Grace and Juliet turn 9!!!

This was the first time the twins had the opportunity to celebrate their birthday at school with their friends and so we didn't really know what to do!  Since their birthday was on a Sunday, should one of them bring treats on Friday and one on Monday? If they split it up, who got to go first? Did they want to do it together?

Ultimately, we decided on a joint endeavor, the Friday before their birthday.  But, we made enough cupcakes that they could each give one to each of their classmates!

I happened to be working that day, so I was able to watch them as they proudly gave some of the extra special ones to some of their favorite staff members (like their kindergarten teacher!) and yours truly also got a special delivery. = )

Saturday night, I took one final picture of my babies as 8 year olds!

Sunday morning everyone woke up ready for Easter and birthday cake for breakfast and ready for all of the excitement of the day!  This was the first time that their birthday had fallen on Easter, so I wasn't sure how exactly it would play out, but I think they felt special, despite the day being a shared one!

We had to wait a few weekends before we could celebrate with a party, but I think they enjoyed their special day!!

later days

you can check out pictures from their party here.  And Grace's answer to her birthday survey here.  And Juliet's answers here. Or see pictures from last year's birthday here.

edit: written 6-17-23 backdated for continuity.

Easter 2023

Last year, during the week leading up to Easter, Emily found an egg, and was so enamored with it, that I added a reminder into my phone to pass along the fun this year!  So, starting a few days before Easter, we filled 5 "finders keepers" eggs with $1 each.  On the outside, we wrote "Finders Keepers" then we hid them in very conspicuous places for people to find!  

It was something the little ones really enjoyed doing, but Alice and Emily are at an age, they didn't want to hide theirs at school, so I 'hid' them during my errands.

Easter and the twins' birthday were the same day this year, so we did a lot of celebrating on Sunday!

The girls' dresses were huge (wide) on every single one of them, and Alice's was so short, she wore it as a shirt!  Usually, when I look at the dresses, Alice's is easy to spot, because it's so long, but apparently the dressmakers only used width as a measure of growth. = (  I bought some clips to help them look a little more fitted, but there wasn't anything that I could do for Alice's length.  I did love the colors though!!!

Alice and Emily have aged out of our local egg hunt, but luckily for them, we still have one in our backyard!  (Alice's lack of hustle is why older kids don't get to hunt for eggs; it's not nearly as much fun to watch!)

Our top three speedy egg finders!

Our not as speedy egg finders. 

This will be William's final year for the community egg hunt.  The twins get to have one more!

Grace was one of the lucky ones to win a 'big' prize! It was one of the grocery store baskets that we all wanted when we were kids.  She was slightly disappointed about the goodies to size ratio, but it was a good lesson and she enjoyed the goodies within!

We came home and enjoyed a pleasant Easter meal and reflected upon the reason for the season, and as with every year, I am so thankful for the sacrifice.

At the end of the day (full of so many celebrations!) toothbrushes were finally removed from the table during toothbrushing time.  When I walked into the bathroom, everyone had claimed their toothbrush, except for William.  I laughed so hard when I saw that Alice had claimed William's leaving him with...

...the pink Belle toothbrush!  Siblings are just the worst!  lol.

Luckily, he had some stickers that the Helterbrands had printed off for him this summer, so Belle was covered up by Fred (from Scooby-Doo.)  And in October, he'll get a new one for Halloween.  = )

later days

edit: written 6-15-23 backdated for continuity. 

Crafts

The last month has offered some exciting opportunities for crafts, and Emily's birthday has its own post, because those were not individual projects, as she is a willing helper. I also cut hearts out of coke boxes for over a month, in preparation of Valentine's Day, but it was a bittersweet day to be sure.  I've included the picture here too, because the other post is a work of emotion and reflection, which I may not feel up to revisiting each time I want to recall a very sweet Valentine's Day memory.

Around the time of a snow event, my mom asked if the big girls would be willing to make a homemade baked good for the church's bake sale at the chili dinner. With the snowy roads, I declined, but as the roads cleared had a change of heart, and made the baclava, for which, I already had the ingredients on hand.  I delivered it to the church, along with some cookies that Sarah made (since I was stopping by her house en route.)  My mom sent me a follow up report, telling me that it was gone quickly, and the bake sale was a success.

