My First Born and the One Who Gave Birth to Me

Tate and Gunga share a birthday and they love it. Look at how cute they are together...
I'm kind of possessive about my birthday, so I am not sure how I'd feel about sharing my high holy day. Actually, I know how I would feel because sometimes Father's Day falls on my birthday and I feel like saying "Back off, buddy" to Bill for mooching on my birthday property. But instead I grit my teeth and say with a smile "Happy Father's Day, dear".

Tate's celebration started during the week when he had 4 friends over after school for a laid back party. He didn't want me to go all out for it, though he let me have fun with the invitation...
Everything else was low maintenance, except Lulu. She decided that a nap was not in her agenda for the day but she was tired and wanted to be held while I made the cake. I was able to entertain her a bit with the magnetic toys on the fridge...
The boys needed no entertaining. They played football...
And video games...
Even the cake was low maintenance. Just boxed brownies with chocolate chip cookie dough as icing...
I would put the recipe on here, but my blog is not very helpful like that.

When describing to me how he didn't want me to be too "theme-y" about his party this time, he said "Actually, I would prefer it if you didn't even sing Happy Birthday." He's not one who loves the spotlight...he gets that from me, of course (please note the use of sarcasm). So I asked the boys to come up with a birthday rap instead. It was pretty entertaining. He's got great friends for which I am thankful...
The weekend was spent celebrating at Gunga's with family. I think Gunga's favorite gift was from Luci. Lulu held her arms out for Gunga to hold her. She has never done this for anyone but Bill and me. She also got to hold Luci as she fell asleep for the first time...
And give her a bottle for the first time as well...
We had dinner at The Amazing Pizza Machine. Think Chuck E. Cheese on steroids. It was so sweet of my Mom to be willing celebrate there since it's not exactly her kind of place. It was hilarious to walk in and have them announce over the loud speaker "We have two birthdays tonight: Tate is 12 and Danny is (pause) 81!" I bet they don't see that every day. It was a fun time...

(I wish you could see the shirt I'm wearing under my hoodie. I got it from Wal Mart
for $1 and it is a Miley Cyrus brand shirt. How far I have fallen!)

Normally, at this point I would be thinking regarding my kid's birthdays "Two down, one to go" with Emmie's birthday just around the corner. But, after we celebrate the Divine Miss Em, we have another one to gear up for in February. Her Loveliness...
And then I'm due for a really long respite from birthday celebrations.

You hold a special place on the calendar and an even more special place in our hearts. We love you, Birthday Buddies!

Takes My Breath Away

He's twelve. Deep breath. In and out.

Not six months...

Not two...

Not even six years...
Twelve. As in almost thirteen.

But what takes my breath away is not the mere passing of years. It is that this boy is becoming a man. A fine young man. I don't want to be a braggy blogger. But I just can't help it when it comes to my family. Tonight this dear boy tenderly encouraged his Momma in such a personal way, I'm not going to blog about it because it is only ours. But take my word for it, this boy is gonna make a great husband someday with that tenderness. Except he says he's never getting married. Maybe it's best that way because I fear I'll be one of those psycho mothers-in-law anyway who can't let go of her son.

Where was I? Oh yeah, bragging on Tate. This year we have watched him grow in responsibility. In loving his siblings. And in being able to be content with what he has. It has been a joy and privilege to see him blossom. We are proud of him. We learn from him. And we enjoy him. We know there will be hard days in our relationship with him. And he'd be the first to tell you that there have already been hard days. But on good days and on bad, we love this boy with all our hearts.

Happy Birthday, Tate. Thanks for letting us love you. And thanks for loving us back.

OH NO, MR. BILL!

Someone turned 43 around our house. And do not think for ONE minute that it was me. I'm way younger than that. I don't think Bill minds getting older. Maybe it's because the guy doesn't seem to age. And, if you ask me, he just keeps getting cuter and cuter.

We celebrated my Billy today with some of his favorite things.

A lunch date at Noodles...
Dinner at Red Robin with his peeps...
Switchfoot's brand new CD...
The Flirty...
Ice Cream (guess who else liked it too)...

Happy Birthday, Babe. Want you. Love you. Need You.

addendum: I was tossing and turning in the night because I felt bad about Bill's birthday. I didn't feel like I celebrated him enough. I felt like (other than the Switchfoot CD) the gift we got him wasn't something he wanted (it was clothes). Plus I said two really insensitive things to him that day. I asked for forgiveness and he granted it, but I kept replaying my rudeness in my head. And to top it all off, when he came back from his late night meeting on campus I was asleep on the couch, not welcoming him home with birthday wishes and kisses.

So this morning I went to tell him how sorry I was and before I could get anything out he hugged me and said "Thank you for making my birthday special." Once again, this man has shown me what God is like. Instead of focusing on what I didn't do, he focused on the fact that we were together. He was grateful for the gifts I gave him in love. And, best of all, he was forgiving...even when I couldn't forgive myself. So now, instead of thinking "I should have done more", I am relishing the fact that I have a love like this. Exactly what I want to do in my relationship with God.

Speaking of what God is like, check this out...

Click here to find out more.

We are on Cloud 9

For two reasons.

1) Our Luci May is 9 months today! The past month has been really significant as far as attachment goes. She now holds out her arms for Bill or me to hold her which melts me. She also gives hugs, especially when we get her out of bed. Every time I get her, she will give me a big hug. Then she'll pull back to look me over and smile. Then another hug. Pull back again for smiles and usually another hug. It's so dear. To celebrate her 9th month, here are two of my favorite poses of hers. The first is what we call the "flirty". You never know when she's gonna pull it out to charm the socks off anyone who is on the receiving end. It looks like this with the tilted head and coy smile...
The other pose, her Yoga Baby move, has a different kind of charm, but is just as flirty if you ask me...
We love you from every angle, Lulu!

2)We had a reunion with our travel buddies from Ethiopia. They came all the way from Oklahoma (the second best state in the USA, Christine) to spend the weekend with us. God knit our hearts together in Ethiopia, so we were on Cloud 9 to be with them again and get to know their precious kids!

Luci and Halina are BFF's, even though they don't realize it yet. They had fun playing...

And grabbing...
And posing (in matching dresses, of course)...

And hugging...
The babies aren't the only ones who got quality time to bond. There were the big girls...
And the boys...

Sweet Carter spent his own money to buy Jack a skateboard.

And the Daddies...
And maybe even a little time for the Mommies too...
Shopping at Target...

Don't we look happy? It's a proven fact: Target releases happy endorphins.

Here I am justifying my purchase of two pairs of shoes at TJ Maxx...

Don't judge me. Do you see how cute they are? Do you know how pathetic my shoe life has become after my foot surgeries?

Christine invited me to go on a run with her. I thought it might ruin our fun weekend to have me rushed to the ER, so I biked alongside her...

I knew my husband was going to take this unflattering shot (his hobby), so I was prepared by covering my bootie as best I could...

Why I oughtta!

All of this fun and bonding was built around a little college football rivalry. Our team won, but we didn't gloat. Except for taking this picture of Halina...
Can't wait 'til the next time!