birthday party pictures

Here's my mom with Dan and Alicia's baby.

And some guys up in the room.

A long time ago, we used to do kid birthday parties, but after a while they just became difficult. The kids didn't know that many other kids, so when they were inviting only two or three people, it became pretty elaborate trying to find a day that would work for everyone.

So we just have family parties now, and they can invite their friends to those.  It works.

Here the little girl is being amused upstairs.  Heidi is sprawled out across the stairway for safety.

On the other side of the world and a couple floors away, we had this going on:

Oh, the dogs--these two are the right puppy age to wrassle and carry on.

Time for cake.

Yay, James!

Another year older, Jimmy, and I hope fifteen is a great year.  Happy Birthday again!  love you so, Mom

james

 There he is--first Christmas 1997.

 He used to be so little, and soooo cute.  Oh gosh, the girls and I doted on him terribly.  But we had to--he was so funny and adorable, a tiny little guy with the most fabulous gopher cheeks.

Jimmy, Jimmy.

One day the kids were painting in the dining room and I wanted to take his picture. He snarled at me and then snatched his paintbrush and smeared black all over his paper.

I recoiled and asked Kirsten, "What's wrong with him?"

She paused, and then said, "Well.  He has these little spells of badness."

Spells of badness.

I laughed. Probably we've all got those.

I've never really seen much badness in you, James.   You're nothing but patient and generous and kind.

Or maybe you just have a good act.

Nah, I don't think it's acting.  It's you.

Awww, here's one of you shorter than Kirsten.  That's been a while ago.

James, for all these fifteen years you have brought Dad and me nothing but happiness.   Thanks for being our kid.

And Happy Birthday, Jimmy.   You make the whole family better, and that's the truth.  love you forever, Mom and Dad

she's one!

 Heidi took the day off today to spend her birthday with her.

They came for lunch, and my mom did, and Jay made sure he was here for lunch too.

 Heidi baked a cake.

 What a sweet day.

And this little child, Grandma's Girl, is just a gift.  Sweet darling, this whole family didn't even know what we were missing until YOU arrived.    Thanks for being our girl.    We love you so,  Grandma and Grandpa and everybody

a blanky day

Every now and then I get in the mood for this.

It started this weekend, doggedly shopping for fabric.

Hmm. I should have taken the pictures against a plain background.  The bedspread isn't really working here.

I love this. The panel is pre-made. It was a little expensive, like $18, just for the panel, but gosh I couldn't do that--and for less than $20?  Never.

And this one--I climbed over the lego table and perched in the closet, looking at all the bins of scraps.  There are about five big totes of scraps--the scraps from other blankets sewn in the past.

I did this once before when Tim was a baby, and all I remembered was that it required 81 squares and it sewed up fast.  I don't care if the corners all meet exactly right or things end up a bit crooked. This is not precision work like the handmade bedspread underneath it.

This is to be dragged around and spit up on.

Anyway, I was pleased. It's a fine use of scraps and the kids were very interested in seeing this take shape, me chopping out squares in the kitchen and sewing the strips together.

They asked if they could choose fabric from the bins to create some blanky tops.

Sure.

And while I was doing this?   There was a screaming incident that kind of hurt my throat.

While I was sewing in the dining room, out in the family room, suddenly lamps went flying!!  Lamps!!  My lamps!  Why do they always break my lamps?   AAAAGGGHHH!

Why do all my lamps gotta be bent and busted? You little jerks.

(Okay, that's how the rant started out.)

Tim was throwing couch pillows at Julia and she missed and it hit the lamps and I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Bullshit!  You do not EVER THROW THINGS IN THE HOUSE NO MATTER WHAT!"  Good LOR-ed.

The lamps?  They were unbroken and unbent.   We needed one new light bulb, but that was all.

Sigh.  What's wrong with me, 30 years into this, still raising my voice, lamps still airborne?

Obviously yelling hasn't done any good.

I missed the boat somewhere.

Onward to Wednesday, and a fine Tuesday it was, up until my lamps were in peril.

Tim?  Regardless of the lamps, I love you.   Just please do not break my lamps or trust Julia to catch anything near lamps.    love, Mom

a guy turns six

These are pictures of him from back in the day.

Yeah, he pretty much changed everything.   We'd never been grandparents before.

True, John and Dannell had never been parents before either.

And whole ton of people became aunts and uncles, and all our parents became great grandparents.

We love it.   And we love YOU: energetic, scrappy, crazy, observant, opinionated, sweet and funny, wonderful YOU.

This whole family is better because of you, and we could not love you more.  Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.  love Grandma and Grandpa and everybody