The three rounds of snow days gave me the time opportunity to get started on, and ultimately finish end of year teacher gifts for the little ones' teachers.  I don't think I have the persistence to make the 14ish bags that I would need for the big girls' teachers, so I'll have to come up with a different gift for them.

I considered making two bags for the twins' teacher, but ultimately decided that she probably did not need two bags (if she even needs one) and put their handwriting on either side of a single bag.

The t-shirt that I cut up to use for William's teacher was a very slippery material, and my machine did not care for it. It took many failed attempts, and finally an iron on fleece to stabilize it enough to make it useable.  (Also, I hope he never sets it near something hot, because the iron brought out a faint smell of cigarette smoke, which was not present at room temperature.)  And, it wasn't until ironing out the embroidery hoop on the twins' teacher's fabric that I realized it would melt and shrink under a hot iron (I guess the iron had been 'heating' on previous presses.)  So, I ended up trimming it a bit before sewing, and it looks okay in its finished form.

Despite all the setbacks and periods of ripping out failed stitches, I managed to finish!  Surprisingly, this is not even the earliest I've ever finished end of year bags, but it feels good to have this project finished!

Emily and her bag were home long enough that I was able to repair the handle cover on her strap.  Sadly, with the repair, the hook could no longer fit through, and so I had to cut apart the strap itself and then reattach the hardware (twice, because the strap ran through the cover twice on the pass over.) = 6

When the girls' Easter dresses arrived (I shopped around Christmas time) I made William a matching bowtie.  I love the colors of their dresses!!!

I'm glad I waited until the dresses arrived, because the pictures made me think that the dresses were much darker in color than they turned out to be.

I'm thankful for the gift of time.  The hours of dropping off and picking up the children never sounds like much, but it might just be enough to get in one extra craft.  = )

later days

Easter 2022

Easter was in the middle of April this year.  It was cooler than last year, and the girls were for sure a little chilly without sleeves, but I had to show off their adorable dresses!!

Everyone except for Alice was game for some pictures.

She did participate in a silly picture though.

Easter buckets with toothbrushes, a little candy and some sort of popper toy.  Thanks to Enisi and Edudi, there was also a roblox card in there. ; )

The two big girls have aged out of the egg hunt at the park, so it was just me and the three little ones this year.  William has one more year, and the twins have a couple.

It was a fun day.  We had a nice meal as a family, and boxed up some leftovers to bring over to Sarah. 

Thankful for such as wonderful reason to celebrate:  He is Risen!

later days

Easter 2021

Easter Buckets were on the table ready to go, the night before:

We "attended" Easter service online.  The pastor was feeling unwell, so the message for everyone was delivered virtually. = /

After service everyone donned their holiday clothing, while Daddy hid the Easter Eggs.  Emily skipped breakfast and was not in the best of dispositions when it was time to hunt eggs.  Alice had a little bit of the 'tween' attitude, but candy goes a long way when it comes to participating in "little kid" activities.

Grace was hunting for purple eggs.

Juliet was looking for orange.

William was hunting for Blue.

Emily cried and moped about as she looked unsuccessfully for greens.  Once the others finished, they helped her track down her missing ones.

Alice was on yellow.  She could not find her final egg!  It turns out that Juliet had accidentally (but understandably) claimed it.  It was a translucent yellow egg with an orange recees inside, making it look orange. We figured it out when Juliet finished and had an extra.

When Avia came over, she took some family shots for us.

Alice didn't want to participate in our bunny pose, so we all helped giver her bunny ears.

Then, everyone gave me big hugs.  I fussed a bit, and seven was not happy that I'd made a distress noise and tried to "rescue" me.

We enjoyed a lovely ham meal, and then Billy and I headed out to enjoy a date. 

Once Emily had some food in her belly, and was back to her normal self, we headed back outside to take a few "make up" pictures in the evening.  They came out so much better!

The weather could not have been more beautiful.  It was a good reminder of the joy that comes with Jesus' resurrection. 

later days