A Lovely Gift

Each year when my birthday rolls around, my husband is somewhat distraught about what to give me.  (Just for the record, he always manages to pull off something very nice.)  This year, he managed to really hit the brownie points lottery – he made me a console table for my living room.  This item has been on my “would like to have this one day when you have the time to make it” list that sits in a drawer in the kitchen.  I have an oddly shaped living room due to a stone corner area, and that side of the living room looks rather odd.  I wanted a table to fit in that small space under my gallery wall (which is still unfinished).  You know, the kind of table that I can decorate and store a few little odds and ends out of sight. 

Since he was going to be on the other side of the country during my birthday, he got to work early and finished it before he left!  I got to paint it and glaze it (my favorite part) after he put it all together.  Seriously – how awesome is that?  He gets the “Best Husband Award” again.  I guess that makes it thirteen years running now. :)

Here he is priming the drawer fronts in the garage.

The table is ready to paint… My favorite part.

The table top is aspen coated with a golden oak stain.

The table is painted in Valspar Nightfall green (Winter 2012 collection) and glazed in Martha Stewart Black Coffee.  I absolutely love this table!  I put the drawer pulls on myself – pretty scary to think of messing up my beautiful table while trying to drill a hole in the drawer front!  Eeeeep!  However, it turned out beautifully and fits perfectly in that space between the doorway and the hearth area. 

It was definitely a happy birthday to me moment!  Thank you, Paul, for such a wonderful gift!  I love you!

What is your favorite birthday gift?

Twelve

One whole dozen.  Many things come in dozens – eggs, doughnuts, disciples, months… but not years.  They come slowly, one day at a time, slipping past like so many jewels on a string.  Drops of water that run continuously, forming a large stream, small things that turn into larger things.

12 years.

4,383 days.

105,192 hours.

6,311,520 minutes.

378,691,200 seconds.

That’s how long I have had the privilege of knowing this little man.  This miracle of life known as my son.  My precious child.  The baby I loved from before the first time I saw him.  Josiah, my firstborn.

These are a few pictures of the birthday boy.  His life began before I had a digital camera, so the first several years will be omitted in this pictorial history.  Suffice it to say, he has always been a cutie!

Over the years, he just continues to amaze me with his humor, sweet spirit, and tender heart.

Cute as can be…

He’s a great big brother.

All boy – not afraid to get down and dirty (or wet).

Loves to have fun with the family.

Never ceases to make me laugh at his antics!

Oldest child born of two oldest children (think about that for a while).

Enjoys making bunny ears on his siblings…  :)

Finds a solution.

Thinker.

Adventurous.

Good example (most of the time) to his younger brother.

Always ready to laugh!

Standing on the brink of life, just waiting to see what will happen next!

It scares me to death to have a child on the brink of adolescence, with the infamous teenage years just around the corner.  Where has all the time gone?  More and more I understand why God compares our life to a vapor – here for a moment, and then gone.  It really does seem to pass in the blink of an eye!

All that to say this: I love you, Josiah.  You make me so proud and happy!  I am so thankful for the privilege to be your mother.  Have a wonderful birthday!

Independence Celebration

I never know where or how we will celebrate our nation’s birth from year to year, and as a consequence, it varies a great deal.  This year was by no means an exception.  We ended up with some college friends in Colorado and they kind of took us in hand and included us in all their plans.  We left early in the morning to go to the Fourth of July parade in the next town over.  We had to get there a bit early to get seats on the sidewalk, and then, of course, all the shady spots were already taken.  It was a nice day, though, and it wasn’t too hot unless you were in the direct sunlight for a long time.

Here we all are, lined up in our chairs.

The lady who lived in the house behind where we were sitting was rather inconsiderate and kept asking us to move down, for what reason we never did figure out, since no one sat in the place we had vacated.  As the parade progressed, she kept spraying the parade participants with the garden hose, and drawing the return fire of the ones who had fire hoses and water guns.  By the end of the parade, we were all soaked, since we had been directly in the crossfire.  Oh, well. 

Here are the girls with Jack, the pastor’s new puppy – he really was so cute!

