A Year In Review

I think 2020 is over... which would make a year-in-review appropriate, although I'm not 100% sure we're not just stuck in the vestibule of Hell from the Inferno.

 

At any rate, here is a summary of what we did last year (assuming it was actually a year ago).  Surprisingly I have remarkably few pictures.  I guess we weren't very busy for some weird reason.

January

The year began as usual, with the disembowling of the gingerbread monstrosity house.

this would be Day 2.

Birthday Week 2019!

It's All Birthday, All the Time!!

Exhibit A:  Miriam's 17th on Tuesday (and Wednesday)

No, we can't believe she's 17 either.  It's just too weird.

Miriam had to go to class and work and choir practice on her actual birthday (welcome to the adult world!) so we celebrated as a family the next day.  She went skating with friends.  Mr. Pickles grilled.  Chocolate lava cakes were consumed.  She'll celebrate with some more friends later this weekend -- she and Katie are planning a Phantom of the Opera-themed party.  (It's awesome seeing Miriam get into all the musicals I loved when I was the same age!)

Exhibit B:  Jojo's 11th on Thursday

Jojo chose all his favorite foods for meals, got to play Wii (during Lent!!), and didn't have to do school.  So all in all a good day for him.  He'll have a birthday party with his friends, also this weekend.  (The fun just never stops!)

Exhibit C:  Mr. Pickles' something something-th on Friday (and Saturday)

Happy Birthday to meeeeee...

I won't post the embarrassingly silly picture of him blowing out his candles, in order to preserve the illusion of the dignity and widsom attendant upon his advanced years.




Aw, who am I kidding.

he was winding up for a huge sneeze, and then when I took this picture -- my camera is not a quiet one -- everyone broke down laughing

Since Mr. Pickles' birthday fell on a Friday in Lent, we extended his celebration to the next day as well so we could feast with a clear conscience.  Although for his birthday dinner he made grilled salmon, which really doesn't seem all that penitential. :)  He did take his birthday off work, which was celebratory in itself.  His birthday cake was the most amazingest thing -- it was gluten- and dairy-free chocolate cake made with coconut sugar and it was sooooo good.  The kids all pitched in to get him Mario Kart 8 and another set of Switch controllers, so it was really a gift for everyone.

Mr. Pickles took most of the week off work, which was nice for him and for us.  Also on Monday, the kids asked me how much school we were going to do that week, and I said "It's Birthday Week!  No school!"   And behold, the sound of a great multitude rejoicing.

Katie at 14

Had some time in between turkey bastings to get this post up!

So my baby girl turned 14 two weeks ago.  Whenever I look at all our baby girl clothes stored away I get a little nostalgic, but really I'm enjoying this stage with two teenage girls in the house, too.  It's nicer now that Katie has passed the age of 13, and we'll just leave it at that. ;)

For her birthday she simply wanted to spend it in total leisure: staying in her jammies, playing video games, writing stories, chatting with friends, eating special birthday foods, and not having to go anywhere. 

She is a woman after my own heart!  Since as a homeschooling mom I have the power to determine when school breaks are, I have decreed that all birthdays are family holidays, which everyone appreciates.

One of the things I am appreciating most about Katie is that she loves baking, so she insisted on making her own birthday cake: cupcakes in cones.  She had a particular artistic vision for coloring and swirling the batter.  I was happy to leave that in her charge.

she was cold

We had to postpone her birthday party because of a virus that was taking its sweet time to make it through the family; but she's planning on having a spa night sleepover with friends.  I gave her a strict budget for supplies so we wouldn't go bankrupt over face masks and cuticle oil.  (It's actually been fun taking her and her best friend shopping for the supplies.)

Here is a good representation of Katie these days:

except usually she's in jammies.  (one of the very best things about homeschooling!)

She is never without her binder of stories and pictures.  I am going to start making her purchase her own paper.  She already went through 3/4 of the looseleaf I bought on sale in August for SCHOOL purposes.

And here, to shock everyone, is Katie-at-13 vs. Katie-at-14:

13-and-change

14.  aaaaaaaaaaaahhh!

So that's our Birthday Bear!  Still as creative and hilarious and sarcastic as ever, and we wuv her wots.

Andy is 6!

testing... testing... 1-2-3... does this thing still work?  excellent!

Andy had a big week last week.  We started off with the feast of one of his patrons, Pope Saint John Paul II -- the Great -- on Monday.  Feast days equal dessert days, and are therefore a Big Deal.  Katie, who is rapidly becoming The Resident Baker, whipped up a batch of snickerdoodles in honor of the occasion.

