Thursday, March 31, 2016

24 years of jay

It's your birthday in just a few hours, born at 1 am on April 1.    The night you were born I had locked myself in the bathroom, feeling a bit miserable, and Dad came tapping on the door around 11 pm.  I cracked the door open, "What do you want?"

He said, "Are you about to have the baby?"

"I doubt it."

"No?  Well, if you could hold off ONE MORE HOUR, it'd be an April Fool's Baby."

Okay, great. Good to know.

Good grief.

 So there you were, bright and early, April 1st.  You can see we wrapped you in blankets and carried you around.  I held you in my arms until you became a big, opinionated baby we plopped in a stroller, and moved you around through the house with our activities.


We have actual video of Kirsten hula-hooping and the hula hoop bonking you in your bald, stroller head.

When John and I were at the grocery store one evening, and you were parked in the cart, striped tassel hat on your head, print corduroy coat, and corduroy booties tied on your feet, big fat red cheeks, Mr. Adorable, a neighbor approached us and said, "Oh my God!  You had ANOTHER one!" and went on a bit about how crazy were were before we all moved on.

John growled, "She didn't even say hi to Jay."

Well, a kid in this family would have the good sense to greet the baby personally.  As a person. Not everyone does.

While we were baking Christmas cookies later that year,  as you sat in the stroller BITCHING, we contemplated pushing your stroller out to the curb with a sign, "Cute baby, Cheap."  But no, we persevered, and you outgrew your grumpy days and became a truly spectacular guy.

(Later that summer at Green Lake, with my mom and Kirby, nice and bald.)

These are from only a couple years ago, Easter breakfast:

 College graduation with my parents, though you've grown quite a lot taller than my mother than in the previous photo:

 All those same buddies:

One from this winter:

Sweet, sweet Beautiful Jay?

A while back I told Dad I kind of felt like I didn't even deserve you, an extraordinary kid so nice I felt just kind of grateful to be your mom.

He was half paying attention to me, like he usually is, distracted.  He said, "I don't know why you'd say that. He's like the male version of  YOU."

"What?"  I felt stunned and a little flattered and confused.

He said, "Yeah, he's half blind and can't take the cold..."

Okay, then.  Probably you should stop there then, anyways... as I was saying.

It's been nothing but a privilege being your mom these past 24 years, and Dad agrees.

You've brought us so much happiness, have been a gift to this whole family.

We're all lucky having you as ours, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grandmas and grandpas too.

Happy Birthday, and love forever, MOM and DAD and EVERYBODY


Monday, March 28, 2016

easter pinata

 Last year the pinata was a cupcake suspended by the top, with a ton of heavy candy in it and one weak seal around the top.

Two whacks, it was done.



 Not this one. This little pirate ship was a tank.












  Woo Hoo! Candy!

 They accidentally had the same dress.  Alicia saw this and at first wondered why she and her little girl had been left out???   Nah.  Target purchases, no plan.




Pam and Paul, thank you again for hosting such a spectacular Easter party.

all the love of all of us always, love, Val and Jay and Everybody

more easter

Easter is Pam's holiday, so we all headed there.  See her plants sprouting?

O.M.G.  And my kids always react to a trip to Pam's like you'd imagine a person would to a trip to Disney. They shriek, jump in the air, go nuts.  It's bizarre, and they're also very sad her trampoline wore out and had to go to trampoline heaven.

 This is what they referred to as the "Easter hunt."






 Break away Baby.  This is the thing, see?  They want to climb the stairs, and this one actually can make her way back down again without killing herself.   But once they get upstairs, then they want to go on the roof. Babies are all about pushing the boundaries of the possible.



Can't hardly believe I just said that. (Why do we stop doing that, anyway?)

Crazy human nature.
Bold, single-minded babies.



love, MOM aka GRANDMA, aka Val

easter egg hunt at church



 The excited people all gathered in the doorway.












And then we went back inside for church.  The music was gorgeous, and in spite of the gloomy day, it was warm and festive inside.

love, Val