juni turned one!

While we're on the subject of birthdays I haven't covered yet, can I please just say, JUNI TURNED ONE!!  My JuniBear, JuniBug, JuneJune, Grammy J is now a FULL YEAR OLD.  I just can't even believe it.  2020 is just full of gut punches, I guess.

She spent most of our photo sesh just trying to remove the adorable headband I wanted her to wear.  She is apparently already a toddler.  That was quick.

Wearing her best Grammy June sweater.  Iconic.

Ogling the "number 1" sign we were trying to get in the picture.  We are clearly professionals.

LOOK AT THAT CHUNKY BABY!  I know you would never judge me for just smooching her all the livelong day, because seriously, what else can be done with a baby like this?  

ALL THE TOOTHS!

She was not thrilled at all the attention, or at the candle, or at the singing, or at the having to sit at the head of the table.  (She doesn't like looking like a floating baby head, which I can sympathize with.)

She tried to grab the fire, but luckily she still has Infant T-Rex arms, so no one lost a finger that day.  (Always a good day when you can say that.)

Waiting patiently and excitedly for cake and ice cream.

"So this is ice cream, I hope you had fun..."

The overall reception was warm, though the ice cream was cold.  She doesn't know it yet, but I have set her up to hate every other cake on the face of the earth, since nothing can compare with the Williams-Sonoma Sour Cream Bundt Cake recipe. 

After a bath in the sink (I'll spare you the photos, but trust me, it was adorable), we opened presents.  She was so funny - I didn't think she'd really 'get' present-opening, but she picked it up quickly.  As soon as I'd pull a gift bag onto my lap, she'd dig around inside for the treasure, and then she'd lose her mind over whatever she found.

What do you get for the one-year-old who literally already has everything? Sunglasses and Aladdin, both of which she was completely disinterested in, but which were a big hit with the bigger kids.  Poor Juni.  Welcome to life in a large family.

Because of the Quarantine That Just Won't Quit, the kids weren't able to go to Target to pick out gifts for her themselves, so I went and got a few things and let them choose which item they each wanted to give her.  Callista chose a Little People... person (?), and was so. stinking. excited. to give it to her.  Juni loved the toy, Callista loved the Juni, a fantastic time was had by all.

Penelope made her an original book:

And at the end of the day, we just could not get enough of our freshly-minted one-year-old...

...though she seems to have gotten enough of us.

Happy birthday, sweet Juni!  You are everybody's favorite smooch.  You are easygoing and perpetually smiling.  You are friendly and sweet and so very chill.  You are such a CHUNK, and cuddling you is the best part of most days.  We all just adore you and cannot get enough of you.  We are so thankful you're ours!

Nen turned Ten!

One of the things I didn't get to post about when the laptop was fried was Penelope's birthday!

She is a 'gifty' gal - she is the absolute best at giving presents, and takes so much joy in receiving presents from people who love her.  Which makes her THE MOST FUN to buy for.  It becomes seriously problematic for me - there are always so many things I know she'd just love (plus, she never buys anything for herself with her allowance money, since she spends it all on gifts for others, so it's not like she just gets herself the things she wants before anyone else can).  I cannot express just how fun her birthday is for me!

First, I saw a dress at Target that I knew she'd just love, so I let her open it the morning of her party so she could wear it in all of her pictures.

I think she liked it.

Isn't she beautiful?

Later in the day, she opened gifts, including this sweet acrostic (and some zinnia seeds) from her penpal, Taylor.

Laurelai also knows the joy of giving Penelope gifts - she got her an apron and some oven mitts.

Atticus surprised Nen with a fish tank... he offered to pay for her to pick out a goldfish of her very own to live in it.  (And then die in it... whoops.)

My parents sent her a beautiful Hogwarts snowglobe that plays the HP theme song when cranked.  It is seriously heirloom quality.

The rest of us gave her gifts as well - Finneas gave her some nail polish, Rocco gave her some scrunchies, Callista gave her a headband, and Todd and I gave her Moana, a golden snitch alarm clock for her room, and some lip gloss. 

Then we had birthday pie.  (She chose an Amish-made Dutch apple pie instead of a from-a-box cake made by yours truly.  She is so wise.)

I just love this girl to pieces.

Modeling her cute new apron from Lolo.

 Then we all FaceTimed family that we haven't seen since before lockdown.

We had such a fun day celebrating our sweet girl.  She is funny and wise and helpful and so talented.  She is an incredible writer, poet, actress, playwright, singer, musician and songwriter.  She is a mama hen, taking such amazing care of her younger siblings because it brings her joy to do so.  She is my right hand gal, and such a joy to be around.  She is beautiful and modest.  She loves reading her Bible, and makes time to read in it daily.  She loves animals, especially horses.  She is driven and inventive and her mind is always going a million miles an hour.  She is sarcastic and punny and witty and insightful.  She is grounded and wise and deliberate.  She is honest and lives with so much integrity.  She really is a force - a quiet, calm, steady force.  