Then Thursday was his 6th birthday.  Unfortunately it was just another work day in some ways; Miriam had class, so we still had to haul ourselves out of bed early so Miriam could discuss bones with her advanced biology class for 2 hours.  (Her teacher, who is now a practicing physician, used to play rugby of all things.  So he had all kinds of stories about all the bones he broke when he was younger.  His poor mother.)  Actually, Andy didn't really mind -- while Miriam is looking at slides of cells or speaking Spanish we get to hang out in the nursery (classes are held in a very hospitable church's basement classrooms) and play with all the toys.  Since birthdays are automatic holidays in our house, I didn't bring any school to do.  So Andy and Dominic got to play with friends and eat snacks and cupcakes that we brought to share.  Not too bad a deal. 

After a lunch of crepes with strawberries and whipped cream another friend whose birthday was earlier in the week had a party at the park that afternoon, so we got to hang out with more friends and eat cake.  (October parties at the park are always a gamble -- thankfully the weather cooperated and it wasn't too cold or windy that day.)  (We also got a couple weird looks from the other moms there who were with their sweet little tiny tots, as our ginormous crew of 14 obviously school-aged children took over the playground.)  And THEN Daddy came home early and made pizza for dinner and we had MORE cupcakes for dessert.  Add to that that he got just what he wanted for his presents and he got to choose what video game everyone played that evening, you have one happy six year old.  When I asked him at the end of the day how his birthday went, he said, "AWEsome."  (Actually, it was more like "awethome" because of that adorable little lisp.)

Then on Saturday we had a little party for him with all the usual suspects (best friends, neighbors).  I wasn't involved in the planning of it, but apparently I ought to have been -- there were a couple details that weren't decided until the last second, and the activities were not very well regulated (at one point we had bored kids wandering around the house).  Well, lessoned learned: always double-check the plan.  At any rate, Andy was happy and loved being with his friends, so that's what really mattered.

he wanted chocolate cake with strawberry icing and sprinkles and a rainbow made out of jellybeans.  (that icing was AWESOME -- I was eating it straight out of the bowl)

the requisite Silly Picture

Andy's six-year-old brain has been doing all kinds of fun stuff.  He's starting to read random things on his own -- he's always sounding out words wherever we are (remind me never to take him into a public bathroom).  Meanwhile, we're on the letter "D" in his phonics book.  ...I think I need to pick up the pace a little.

He is also obsessed with swear words.  Not that he SAYS them, he just tells me often about the one or two times he heard someone say (a mild) one.  When he gets mad he says "STUPID!" which I guess is the six-year-old equivalent of a swear word.

He is also obsessed with weaponry of every kind.  Everything he plays with turns into a weapon eventually.  We have a lovely wooden educational set of letters of word boards -- all those little letters have been guns and bombs and bad guys for a long time -- I don't think they're ever actually used for their intended purpose.  So for his birthday he wanted a gun with a scope.  I REFUSED to buy the dart sniper rifle he saw in Walmart (really, Nerf???  I lived in DC in 2002!) but we found a cool Star Wars nerf dart blaster that makes laser sounds, and also has a scope.  And the darts glow in the dark.  So, yeah, way cooler and better than the future-terrorist-in-training toy.

We have fun speculating about what Andy will be when he grows up.  He definitely likes all his ducks in a row -- and if you gave him some toy ducks, that would be proved literally.  He understands the whole "place for everything and everything in its place" thing instrinsically, which is awesome.  It's always nice for a mother of a large family to have one ally in the battle against total chaos! 

We'll see what this year brings for Andy!

Fall Birthdays!

Merry Christmas, everyone!  Before I can get to current events, we still have some old news to report.  And I can't POSSIBLY blog out of order.

Andy and Katie are our fall birthdays.  In October, Andy turned 4!  He's such a little guy that it's hard for me to think of him as such a big number.

lego candy!  what could be more awesome?

We kept his birthday simple.  Just invited some friends over for a birthday playdate.

ahh yes, the classic four-year-old picture face

he was very excited about all the green monies he got in his birthday cards

all the siblings chipped in to get him a set of giant Magformers (the boys all called them the Triforce Magformers)

At the end of the day, he said he had a good birthday -- thankfully he's at the age where it doesn't take much. :)

In November, Katie turned 12!

she wanted me to put rag curls in her hair the night before

She invited her two best friends to come over early to help with the party later that evening.

They had great fun decorating, and made plans to start their own party planning business.

The great thing about older kids is that they can do so much themselves.  For Katie's party, all I had to do was send out invites, and shop for requested food and decorations;  she handled everything else: making the cupcakes, decorating, planning the games and entertainments.  She had quite the detailed agenda, based primarily on what she figured her excited stomach would be able to handle.  (For example, she knew that the glory of all those presents waiting for her would interfere with her ability to eat, so she decided to have present-opening earlier in the evening.)

Evening entertainments included a judged fashion show, line-picture-line, and a movie (Zootopia) with popcorn.

line-picture-line.  much hilarity ensued when the final results were read

Happy Birthday, Kreative Kate!

