Happy Birthday, Mom

 It could be very possible that I love the fall of the year because that was the time of  year that my mom celebrated her birthday.

October 30.

She used to tease that it was an appropriate 

birthday for her, since she was so witchy.

She only teased. 

I knew better.

My mom wasn't witchy at all.

She was lovely and beautiful and warm and kind.

She gave her hugs freely and gave my brother and me every reason to believe that there were no two children as loved in the world as we were.

She made our house a real home...

full of love and tradition.

It could also be very possible that traditions are so important to me because of my mom.

Several months ago, I borrowed two big boxes of family pictures from Dad.

My mission was to start scanning pictures

 onto my computer.

Finally, this morning, I opened the first of those boxes hoping to find a picture to post in honor 

of Mom's 69th birthday.

I wasn't disappointed.

Here is what I think is a high school picture of Mom...

maybe her junior or senior year...1959 or 1960.

I love this picture of  Mom.

This is her first year of teaching...1964.

She taught the third grade for four years.

Skip ahead several years.

Mom was now a stay-at-home mom with two little ones.

I am forever thankful that my dad took on the responsibility of supporting our family so that Mom could be home with us....where her heart was.

As a farmer working at a grain elevator, 

my dad worked long hard hours.

But he always came home with a smile and a song.

Heigh Ho!  Heigh Ho!

It's back to teaching Mom goes!

Mom waited until Rob and I were in high school and then started working her way back into teaching.

She taught the fourth grade for several years before she died in May 1993 at the age of 50.

I don't know what year this was taken, but it was one of her last school pictures.

I can look in her eyes now and can tell that she wasn't feeling good.

Oh, Mom.

I miss you today.

I wonder what you would 

have looked like at 69 years old.

Nineteen years have passed since 

you turned 50 years old.

There will not be a day that I don't miss you and wonder what you would have been like.

And yet I know what you would have been like.

Now...check this out!

My dad's senior picture from 1959.

I love this picture too!

And I love you, Dad!

Enjoying family,

Happy First Birthday, Charlie!

Just over a year ago, Charlie was born.
July 1, 2010.



I have no newborn pictures of her since we didn't even know of her existence until she was almost two months old.

Born to a mother who was an Australian Shepherd/ Lab mix and a father who was a Labrador, Charlie is 3/4 Lab and 1/4 Australian Shepherd. Which would explain why she tends to push the little boys around in the yard. I suppose she is herding them.

We received a call in late August from friends asking if we would be interested in taking one of the puppies that they had left.

My memory being what it is, I cannot remember how many brothers and sisters Charlie had when she was born, although I do remember there being a little chocolate brown puppy and a black puppy there when we went to look at Charlie.

I also remember being told that she was a very sick little puppy in those early weeks of life.
So sickly that it was a question as to whether she would live.

Would we consider taking her?

Oh! I was ready for a puppy! I was so ready. After all, they are so sweet and soft and furry. And that puppy breath!
I couldn't wait to see how the little boys would love on her.
And I couldn't wait to see what the big kids would say! They were on a trip to the Grand Canyon with Grandma and Grandpa, so this puppy would be a huge surprise!

I was ready!

I remember going over to our friends' house that evening and playing with the puppies and their momma.
Sweet little things.

 Of course, we would consider taking her!

We decided to name her Charlie.

It's funny the feelings I experienced when we brought her home.
I remember feeling a lot like I felt when I brought a new baby home...like things would never be the same.

Overwhelmed.

But then Carrie and William came home and took over the mothering responsibilities.
All except getting up with her in the middle of the night.
Looking back, though, even that didn't last all that long.

That reminds me of my babies too.  Those days seemed so long at the time, but they were over in moments.

And now, we are celebrating Charlie's first birthday...











And her "Gotcha Day"...September 6...the anniversary of the day that we brought Charlie home to live with us.

What a great dog she is.

Happy Birthday and Happy Gotcha Day, Charlie.

We love you!

Enjoying Puppy Love,

Celebrating Six!

Joshua Robert turned 6 years old on Sunday, August 14!
Josh was born six years ago on a Sunday afternoon.
And what a miraculous Sunday that was!

It's been very special celebrating his birthday this year.
Josh is old enough to ask questions and love listening to his story.
Saturday night was full of "This Time Six Years Ago" stories.
And...did I mention that Josh was baptized this year on his sixth birthday?!
Another very miraculous Sunday, August 14, for our family!

Joshua is also one smart cookie!
For the past two years, he has requested a brownie cake for his birthday rather than a cake cake.

