Cecily's 6th Birthday

 Birthday celebrations are one of those things that rely almost entirely on me.  Other family members pitch in a lot to make it happen, but especially the cooking depends upon the head cook, as we usually try to make something special, that we wouldn't ordinarily have.  This year we settled on coffee cake for breakfast, but this particular week was an especially bad one and Cecily's birthday came at the climactic end of it.  When we woke up that morning, I tried several times to get going on that cake, but came to realize that I just couldn't do it, for once.  Lots of times, I just need to push through and do it even though I don't feel like I can, but this wasn't one of those times.  I took some time to think it over and I knew that even though I would feel disappointed, Cecily would not feel disappointed if we went and got doughnuts and yogurt and ate at the park.  So we did.  Does she look disappointed?  I'm thankful for such options on such days.  I had to remember the goal of a birthday celebration in the first place and get over my own ideals about how I wanted it to look.  It's the spirit of fun, enjoyment and celebration of the individual who is being recognized and thankfulness to God that matter.  That can be conveyed in so many different ways.  I'm thankful this year that the Lord helped me not be selfish and feel upset about the inability to make a coffeecake and have a homemade birthday breakfast for my girl, but rather to focus on a celebratory attitude for her sake and enjoy a good thing with her instead.  A slumped over, discouraged mama doesn't exactly speak, "This is about you and about thanking God for you and the good work he's doing in your life."

Thank you Lord for helping me not to do that this time and for forgiving me for the many times in the past where I couldn't resist the temptation.

 This was a beautiful morning to be outside, and a big treat and she was delighted. 

 We let the kids run off a little energy at the playground before we went home.  (Truth be told, we didn't go directly home, we ran to Target to get a gift, because none of my plan-ahead plans had worked out, including a gift.)

 Happy Birthday girl.

 Also thankfully, we had planned an easy dinner of turkey burgers and frozen fries.  Amelia and I did manage to get a birthday cake made in the afternoon, which you will see shortly.

 Time for gifts.  Lousy picture quality is due to being in the basement at night, with inadequate light.

 Nail polish!

 The bag had some snacks in it that the boys picked out for her.  She is holding some bunny cookies that they found.

 Her own wallet, from Grammy and Papa.

 Millie helped her check out all of the compartments and tell her what they were for.  ("This one's for your debit card....")

 We bought Cecily Spirograph (last minute) and she also got a Make A Plate from my parents.  Both of those gave her some new artistic things to work on.

 Amelia wrapped her stick horse up in a blanket and gave it to Cecily.  I let her because it was generous of her and I knew Cecily would love it.

 The Oreo Cake.

Something worthwhile to celebrate: God's gift of life to this girl.  She's really so easy to please and such a treasure to me.  Thank you Lord!

JoAnn's Halloween Utility Apron

My sister started a little crafting blog not too long ago to share projects that she is working on, mainly with crochet.  Tonight I saw that she posted some new pictures of a utility apron that she made to wear to work at the craft store she works at.  Everything she makes, she pretty well designs herself and I'm always so impressed.  I thought I'd put a link here so that you could check it out, if you want to see her handiwork.  Her birthday is October 30th, so she's always been a little attached to Halloween, which is part of the explanation for the effort she put into this themed apron.
Click the link below to see her post:
JoAnn's Halloween Utility Apron For Work

Baby Jones #9

I got a sweet surprise yesterday when the ultrasound technician gave me this picture of our new baby boy, kicking around inside of me.  I thought some of you might like to "see" him too.  I am in my 28th week, by the way.  That leaves less than 12 weeks until my due date.

Summer Evening Walk

You will know who took these pictures if you pay attention to who is not in them.  I picked out my favorites.  

There were many deer and fawns lying in the long grass in the meadow to the left in the picture above.  Some of them roused while we walked by.

A rare picture of myself.  I thought of you, JoAnn, when I posted this. 

One of the last summer outings of the year.

"Hi Grammie!"

It's time for cozy jammies again.  Elijah and I took this picture just to say a big hello to Grammie and to show her his new cozy jammies.  Love you, Grammie!

Samuel's 15th Birthday

Sam's 15th birthday was at the end of July.  Here's a few photos to catch you up.

Sam just wanted roast and potatoes for his dinner.  Oh, and homemade bread.  Homemade bread only makes it's appearance around here every so often, so it was a treat.

Peter picked up a couple of books for Sam.  If you haven't heard of this one, October Sky, you might have heard of the movie.  Sam really liked the film because it was about a West Virginia boy, Homer Hickam, from a small coal mining town who became a famous author as well as a NASA engineer and helped put West Virginia on the map.  

The second book, below, is hunting and fishing tales by famous outdoorsman, Zane Grey.

Sam's gift from us was a recurve bow, for hunting, that he has been wanting.

He was very pleased with it.

He's been practicing with it and he's hoping to at least shoot at a deer or turkey this fall.

Sure was fun to celebrate our oldest.  He's such a contributer and a blessing to our home.