The guys – waiting for the parade to begin

The parade began with the flags and the firemen, carrying a banner honoring the 19 firemen who lost their lives earlier fighting the forest fires in Arizona.  It was a sobering reminder that people are still giving their lives for our safety.  There are nineteen families who are grieving a terrible loss this week.

Rural parades are so very different from the big city parades.  There tend to be a lot of old vehicles, farm tractors, and makeshift floats on wagons.  Definitely not the Macy’s parade, but very fun and appealing in a down-home sort of way.

The kids thought this bicycle was totally awesome.  The adults wondered among ourselves how one mounted and dismounted this vehicle without personal injury…

There were also horses – lots of horses.  This is the local rodeo royalty.

And you thought Santa lived at the North Pole!  :)

More horses and cowboys

Another cool truck – Josiah wants one of these

A huge tractor hauling a giant, flag-painted bale of hay

The local tractor dealership squadron

And of course, there was a lot of candy.  Most of ours got soaked, though, thanks to the exuberant hose-toting woman behind us.  Makes for a sticky mess.

Good place to keep your spare candy!

This is way too much sugar for my kids!

Don’t they look happy about it, though?

I love this picture.  In a way, it reminds me of one of those activity book pictures that says “Which one does not belong?”  Daniel didn’t have a red shirt, and he didn’t want to wear his hat.  Love the independence of this picture!

Later, at the rodeo grounds, my kids put on their own rodeo, complete with bucking broncos…

Look at that ornery face!

My cowgirl wanna-be. 

Ride that bronc!  I want to say here, that it is extremely difficult to take pictures of bronc riding and bull riding.  You have 8 seconds to get a shot of a wildly moving target – if they can stay on that long!  I was not able to get any of the bull riding for this reason – none of them was able to stay on for even 8 seconds!

Barrel racing – fastest time of the night was 17.78 seconds

And of course, after the rodeo was over, there was a pretty good fireworks display!

All in all, we had a wonderful time together, enjoying our freedom and celebrating the great nation that God has given us.  God Bless America!

Happy Birthday, Pixie!

Those were not the first words out of my mouth this morning, but they were the first ones my little pixie-girl heard from my lips!  Yes, another birthday at our house.  She is now seven.  This little bundle of energy, joy, sunshine, and giggles is growing up way too fast for my liking.  She already has boys standing in line to marry her (three at last count).  I know why, too.  She is such a sweetheart!

I am ashamed to admit it, but this was her first official birthday party.  We have always tried to have a special meal and cake, but when your birthday falls during the week of camp, or the week of moving, it tends to be less than expected.  She has uncomplainingly endured for all these years, and I believe she deserves a little praise for her sweet attitude.

Today was extra special.  We took a trip to a really cool place that I will post about later – been wanting to visit there for years.  Are you wondering??  :)

Here we are, driving down the road (well, Paul was, anyway – we were just along for the ride).  You can see she is wearing her special birthday scarf made by Grandma! 

Here are all the kids sitting down to a delicious birthday dinner of hamburgers and green beans.  Yep. That is what she asked for.  Of course, we had cake and ice cream, too.  Chocolate.  That’s my girl!

She wanted cupcakes, so that’s what I made.  Yummy!

I had left all my cake pans at home, so I had to get a little creative.  Plus, the oven in the trailer is not working for some reason.  Thank goodness for the toaster oven!

Mmm, mmm, good!

Then the opening of gifts.  Such unspeakable delights!  Sour Patch Kids from Daniel!

Socks?!?  Okay, there was a really awesome clearance sale at Wal-mart the other day! :)

There were a lot of other miscellaneous items from all of us, and she had a wonderful time opening and exclaiming over them all.  It was a very fun day for our whole family.

And a new outfit for Polka-dot Baby (that is actually the doll’s name, and yes, I do fear for my future grandchildren!  Other dolls have been named Little Italy, France, and Mrs. No-Head).  Hopefully, the name choosing will improve with age.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Esther!  I love you!  I am so thankful that God gave you to us seven years ago!