I admit...in this context, smart means that he is in agreement with my tastes.
I much prefer brownies loaded with chocolate chunks and frosted with Texas Sheet Cake frosting (a.k.a. Hershey's Fudge) to any flavor of cake.
I'm sorry.

Brownie cake with ice cream and toppings.
Birthday Brownie sundaes!

Josh was so funny this year.
His "take-charge, in-control...tad-bit bossy" personality really came through.
Smart boy.

This year, he had an opinion on EVERYTHING birthday related.
He even decorated his own brownie with his Lego figures--before the frosting was set!

Once I let go of some of my take-charge, in-control...tad-bit bossy tendencies, I decided that he had done a pretty good decorating job!



Josh decided on Tacos for his birthday lunch.
I was leaning toward a slightly less complicated meal...like Chili!
Chewbacca Chili, Josh!
Doesn't that sound yummy?
Nope.
Tacos it is.

And after lunch?
Presents!!

Here's a picture of Josh, ready and waiting for present time, with Grandpa.

Can you guess what I love about this picture?
See that sweet little baby face in the frame above Josh?
That's 10-month old Baby Josh.
He really hasn't changed a bit.



Carrie hasn't admitted to this yet, but I know that Matthew is getting more airplane rides because she is conditioning for a new season of basketball.
I predict that Josh will be next in line for airplane rides.
When I get my turn, then I KNOW that she had an ulterior motive.



Star Wars-related gifts were pretty popular!
Here's the amazing thing...this is his second year of having a Star Wars party.
Christmas was in between.
And still...NO duplicate gifts!
To be honest, I don't think it would matter if he got a duplicate Star Wars anything, because he loves it all so much.



Star Wars Lego shirt!!



I love this!
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, Grandma took Josh out bike shopping.
Josh picked out his favorite bike that day, and he knew that it was the gift that Grandpa and Grandma were getting him for his birthday.

On the day of his party, there was no gift from Grandpa and Grandma.
Grandma asked him if he knew what they had gotten for him.
He made several guesses, but he truly had forgotten what they were giving him!

You should have seen his face when his orange bike was pushed out from behind the love seat.

He was so surprised and excited!



I had to take another picture of the brownie, because Josh kept tweaking his creation.
You will notice to the bottom right of the brownie, C3PO and the other 2 guys with him are now flat on their backs (Lying? Laying? I try to avoid that word and it's verb forms, because I can never remember which to use.)

I asked Josh about this, and he told me that those guys are doing snow angels.
Of course!



Festive picture of the party blowers.
I was being photographically creative with this one while at the same time trying to remain in control of the camera.



BROWNIE TIME!

Here are GG (Great-Grandma), Grandma, Grandpa, and Carrie...



William with one of the festive party blowers...



Grandma...



William loves to light the birthday candles.
He is a pyromaniac.



Look at that gentle blow!
I think that he is using The Force to extinguish these candles!



Did you think that I like to remain in control of the camera because I am a take-charge, in-control...tad-bit bossy person?
No.
It's because Paul has a dark side complete with a strong drive and deep determination to get me looking like a dork (USA pejorative slang for a quirky, silly and/or stupid, socially inept person, or one who is out of touch with contemporary trends. Often confused with nerd and geek, but does not imply the same level of intelligence).



See?!



Then it was outside to really give that bike a try!



Hey, Matthew.
What do you think of William riding his new Monkey Bike in the rain?



William laid (?????) claim to Josh's old bike, put a new seat on it, and deemed it The Monkey Bike.

What do you think?



No comment.



Happy Birthday to my sweet boy, Joshua Robert!



I love you very much.

Enjoying the special things,

Happy Birthday, Carrie-Girl!

January 20.

The day that God planned long ago, from the beginning of time, to be the birthday of my sweet Carolyn Jane Atkinson.

Carrie--named after two very special people...her Grandma Carolyn and her Great-Grandma Jane.

On that winter day in 1996, Carrie joined our family, and I held her in my arms for the very first time.
And she gave me her little Carrie pucker for the very first time.



Fifteen years ago!
It's not so hard to believe that it's been that long ago when you look at the pictures of Paul and me!
Look how young we were!





And how clueless!
And they let us take her home!
And we thought that we were ready!
Oh, the mistakes that we have made!



But, oh, the love!
Little did we know how our lives were about to change.
Little did we know how much our lives had already changed.
And little did we know how much a little baby would change us...from the inside out.



Thank You, LORD, for sending our Sweet Carrie.
You are so good to us.
Bless her today, LORD.
Amen.

Enjoying the Journey,

Jedi Knight Training...Happy 5th Birthday, Joshua!

