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{A} is 14 / A Belated Birthday Photo Post

July 31, 2011 By Laura 10 Comments

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July always seems to get away from me!  I am having deja-vu, about blogging our oldest daughter’s birthday last year, quite after the facts.  But, it’s alright really, because these types of family-related blog posts I generally just put together for the sake of our own recorded family history, and if anyone else is interested, so be it.  So in brief, here is a glimpse into our day celebrating our oldest child’s birthday.

Her birthday is the 5th, and with the 4th making for a long weekend this year, we had an extra-extra long weekend.  All of the typical 4th of July celebrations & activities, and then her birthday too.

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Our family’s tradition is to take birthdays as a family day, free of work or schooling. But one of {A}’s  wishes for her day this year, was to go to work with her Dad, at his morning part-time job at a local church.  He truly enjoys his work there, and the setting is in a real wooded area, making for lots of wild critter stories to tell, when he comes home. So naturally, that is very appealing to her as well, if you know her. ; )

 

004_birthday_pancakes  When they got home around noon, I had ready or usual birthday morning tradition: birthday number pancakes. That is usually Michael’s specialty, but since he was not home, I managed.  Did you notice the flower and butterfly, made of butter? And the “bee-line’ from the flower to the butterfly, with syrup. : )

 

005 Oh, don’t feel bad for her.  She ate several more pancakes, after her 14 was gone.

 

006 {JM} made this as a surprise at her place setting. And as usual, I was impressed.

{A} loved it too.

A few other surprises:

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Football cards, from {JM, O and S}.  They were pretty excited to have gotten these for her with their own money, because she collects them. (Along with other collections she has going.)

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010_homeskoolie-t-shirts 011-homeskoolie-t-shirts

A couple of cool t-shirts she wanted.

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A package from Grandma. She got a purse, a cool pendant, and a gift card to Michael’s Arts & Crafts.  We also got her a gift card, to Borders Bookstore.  There are a slew of books there she wants badly, and ‘to keep’.

 

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As a family activity, she wanted to go to the movies, to see Mr. Popper’s Penguin’s, with Jim Carey.  It was a welcome idea, with the extreme heat and humidity that day! Now, I’m really particular as a parent, as to what movies/television my kids see, but after looking into it, I decided this movie would be fine, and it was.  It was more than fine. (However, I was really glad with the decision, to keep them out of the theatreer until the previews were over!  That’s another story.).  But I have to say, this movie we saw was excellent. We all really, really enjoyed it.

Tacos was her dinner of choice, and then, before it got too dark out, we released our 5 butterflies we hatched.

Then of course, we sang, and had cake.

{A} has had a busier summer than she has ever had, with a temporary summer job, teaching 4th grade CCD for a couple of weeks, sports clinics to gear up for another year of sports (now high school), some schooling on the side, prepping for another new school year ahead, and just some sheer fun & relaxation hanging out with friends. We were happy to take this family day, to celebrate her and her life, and give thanks to God for the blessing she is.

Thanks for coming by.



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Filed Under: Celebrations, Faith/ Catholic, The Big Picture, Traditions Tagged With: birthday breakfast, birthdays, Catholic-blog, Catholic-families, celebrations, family, triplets

{A}’s 13th Birthday | 4th of July Weekend 2010 | Part III

July 20, 2010 By Laura 11 Comments

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By the time {A}’s birthday came, which was following the later part of the long 4th of July weekend, we were on a partying roll.   Per tradition in our family, the birthday person gets to choose what they’d like to do as a family, within reason.  {A} had a special wish indeed this year, but it needed to wait until the following day.  THAT exciting event, ultimately with a couple surprises in store for us, will be the next post in this section.  (You don’t want to miss it!) So meanwhile, we spent her actual birthday at home hanging out most of the day, which was very relaxing and enjoyable.

{A} is officially our first teenager!  Despite all of the warnings about parenting and the teen years, I don’t expect much to change any time soon.

