Tabitha turns 6

Happy New Year...to Tabitha! Our New Year's Eve baby just turned 6. Our head-strong little peanut chose a Hello Kitty party with our friends Anna & Maia Loeb in attendance. Aunt Linna was in town visiting for the holidays so she got to celebrate with us too! Tabitha usually scowls at having her picture taken yet when she opened her birthday presents yesterday, she wanted to pose with every single present. It was very interesting to observe, though I will spare you the string of photos. I've included a few so that you can catch a glimpse of Noah's amazing carving abilities (once again) of Hello Kitty's head in 3-D. Coconut cake was Tabitha's pick and it worked perfectly in this application. We played pin the parts on Hello Kitty face and made some sculptures as well. Fun times were had by all. Happy Birthday to our darling Tabitha!

Happy Halloween

I love autumn. I love the cool, crisp weather. I love the colors of the leaves on the trees as they change. I love the pumpkins and apples. I also love Halloween costumes. This year I told the kids I would not spend the whole month of October sewing, and I also told them that I would not spend any money. So, we found two witch hats at a yard sale for less than 25 cents each. I combed the thrift store for black things to turn into witch dresses. Along with some donations from my friend Penny's dress-up stash, I turned out some cute things for the girls to wear. Abel originally decided on dracula, so I made him a red vest from a jacket found at the thrift store. A cape was made from fabric in my stash. He decided a week before Halloween to be a Ranger instead (from the books he has been reading, The Ranger's Apprentice) so Noah helped him make a bow and the red vest did not get used until second trick-or-treat night (we trick-or-treat in town on the Friday before Halloween at the businesses downtown and then go to a few houses we know on Halloween night). I did not take pictures of Abel as dracula, only as a Ranger (confusing, I know, but he was dracula the second time). Jonah wanted to be Batman. I used a pattern that Linna picked up for me at JoAnn's during a pattern sale and used fabric from my stash to craft his outfit. I got to do some sewing but it did not take me all month.


Dean's, Athearn's, Matis'


Abel, Ranger


Phebe, Witch


Tabitha, Witch



Jonah, Batman

Phebe had a birthday

Among other things that happened while we were on vacation this summer, our Phebe turned 7 years old! We got to celebrate her birthday while vacationing with the Dean's at Edisto Island, SC. In honor of this oceanside event, Phebe chose a sea turtle cake. As always, Noah did a fabulous job carving the cake. Before you know it, we will be in the cake carving business.

It finally happened...

Jonah has grown taller than Tabitha. We knew it would happen eventually, but honestly I thought it would be after they were both in school. Jonah has had a growth spurt the last few months, and Tabitha has not, so he is now taller than his big sister. It is possible that she will grow again this year and reclaim her position, but then again, she may always be the little peanut from now on. Only time will tell.

The Early Bedtime

Our kids normally go to bed at 7:00 p.m. Once upon a time, bedtime was 8:00 p.m., then 7:30 p.m., and now it is 7:00 p.m. They have to get up at 6:15 a.m. to get ready to go to the bus (we walk out the door at 6:45 a.m.). They mostly seem to get enough sleep. 7:00 p.m. is about the earliest that we can get them to bed. We have dinner at 5:30 p.m. on most nights, which just barely allows enough time for dinner and the rounds in and out of the bathroom for the four kids to get ready for bed. Phebe lately has been asking if we can put them to bed earlier because she is tired when the alarm clock goes off. I told her that it is nearly impossible for them to get to bed earlier. Well, tonight was supposed to be a "late" dinner night (6:00 p.m.) to allow Noah to clean up after Physics lab, which ends at 5:00 p.m. Dinners in our house have always been family meals, scheduled for when Dad can get home from work, and still allow the kids to get in bed on time. So today when it was 3:45 p.m. and the kids were asking when dinner would be done (and in my head I am thinking, "not for 2 hours!"), the thought occurred that I could feed them early without Dad, and then they could have their desire to go to bed early. So I responded to their dinner inquiry "Well, I could feed you early tonight and then you could go to bed early." Their response was unbelievable: "YES! We get to go to bed early!!!" Truly, unbelievable, I know. So they ate dinner tonight before Noah got home (fortunately it was chicken pot pie tonight and it was already put together to go in the oven when their tummies were asking at 3:45 p.m.). They were ready for bed by 6:00 p.m., and reading quietly until Noah could read stories at 6:30 p.m. They got their wish for early bedtime, Noah and I had quiet dinner together. It's a little too tempting to try again, though I do place great value on dinner together as a family. What would you do?

April Fools Day

This has been the longest winter. Ever. Not only did we survive the coldest, snowiest winter in centuries (maybe exaggerating, maybe not), but we did it with only one car. A Civic for this family of six. And Noah is on a five credit overload. Noah works, and eats, and works some more. Sometimes he gets to sleep. No work is being done on the house, but we know that summer is coming. Thinking warm, happy, futuristic thoughts is getting us through. Well, the most recent blessed ray of sunshine came in the form of a vehicle purchase. We waited until our tax return came through to replace the family vehicle. We shopped online for a used southern minivan that would not already be rusted out from years of salt exposure on Maine winter roads. We found one in Atlanta where Noah's dad was able to inspect and approve our purchase. And to get it home? Well, Mindy got to go on a solo road trip to retrieve the vehicle during Noah's spring break. The idea was that Dad could work from home while Mom was driving home & visiting family. Well, Dad quickly realized that it would be hard to manage the fort AND work, so he enjoyed his time being Dad. And the kids enjoyed it too. Meanwhile, Mindy got to visit the in-laws, siblings, Nana, MomMom, and Aunt Linna & Aunt Marjee along the drive home. And she returned just in time to be reminded, again, that even though it was spring break, we are not clear of winter until June. She returned home March 31, and here was our April Fools Day present from Mother Nature.


The Sedona from Georgia experiencing its first Maine snow....thinking to itself what went wrong!



The kids enjoying their first family ride in the minivan


Bill and Jodi


Kevin


Mindy, Kristen, Mom, Robyn


Mindy & MomMom

Abel turned 8 years old....

Abel had his "golden" birthday this year. He turned 8 years old on the 8th of February. In our house, the kids can have "friends invited" parties starting at age 6, and only on the even years. This keeps things manageable for Mom, and keeps those "friends over" parties very special. This year Abel chose a small party at home with two guests. He wanted the party to happen on his actual birthday, even though it was a school day, so that affected the planning. Everything was set to transpire on the big day when Abel woke up with a fever. Oh No! He had come down with the flu. And in a family of 6, it is no small task to reschedule a party when you have to plan for everyone else to get sick. He missed 4 days of school, but was finally able to have his party on the 13th. Abel is a huge fan of Greek mythology so he chose a mythologically themed party. His birthday cake was from the story of the Golden Fleece (Jason & the Argonauts) where Jason is sowing the field with dragon's teeth that spawn warriors. We had a reading of the story before devouring the cake. The kids also assembled lego kits of herculean swords (which Abel and Noah had put together ahead of time). And we invented a labyrinth game to try to kill the minotaur. The play pieces were hand-painted by the kids at the beginning of the party. We all had a great time and it was fun to plan and celebrate Abel on his special day. Abel is a happy kid who loves to laugh, read, and is looking forward to warm weather to be able to ride his bike again. Happy Birthday Abel!

Cake depicting Jason (from the Golden Fleece) sowing dragon's teeth in the field with warriors emerging:




Lego kits of Herculean swords:




Labyrinth game: