Birthday Week 2015!

Guess what I just found in the Drafts!

In a futile attempt to get all caught up before the baby pictures and posts start rolling out, here is a shorter post, thanks to the fact heretofore established that I am a terrible photojournalist.

So, we all turned another year older.  But how would you believe that unless I provided photographic evidence??

First, Miriam turned 13!!!!!  I am still trying to wrap my head around that one.

birthday-brownie-in-a-mug

Actually thirteen has been great!  We're seeing lots of wheels turning in her head.  Lots of questions about how the world works.  It's really fun.

AND, she's old enough to babysit her siblings (legally).  This is a beautiful age! :)

We weren't able to have an honest-to-goodness birthday party this year, due to schedule conflicts with the friends Miriam wanted to invite, so instead we went ice skating two separate times with different friends each time.  She says her favorite gift was actually a Norbertine Sister doll that a friend of Grandma B.'s made for her, and which has pride of place on her bed.  Second fave was new ice skates with soakers.  Although she really loved everything she received.

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Joseph is now 7!  For him we did throw a party, since last year his birthday got hijacked by an ear infection and bronchitis.  We invited all his best buds, and served them sandwiches and cake.

Wow, was that a loud party.

Jojo says his favorite gift was two water cannons.  He also received a couple Lego sets -- well-loved -- and a few abridged classic books -- which he devoured.  He claims this was his best birthday ever, so I think he had a good time.

Seven has been interesting.  We're seeing more evidence that he has reached the blessed Age of Reason.  There are still several frustrating things that we're trying to work with -- among them severe forgetfulness and convenient hearing -- but there are also the insightful questions he's been asking that show us there's lots going on in his head, too.  This year we're looking forward to him making his First Holy Communion!

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Mr. Pickles is also older and wiser!

Andy was allll about helping blow out candles.  He was a birthday expert by the end of the week

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By the end of the week, even the birthday banner was tired of partying!

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Instead of creating an extra post, let's add the summer birthdays here, too, while we're at it!

Daniel's birthday was in June, right after we returned home from The Great Western Trek.

 He is now a WHOLE hand.

He has really grown up... in some ways.

He's thinned out quite a bit in the last year -- you can actually see rib bones now!  I don't think we've seen those since he was first born.

He is also very responsible -- he is usually the first to do a requested task and do it correctly.  ...When he's not in a snit, that is.  But he is extremely affectionate and has a well-developed sense of humor.  He won't stay in his snits for long, especially if you can get him to laugh (which is pretty easy).  It's scary to think that if we had stopped at 3 kids, we would have missed all the delightfulness of him!

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And finally, yours truly also became OLD like Mr. Pickles.

chocolate mint cake.  yumm-ers.

It's the big 3-9 for us this year.  Just so you all know, I plan to stay 39 for quite a while.  I stayed 30 for a number of years, so I know it's possible!

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The next birthday we'll be celebrating will be for the newest family member... stay tuned!