Birthday Week 2016!!

Aw yeah, every March it's non-stop par-tay at die Gurkeschloss!

We started out the gate with Miriam's 14th.  Her birthday was on a Saturday this year, which as every kid knows is the golden ticket for birthday celebrations!  We started the day off with a special breakfast and family presents.

Katie made a model of the dream house that she and Miriam designed together.  much paper and scotch tape were required.

I don't know if I've mentioned it on here yet, but Miriam has decided that ice skating is her Thing.  So she had a lesson in the morning, and then hung around for the open skate time.  (She's been taking lessons off and on for a couple years, but for about the last year it's been more consistent.  She can skate backwards really well, and is currently learning fancy stuff like spins and the waltz jump.)

Then that evening we invited several of her bestest friends over for a party.  They played silly games and watched the Kenneth Branagh Cinderella. *swoon*

cue giggling

It was a really fun party -- even Dominic had a great time!

*ripriptearshred*

14 is great.  It involves a certain amount of emotional instability at times, but that's what Daddies are for.

Happy Birthday, Princess

Next up: Joseph turned 8!

He had a simple party -- he just wanted to invite a couple friends over for lunch.  (I think he was still shell-shocked from last year.) :)

He had a good day -- he ate all of his favorite foods (macaroni and cheese was on the menu, of course), tried out his new toys (the friends gave him a mini-catapult!), and spent the rest of the time reading his new book (the first in the Wings of Fire series, courtesy of Katie).

not the Wings of Fire book (it's actually The Wanderings of Odysseus instead!) -- but still, this boy loves to read!

Finally, Mr. Pickles himself hit a big milestone this year!!!

For such a big birthday I gave him permission to purchase a new sound system for the TV.  It's great -- we can hear dialogue now!

So that's it!  Another successful birthday week.  Everyone made it through another year!

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!

Guess who's two!

It's Andy-pants!

What? Who?

Wait, it's me?

Oh yeah!  Happy Birthday to meeeeee!  Hahahahahaaaaaa!

Wow.  Such fancy.  Very cake decorating skilz.  Amaze.

"Andy, smile!"  *click*

ERRbody knows the icing is the best part.  The ONLY part, really.

Andy's birthday was a week ago Saturday.  We invited some friends over in the morning for a "very informal birthday-playdate-with-cake."  (That translates to: "Please don't worry about presents since I'm only calling you about this three days before the fact.")  After a frantic morning of vacuuming up most of the leaves tracked inside and making sure the downstairs bathroom didn't smell funny (I have a 4yo boy -- 'nuff said), the girls decorated with copious balloons and a wall of streamers while I prepped snacks.  (I made caramel sauce to dip apples in!  Go me!)  The kids played, the grownups talked philosophy, we forced the kids to stop playing so they could eat, we sang to Andy, we had cupcakes.  Then everyone went home and Andy took a nice long nap.  Great two-year-old birthday!

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Andy is a funny kid.  He began walking exactly a year ago, on his first birthday, and I think he's hardly sat down since.

except here, to ride Katie's unicorn pillow pet -- which is just right for him!

 He will sit down to eat, though, unlike Katie who had to have drive-by dinner or else she would have starved.

Whenever he's hungry, he asks for "Os", which usually means shredded wheat.

 He is turning out to be similar in temperament to Jojo, which is going to be just lots and lots of fun as they grow up together.  (Can you hear the sarcasm dripping from my fingers?)  He has a short fuse and tends to be strong-ish willed, and his most common way of expressing frustration with the universe (or his brothers) is by shrieking.  (Joseph's preferred method of expression is roaring like the Incredible Hulk.)  Once I heard a loud noise and couldn't tell if it was Andy shrieking or the tea kettle boiling.  No joke.

these two are often thrown together when I'm doing school with everyone else.  lots of cuteness

 But, he is very cute.  He loves all his siblings, and is loved and adored by all of them.

"Tetee" teaching him how to take a selfie

 And like a typical 2-year-old, Andy is a just a silly pants.  This is how we know he is definitely ours.

The Manolo he love the shoes.

He loves vehicles.  No, I mean, really LOVES vehicles, which are all "trucks", or in Andy-speak, "dutch."  (He's just starting to sound more like an English speaker -- once he figures out more consonants, he might actually be understandable!)  Once during the summer I had a planning meeting at a friends' house.  She brought out a giant box of match box cars to keep the little boys occupied.  Andy spent a happy TWO HOURS parking them all along the window sills and bookcase shelves and end tables in her living room. 

I regularly find trains and trucks and cars lined up along our coffee table.  They are always all pointing the same direction.  And HEAVEN FORBID you should put them away before he is done with them!!

Looking forward to another year of his silly-pants-ness!