Today, on this last day of August, we happily celebrate our triplets’ 10th birthdays.
JackMichael, Olivia Faith & Shane Jacob.
Ten years ago today, they doubled the size of our family, multiplied the love in our hearts, and became three of the greatest blessings we have ever known.
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.
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. ; )
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. : )
Oh, don’t feel bad for her. She ate several more pancakes, after her 14 was gone.
{JM} made this as a surprise at her place setting. And as usual, I was impressed.
{A} loved it too.
A few other surprises:
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.)
A couple of cool t-shirts she wanted.
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’.
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.
Finally wrapping up the 3 kiddo’s birthday posts here! But I had to share with you all the gorgeous scenery on our ferry ride home, from Oak Bluffs back to Falmouth. It was dusk, and it couldn’t have been more beautiful.
We did get to the ferry stop in plenty of time, and made me realize I probably could have chewed my Fettuccine Alfredo a little better, after all. But we just didn’t know how long it would take us to get back by foot. So a chew or 2, and then letting it just slide down, is pretty much what I did.
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Waiting for the ferry. They were so tired, but still smiling!
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The ferry pulling in. Time to head home from a beautiful day on Martha’s Vineyard.
My handsome boys…
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My beautiful girls…
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<:swoon:>
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I love my kids. <sigh>
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Pulling into Falmouth port, after 45 minutes of being awestruck by God’s beautiful paintings in the sky.
I couldn’t get a good shot, but we all noticed a boat named “Bonaventure”. That’s the name of our church! We wondered what the story was behind the name of the boat. Was it too, named after the saint? Did the owner belong to our parish?
Michael letters tons of boats, every spring, and the names are always interesting. There’s a post right there! Funny stuff sometimes.
And still smiling. But trust me, they were dragging, and so were we.
On the way home, the kids said it was their best birthday ever. But they say that every year, and it hasn’t always taken much! I’m glad they are always so happy though.
Thanks so much, for sharing in our celebrations of the kids birthdays! It’s a lot with the 2 dates so close to each other, and a 3 in 1! We’ll be moving on to other things now, in many sections of the blog here, and really great stuff, so stick around! And if you haven’t visited the Home page, I strongly suggest you do. ; )
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:
Her birthday breakfast, which had a special twist this year….
….instead of the birthday number pancakes, Daddy made……
….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.
It’s just a 16′ wide cheap one, with the inflatable ring. But you know, it doesn’t take much to thrill us!
Bomb Pops!
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“Word to the mother”. Literally. He was talking to me. lol ; )
Summertime smiles.
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The birthday girls dinner request: Sausage with peppers, onions and cheese, on a roll.
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.
_
Grandma sent this birthday gift in the mail. A pewter heart locket, with her initial on it. She loves it.
I was coming out of my skin, waiting for her to open her gift from us!
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.
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.
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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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.
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.
We hope you had a lovely Mother’s Day too!
Please share with us a little about your special day!
Edited to Add: It occurred to me, that not all husbands /children/families, may be thoughtful on such days as these. Not every family does things the same way, either. So with that being said, I would just like to say that I hope & pray every one of you mothers felt the love and honor from your loved ones, on this Mother’s Day. If your day was less than you hoped, know that you truly are worthy of all you wished it was, in your heart.