Happy Birthday to my dear, sweet husband!
I am so thankful for you. I am sorry that your birthday always gets a little less hoopla these days. You are so incredibly precious to us.
“Mommy, you know what I don’t like about hiccups?” Gillian
“What don’t you like about them Gilli?”
“I don’t like how they interrupt your words” Gillian
Amen to that!!!
Just love how she thinks about things. Love it!!!
…Rain on my birthday!
What do you know…that little man got his wish.
H and his sister are so like my sister and I. Playing in the rain is so much fun, especially the warm ones. We used to take our dolls out and play in the water running down our street. Nowadays my kiddos love to play out on the deck, splash around, ride their scooters (to slide out of course). They also love to get drenched, it is almost like their little souls get cleansed out there.
Most of the time the rain showers are far too short, but it is such a blessing to feel and hear the rain and to smell the freshness it leaves behind. I am so glad that H got his birthday wish.
Happy Birthday Son!
It hardly seems possible that you are nearly seven. Oh the journey we have had so far, such fun memories and oh, such a blessing you are. I truly miss being able to rock you to sleep and hold you in my arms. But, I have loved every minute of watching you grow into an amazing young boy.
You have such an incredible imagination, I love to watch you create things. You make amazing box cars, roads, fountains, forts, mud-holes and drawings. You have so much talent, little man. You are so like your daddy when you take interest in something. You dive into it with all that you have. You read about it and learn all that there is to know. The amount of knowledge in your young brain astonishes me.
You are also a great conversationalist; I love to watch you talk to your friends, teachers and family. I love how you have gained confidence in who you are. Our Father in Heaven has blessed you, little man. You have made some good, solid friendships. People are drawn to you as you are so kind and pleasant. You also have a great sense of humor and you enjoy hanging out with people who also have a sense of humor. I am excited to see what God has planned for you, my love. What are all of these amazing gifts preparing you for? I pray that God, our Father will always be first in your life, that you will bring glory to Him and that he will always be your Shield.
Have a great day, sweet lil man! Mommy loves you so very much!
*Seven – Mommy’s favorite number for many, many reasons.
….it is easy to think that life was easier or more peaceful than it is now. In many ways it was more peaceful, but certainly not easier. Today, we took a field trip back 132 years or so in time. Back to the days of General Palmer.
The day was extremely hot, but it did not prevent our group from enjoying this trip back in time. Everyone was cooperative, curious and well behaved during our visit to Rock Ledge Ranch. We were greeted with warmth from the staff at the ranch, they were all so friendly and very knowledgeable. So many stories about that period of time, about the buildings on this land and how the people of this time period lived. There was something that interested each child (and mom). At one point, Gillian’s little friend was talking and Gillian politely asked her friend “please be quiet, S, so I can hear what this lady is saying”.
We got to tour several homesteads on the property, one of my personal favorites was the 100 year old Orchard House. We were taken into the family quarters and the servants quarters, each room was unique, the architecture was beautiful. It would be fun to own a home like this.
We also got to see an 1860′s Homestead. Each of the kids were given a chance to play with Milking Bear. Apparently a child’s first toy back in the day, usually given to them at age three. When they are able to get the bear to the top with steady and gentle tugs, they were ready to milk a cow. It appears we have several kids ready to milk a cow! We also got to see how much work it was to live on the homestead; the women gathered wood, cooked, tended the animals and other chores. We saw how the men spent their time on the land diverting water (irrigation) and tending the produce. Hayden disagreed with the rest of us about how hard the men’s job really was. After all, he spends much time in our back yard digging and making trenches and diverting water. “It isn’t too hard, it is actually fun”. he he! The young man offered him his shovel but H passed.
The children also got to help with the laundry, using a wash tub, they scrubbed, wringed and rinsed. What an experience. The authentic clothing was as intriguing to G as it was to me when I was her age. I loved to dress with long dresses and bonnets and pretend I lived on the prairie.
We were not able to see all there was to see, so we will definitely be going back.
Gilli and I went to the movies with our friends J & N for a girls day out. We went to see the movie, Wall – E, the latest Pixar/Disney movie. The nice thing about going to this movie is that I had not a clue what it was about and therefore had no expectations. The story line is unique for sure, many good lessons to be taken from the movie about how we live while we are on this earth and the consequences of our lifestyle. I can imagine that much of this was over the girls heads right now, but what a fun idea for a movie.
I have to say it is in true Pixar fashion. Original, unique, clean, fun. I would recommend this to anyone with kids. I look forward to seeing it again.
I seem to have a thing with the number three.
Piper, the dog was recently was adopted into our family. He came to us from our dear friends here in town. We were very hesitant to bring another pet into our already crazy household. But, we couldn’t be happier to have Piper in our family. He is such a sweet little dog and he loves having Canine brothers too. They run all around chasing each other and living the ‘dogs life’.
Welcome Piper The Dog……. 
I will never personally know what it is like to have a summer birthday, but I sure do enjoy experiencing it with my family. July is such a fun month, it is actually one of my favorite months. My baby just turned 5 and my eldest will be 7 in just a few days. I think back to the day each of them was born and the memories just flood my mind, each day ended in pure perfection.
The first year of milestones is always fun, as are each of their stages and of course each year. We have sort of created a tradition of having a combine birthday celebration every other year. This year was no exception and we had so much fun two years ago that we decided to do it all again.
However, this year we allowed ourselves a little more time for fun. What a wise choice as we finished up at 2:00 PM on the dot.
We hired out an inflatable system with a giant slide and bounce house. The kids all got a long so nicely and had hours of fun outside. Dadda also grilled hotdogs for all of our guests and of course we had cake.
Lots of cake! 7 cake boxes worth. We made 5 8X8 square cakes for G’ Castle Cake and 2 9X9 circles for H’s Doggy Cake. I love it when “we have the time” (11:00 PM 3 nights in a row) to make our own, it is such a fun tradition. I am sure Kip will agree! My favorite part is Kip’s butter cream icing. We only make that two times a year, for the kids birthdays and ‘if’ we make sugar Christmas cookies.
We were blessed to have most of our very dear friends join us and we certainly missed those that could not.
What fun it is to have a summer birthday!!! (Even if it is via my family)
The first 6 days of July have been chalk full of FUN! It has been so long since we have had such a busy weekend that was this much fun.
July has been a crazy busy time of year for us ever since we added two little Russell’s to our family. We have three birthdays, my parents anniversary and Independence day all packed into the first two weeks.
It is sure a good thing that we only do parties every other year. They are so much fun but they are a lot of work. Even though I only planned a couple weeks out, everything thankfully came together so nicely.
July 1 – G’s birthday – family celebration, park playdate
July 3 – Final party arrangements (food, drinks, etc.) Baking cakes
July 4 – Independence Day – yard clean up, decorate cakes, backyard bbq with good friends & fireworks.
July 5 – Birthday Bash – Bouncy fun all day long.
July 6 – K & H and J & O go fishing; while J & A and G and I went to a movie & dinner.
Each day was so fun that I think that they deserve their own post. Don’t you?