Here’s a peek at her day:

01_birthday-breakfast Her birthday breakfast, which had a special twist this year….

….instead of the birthday number pancakes, Daddy made……

02_birthday-breakfast-idea ….a birthday number omelet!!

Yes, we are waiting for him to stop outdoing himself, too.

We were all excited to swim in our new pool!  LOL.

03_ It’s just a 16′ wide cheap one, with the inflatable ring.  But you know, it doesn’t take much to thrill us!

04_popsicles-summer-time Bomb Pops!
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05_michael “Word to the mother”.   Literally.  He was talking to me.   lol  ; )

06_triplets Summertime smiles.
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The birthday girls dinner request:  Sausage with peppers, onions and cheese, on a roll.

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Instead of birthday cards, the triplets wrote {A} love letters.  <sniff>  Among the sweet things they expressed, they told her how happy they are to have her as their big sister, why, and how much they love her.    She really does have a unique and special relationship, with each of them.
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09_anecklacecollage Grandma sent this birthday gift in the mail.  A pewter heart locket, with her initial on it.  She loves it.

10_gift I was coming out of my skin, waiting for her to open her gift from us!

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Yeah Baby!!  A sweet camera!   You know me….I researched this to death!  It’s a Canon PowerShot G11. As a girl who shoots an SLR on full manual mode all of the time, it was an education for me, shopping for a point and shoot!  But I found a beautiful one, that has features even I can be happy with!  See….our gifts are not usually this big in expense.  But, while this camera is pretty much hers, it’ll be the family camera for our little excursions, etc, when I don’t want to be lugging around all of my equipment, but know I’ll want to get photos.  Still, I’m very excited for her to have her own camera, and she has really been enjoying it ever since!  It was a great idea for her right now.   She is using it for all kinds of projects of her own.

14_aandcakecollage She wanted a Carvel ice cream cake, for her birthday this year.  How unusual for our baker!  But, her wish was our command.  So, we found one for her.

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It was not peanut-safe, so {S} had to have an ice cream sandwich instead.  Poor kid.  He looks so upset, doesn’t he?  ; )
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16_ Michael and I couldn’t stop looking at our birthday girl that day.  She looked so……13.  I had ongoing flashbacks of her birth, as I always do on my kids’ birthdays.  Those memories always make these days all the more sentimental.  I don’t quite know why I always do that to myself.   I am so happy to look at how beautiful they are turning out (inside, and out).  And yet I miss my babies and I want them back!!  It’s a bitter-sweet tailspin of turmoil, I throw myself into.

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When {A} was a baby, a lady we did not know at Mass, told us she had ‘such a sunny disposition‘.   I never really forgot that.  Mostly because her demeanor reminds me of it every day.  She just has a light and happiness about her, that we really love.  Except maybe first thing in the morning.  And an occasional day.  She can be on the grumpy side, then. Anyway, we just love her, and couldn’t feel more blessed, with all she brings to our family.  Except maybe first thing in the morning.  And the occasional day.  O.k., maybe even then.

After our relaxing, eating, celebrating, staring, birth-remembering and crying, we all went out bowling for a couple of games.    : )  Then we went home, and had an early night.  We had a BIG day the next day, which was a birthday event {A} will never forget.

Stay tuned for Part IV, when we tell you all about it.

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Filed Under: Celebrations, The Big Picture Tagged With: birthday, birthday breakfast, birthday-omelet, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, celebrations, life, traditions, triplets

Happy 7th Birthday to Our Triplets!!

August 31, 2009 By Laura 12 Comments

7 years ago today, our triplets were born.  OH!, what memories!

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Of course, they got birthday pancakes. Yes, 7-7-7.   The lucky number.

But LUCK has NOTHIN’ to do with it!

Stay tuned in the days ahead, for more on the celebrations of each one of these 3!

~ The Richard Family

XOXO

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Filed Under: Celebrations, The Big Picture Tagged With: 7-year-old-triplets, birthday breakfast, birthday pancakes, triplets

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