to wait to have it shipped to our new house.  Ah, the eternal problem of military homeschooling moms facing the summer move.  I've given myself a little over two weeks to get the new house settled before we start up lessons in mid-August.  Hopefully that's not too ambitious as well.  I just really need to be finished schooling each year by the beginning of May.  Especially in the south.  You need May to play outside before the summer heat gets unbearable, am I right?  Now I just need to put the finishing touches on my new reading plan which mostly involves bumping all the things I meant to read this summer to my new list.  Plus all my pre-reading.  I hardly got any of that done and I'm sure I'll regret it soon enough. 

...

We are really going to miss Vermont.  I knew before we got here that we would like it but it turns out that we love it.  The winter was intense but I really appreciated having all the seasons--each one is dramatic and glorious here--and Vermont even throws in an extra one.  Although I suppose mud season isn't particularly glorious per say the children really enjoyed it since mud is one of their absolute favorite things.  My favorite things are the laws against billboards and how almost everywhere you look is beautiful. 

Also the population density here is perfection.  If it's one thing I hate it's a crowd. 

Vermont is probably not the best place to live if you want to own a business or if you have to pay state taxes but it's a great place to just be.  We've already been discussing buying a camper and summering up here once Chris retires.   

Now that would be glorious. 

On Sundays

Ever since spring arrived, we've been trying to have a Sunday routine of mass and then a picnic and park visit of some sort.  It's been pretty glorious.  Warm weather is so much more satisfying when it's been such a long time arriving.  You just want to luxuriate in it :)

This particular* Sunday we veered off our routine to check out a local-ish farm in an effort to get all our sight seeing in before we leave the state.  The kids got to milk cows, pet sheep, gather eggs, drive a fake horse cart and taste cheese.  What more could a child want?  Well, Christopher could want the sheep to learn to use their inside voices.  Every time they would suddenly bleat he would jump about a foot in the air, cover his ears, give his most withering glare, and declare in a very aggrieved  voice that "my no like those animals."

You can't please everyone. 

Also, isn't Vermont beautiful?  We're really going to miss it here.  Even if they do have loud sheep.


* Particular to these pictures not particular to yesterday--I'm having a difficult time keeping up over here!

On First Recitals

Margaret started ballet lessons this year and after Christmas she was bumped up into the big girl Level I class that got to dance in the end of year showcase.  She was really excited, except for all the days that she had to actually drive to ballet class and get ready to dance.  Then she was significantly less excited.  She always loved dancing once she got going but I'm not sure it was worth the headache for me trying to get her there and then get her very particular ballet bun--which involved a lot of hair gel, hairspray, bobby pins, and a hair net--in. 

She did really enjoy dancing in the showcase though and she did not disappoint as the youngest dancer on stage, giving the audience a taste of some very spastic ribbon twirling as well as some really great binocular eyes every time she danced past the front of the stage as she attempted to see through the theater lights to find us. 

The boys enjoyed the performance immensely and Christopher in particular keeps asking when we can go back to the recital again. 

We'll see if I can work up the endurance to find a new studio in Virginia and let her dance again in the fall knowing that she will most likely alternate between being a grumpy bear who hates dancing and a lovely pirouetting mouse who lives for ballet.  Oh my little ballerina.  At least she's cute :)