It's been two weeks since my four-year-old little boy became a five-year-old big boy! Since this was such a special birthday...turning 5 and all...Josh agreed that it would be fun to have some of his friends invited to his party.

First step...choose the theme.
I took Josh to the party store with me several weeks before his birthday to get an idea of how he would like to celebrate.
He chose Star Wars.
What? He has never ever shown an interest in Star Wars...but, well...O.K.

Second step...borrow Episodes 4, 5, and 6 from Uncle Scott and Episodes 1, 2, and 3 from our friend Kevin.
We had quite a bit of brushing up to do. Our Star Wars knowledge was extremely limited. You can't throw a proper Star Wars party if you don't know the difference between Padme and a padawan.

Third step...start talking like a Star Wars character.
Just choose one...any one! Yoda is a whole lot of fun, but Chewbacca is quite a bit easier.
Help the ideas to flow, this will.

Fourth step..."Do, or do not. There is no try." --Yoda
Jump right in, feet first, and get going!
Invite, shop, create!

Fifth step...LET THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN!


Josh got to open our presents on Thursday evening...two days before his birthday. We knew that the next few days would get pretty busy, so this gave us a quiet family time before the excitement began!






The traditional curtain of birthday streamers!




And...what appears to be Josh doing a not-so-traditional birthday streamer dance.



This time, he is wrapped in one of the extra Star Wars table covers I bought. It was his official Darth Vaderish-style robe.




The "cake" was actually a brownie.
Lately, my kids are more about brownie sundaes than cake and ice cream.
I have to admit, I do enjoy a good brownie more than I enjoy a piece of cake!
This brownie cake was inspired by the desert of Tatooine. Carrie did most of the decorating. Thank you, Carrie!




Ah...the extremes of good and evil...at least in the world of Star Wars.




This was an idea I found online...naming and labeling the 2-liters of soda after Star Wars characters...Count Dooku Drink...Jabba Juice...Vader Cola...Greedo Grape...Padme Pop.




Each padawan was given a pouch that was tied at their waste. This was to collect the tokens that they received after each Jedi training exercise. It also came in handy when they collected the candy that fell after the destruction of the Death Star (pinata).





Then each padawan was presented with a light saber that would be used during Jedi Knight Training (half a pool noodle wrapped with duct tape on the end...thanks again to the internet for this idea and to Carrie for all of the wrapping she did!).




Jedi Knight Training Exercise Number One...
Agility Training (keep the black balloon up in the air with your light saber)






Ah...two younglings discussing the way to truly get the most from their quasi-telekinetic power, known as the Force.




A very handsome young padawan overseeing the events of the day...




Jedi Knight Training Exercise Number Two...
Spaceship Landing (throw a frisbee through a hula hoop)




The following picture makes me laugh!

Look at the intense expression on William's face while everyone around him is smiling and watching.

I know what they're all thinking (an old Jedi mind trick).

William is thinking, "Man! I really hope that I don't hit Mom in the face with my frisbee! That could really mess up the day!"
Everyone around him is thinking, "Hmmmm...this could end up being pretty funny!"




Of course, in between training exercises, the young padawans had to get in some light saber practice.

I love this picture!




And check out the older padawans...




Then there's this one.

Carrie did her hair as Padme Amidala...but it seems to me that this is more of a squabble between Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia.

Star Wars: The Sibling Wars




It appears that these padawans really know what they're doing!
Check out their "moves!"





Jedi Knight Training Exercise Number Three...
Target Practice (try to hit the Darth Vader bucket with the black water balloon)




And, yes.
More than Darth Vader was hit during this training exercise.




Jedi Knight Training Exercise Number Four...
Destroy the Death Star (pinata!)

There are no pictures of the pinata.
My photographer was holding the end of the rope instead of the camera. :)
(Thanks Sweetheart!)

We also didn't get pictures of the Jedi Knight Ceremony.
The padawans each received a Jedi robe (an over-sized brown t-shirt) for completing their Jedi Knight Traning.

Then we came back inside for some refreshments!
It was hot outside! But I am so thankful that on this day, we didn't get the predicted thunderstorms and rain.


This is a Yoda Soda...lime sherbet and 7-Up!




Some snacking...




Some present opening...




And of course, the cake!
You can hardly see it, but Darth Vader is on there holding his red light saber (a red candle). Josh found that at the party store too. :)




The day came to a close with Josh and William trying out the new Star Wars plug and play game.




The best part of my day came that night when I was saying prayers with Josh, and he said, "This was the best birthday party ever!"

What I've learned through the years is that you don't have to spend a ton of money or have the most elaborate games and prizes. As with so many other things in life, it's the "being there" that matters.


Enjoying the Journey,