Everyone who knows her is better for it.  And those of us who get to call her 'ours' are especially privileged.

We love you, Nen, and could not be more grateful to be yours!

SISTERRRRS! (are playin' it by themselves.)

Lately, Callista has taken to going with Juni into the girls' room to play, just the two of them, and they both love it.

Lissy gets down some toys for them to play with, and Juni usually just stands at the play kitchen, or plants herself on the floor somewhere, and they laugh and dink around in there for as long as I let them.  Some mornings, Juni spends all of her awake time (after breakfast, before morning nap) just pal-in' around with Callista.

These sisters are such blessings to me, and to each other!

what's up weekly.

Happy Friday to you all!  I'm going to make this short and sweet, as I'm nursing a stomach-turning headache and just can't bear to look at the screen for long.

Last Friday, we went for an extra long walk, since Todd gets extra break time on Fridays to be used for exercising.  We walked to a lake trail, and the kids got to play on a nearby playground for the first time in months.  You can see they were chill about it.

On Saturday, I spent my morning out doing a little shopping, which I don't hate.  I stopped at Old Navy and actually found some shirts for myself!  They fit! and aren't beige!  I also bought summer shoes for the kids - and RED ALERT.  ATTICUS IS IN MEN'S SIZES NOW.  I REPEAT: ATTICUS WEARS MEN'S-SIZED SHOES.  Where has my baby gone?

I also stopped at Natural Grocers that morning, to buy all of the organic celery on the face of the earth, because I've jumped on the celery juicing bandwagon.  It is simultaneously disgusting, and actually-not-that-bad.

Here are some unrelated-to-any-other-news photos of Callista I insist that you see.

On Sunday, we went to church for the first time in two months, and good gravy, it was fabulous.  However, I have noticed that my capacity for social interaction has seriously diminished over the course of quarantine, and I find I often get headaches when I'm around too many people, or even just a few people for an extended period of time.  (I feel like a Victorian lady, complaining about my delicate eyes and asking you to pass the smelling salts.)  So I am v v glad to be back to church, but I also need to build up my stamina for Olympic-level socializing again.

This week we have been doing a very scaled-back version of school - the kids do a little table work before breakfast, and I might read a chapter or two out loud at lunchtime, but nothing intense.  It has been so wonderful!  The kids are having to learn how to live with way more unstructured time, so there's a learning curve, but we've spent so much time just breathing this week.  It's been good for us.

Reading about queen bees, and eating fresh strawberries from the Amish.  Such a good day.

We got a chance to swim in a friend's pool on Wednesday, when it was in the mid-nineties and blazing out.  It was pure summer.  We went during naptime, so the little girls were at home with Todd, which took my number of potential drowners down to five.  I had also bought Puddle Jumpers for Rocco and Laurelai earlier in the week, so I could let them swim without stressing as much.  It is amazing how much easier it was to keep an eye on everyone - supervising swimming is always a HUGE stressor for me, so I was shocked at how I was able to relax a bit, knowing that all the kids had what they needed to be competent in the water.

And in unrelated news, here's a glimpse into large family life.  This is the kind of thing that keeps "THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS" the mantra in our home:

The kids were playing some kind of game, and Penelope locked Finneas out of the garage, so Finneas started banging on the glass... and the inevitable happened.  Todd and I have had to learn over the years to hold things very loosely and do our very best to keep a sense of humor about things.  (Though I will say that our 'very best' efforts are still pretty pathetic.)  But... it would explain the use of Stars and Bars duct tape as our free, redneck solution to the problem, as well as these silly reenactment photos.

Well, I think that about covers it!  I'm going to go lay down the pitch dark, and attempt to drive something sharp into the base of my skull.  Wish me luck!

mes'morial day 2020.

On Memorial Day, we did what we always do and made s'mores! (It's the one time of year I tolerate the mess that they make.)  This year, though, we did it over our janky old fire pit instead of the grill.  More fun, more danger, and fewer random sticks laying around our yard when all was said and done.  Win-win-win.

If you've been reading for any legth of time, it's obvious why I married Todd, but if you need further proof, here's why: FUN DAD.

Here's also why: FUNNY.

Here's also also why: SMOOTH.

Here's more why: UNIVERSALLY POPULAR.  (See also: Provider of Foods.)

(As opposed to yours truly, who seems to be Wildly Unpopular, based on customer feedback.)

And another convincing reason: STILL FUN.

Here's to all the jolly holidays with Todd (no wonder that it's Todd that we love).