My birthday

One day after Sara turned 8 months old, I turned 36.  Years.

I have such great kids.  They made it a really special birthday for me.

Mary made me a multi-media picture of us, complete with string, hole punches, and staples.  Adorable!  (That girl is turning into a crafting/art project maniac.)  And she put it in a special envelope!  I love that David and Mary can do art projects completely on their own!  (It makes them way more meaningful.)

David wrote me a chant about me being great and awesome and loved.  He attached a page of 3-D pictures he had drawn.  Very cool.  Love that kid.

David posed for the picture of my "big gift"--a Bose speaker I can stream NPR (and other necessary things like The Nutcracker) onto from my phone.

(You notice my sweet dream baby in the back ground?)

I got lots of birthday cuddles with my kids.  The following is a series of pictures entitled "The Strand of Hair."

To celebrate my birthday, I got not one, but TWO, super fancy cakes.

We shared the cakes with my niece and nephews.  What a great birthday!

And the very best part was my three amazing children.  I love each of them more deeply every day.

Chicago

On our way to Ohio from Wisconsin, back when we closed on our house in July, we stopped in Chicago.

We visited the Hancock Tower.  (We'd been there before.  But it was a long time ago, so David and especially Mary did not remember.)  It's pretty neat feeling like you're on top of the world.

We have also been to the Willis-formerly-known-as-Sear Tower.  It's taller, as you probably know, and the Skydeck is pretty cool.  But you can't beat the location of the Hancock Tower--right next door to the Lego and the American Girl stores!

The next morning we visited the Field Museum.  (Pictures are M.I.A.)  We said hi to Sue the T-Rex and visited a number of the exhibits.  David and Mary especially enjoyed the precious gems on display.  We have been dragging them to museums for years (mostly for our sanity than for their enjoyment), but now David and Mary are getting old enough to really "get" museums.  It's great.

After the Field, we climbed back into our cars and drove to Cincinnati to begin a new chapter.

Wisconsin summer odds and ends

I found a file of pictures from the summer on Greg's computer.  (I've been so scattered lately, I never know what I might stumble upon!)

Today it is gray and snowy and mushy outside.  It is also Ohio outside.  Perhaps this isn't a bad opportunity to look back at some odds and ends from our last month in Wisconsin.  It was summertime.  And it was Wisconsin.

Sara at age six months

Nothing like a sweet little baby wrapped in a towel.  (Oh Sara and her sensitive skin.)

Karate America Kick-a-Thon

David really enjoyed karate over the summer.  

The last event he participated in was the Kick-a-Thon for the Ronald McDonald House.  They collect pledges and then kick as many times as possible in one minute.  They kick with a partner using X-ray paper to see, hear, and feel the kicks (so they can be easily counted by the partner).

David kicked so hard that he broke the X-ray paper!

Mr. C teases David about the broken X-ray paper.

 It was a fun, short, and meaningful event.

Mr. C is awesome.  He was great with David.

David and Mr. C

Congratulations to David for his 23 kicks!!

Hooray for David's 23 kicks!

Where Sara spent half of her babyhood

These pictures were taken when Sara was six months old.  But they could have been taken any time in the last eleven and a half months.  This is where Sara likes to be.

First Friend

Sara's baby buddy was Quentin.   He is two months older than Sara.  David, Mary, and I fell in love with him before Sara was born.  And then Sara was born and she fell in love with him too!

I miss Quentin, and I miss his mommy, Hillary.  Sniff, sniff.  Actually, more like weep, weep.

Sara was about six months, and Quentin was about eight months, when these were taken.

  Look at these two sweeties!  Oh Sara and Baby Q, may you meet again.

So many people we miss ... 

Good-bye party

One of David's sweet friends (and fellow lover of Lego and Minecraft) is Isaac.  His awesome mom Sarah got some of David's school buddies together to throw a little going away party for David!  It was darling! 

 Ohio-themed games, fun prizes, water games, thoughtful and super cute decorations, and even disposable cameras!  (The boys didn't even know what to think about the cameras--they couldn't understand the concept of film.  So funny.)

And in an amazing and happy twist of fate, David found out just days before the party that his best friend Bailey would be moving to Ohio too!  How crazy is that??  So the boys go to celebrate together at a joint party. 

The party was the day before we left, so it was perfect timing.  Something fun to look forward to that last day and an opportunity for some closure.

David loved the chance to run around (literally) with his friends.

David misses Isaac.  (Isaac is an AMAZING builder!)

And I miss Isaac's mom.  I met Sarah on the playground after school when David was in kindergarten.  You know how there are some people you see and you know you want to know them because there is just something in their countenance and you can see their goodness?  That was Sarah.  She is fun, hard-working, thoughtful, warm, down-to-earth, and kind.  She's one of those people who is so easy and fun to talk to.  And her dedication to serving others--at school, her church, friends, family--is inspiring.  I especially respect and admire her commitment to supporting the school.  (It's fair to say she is definitely one of the pillars of the school community!)  I am so grateful she had this little party for David and Bailey.  (She even made a photobook with the pictures the boys took.  David treasures it!)

Yep.  So many good people we miss.

Another Good-bye

While David was at his party, Mary was having her last play date.  She spent the day with super buddy Abby.  Oh, sweet, smart, fun, adorable Abby.  

They did art projects at Abby's house, and then Mary got to go to Abby's hip-hop dance class.  (Which Mary LOVED, by the way.)  I picked Mary up at the dance studio. The girls said their good-byes.

And I said good-bye to Abby's mom, Renee, another wonderful friend who was so helpful as we prepared to move.  

Yep, yep. So many good people we miss.

Okay.  I have more.  But I have to stop.  My heart is hurting too much.

(Sheesh, this blog is getting depressing...)