Birthdays and things

Somehow blogging has slipped down on my list of priorities and I've got lots to catch up on.

Perrin looks thoroughly bored... ha.  

Miri said she was 'fox in socks' and also that she couldn't pick up because 'I don't have hands.'

Miriel turned 3 at the end of April.  I made her a Masha and the Bear cake. Proof that when I put it together it didn't look like it was about to fall over. 😂

She hasn't taken a nap in a long time but sometimes she just... can't... make... it all day. :P

'Say cheese me my Masha cake!'

Very pleased.

So excited to open presents. And also making the cheesiest faces. :)

Her sisters all think they need to give each other presents... usually just from their own treasure collections which is always interesting.

haha.

"Cheese!"  I'm not sure how you are three already, Miri-girl!

 Emmy's birthday is a week after Miriel's and she always has big plans.  Before Perrin was born she decided that she neeeeded a birthday dress and drew me this picture.  And I said, maybe, we'll see, and she took it as a promise.  I promptly forgot about it.  She didn't forget, of course, so I spent the month before her birthday sewing a dress.  😜 

 

 Sunday afternoon Bob and the older girls went to the woods and showed Uncle Dave, Dale and some of his kids and Kenna around.  The girls built a fort. 

My parents and Matt came over in the evening to celebrate Emmy and Miriel's birthdays. Miriel had a bit of a hard time letting Emmy open presents too... she thought they all should be for her.  

 

Cadence did not sit still for very long.

 Perrin spits up a lot, and always all over his carseat.  Sometimes I'm proactive and put a bib on him.  He was reppin' for Uncle Matt one day.  :)

 

Miriel had a doctor appointment after her birthday, and spent the rest of the day telling me, 'I had a check-up' very solemnly.  Then we dove into birthday prep for Emmy.  

 

Emmy wanted a Rainforest cake, and I found some pictures of cakes that looked simple enough- cut out some leaves and flower petals, etc.  And I decided to try covering the cake in modeling chocolate instead of fondant because nobody likes to eat fondant.  The youtube videos make it look so slick, you just put this circle of fondant/chocolate over the cake and then smooth it and it looks perfect every time. Well, it never works for me and I always get lumps and wrinkles.  The chocolate was harder to smooth because it cooled down on the cake so I got out the hair dryer to warm it up.... so ridiculous, but it worked!  😂 And the remaining imperfections could be hid with decorations.   

  

Bob and Emmy decided it needed more animals, so they lent their artistic talents- Bob made an ocelot.

 

Emmy made a frog and a snake and some flowers.

So cute!

I finished sewing the buttons on the dress the night before, so after a bit of a mad scramble, why-did-I-think-this-was-doable, she got her dress in time for school. 

 

Michelle said she looks like a disney princess, and it's definitely got that vibe.  :D  

Bob's parents stopped after school and she got a new scooter.  :)

 Admiring her cake...

Eight already!  Time is just flying. 

 

 Presents were pretty exciting.  :)

 

Bob wanted to have Greg and Mary over Friday evening, but they already had plans at their house and were gracious enough to invite us to join them.  So that was fun, the girls enjoyed seeing their animals, and playing with their legos.  

Cecily got to go to a music festival on Saturday morning, and the other three thought they needed to have a picnic on the porch.

   

 Perrin is just a little trouper... he was happy in his carseat, so I just let him sit there while I vacuumed. :)

 

 

Mother's Day is just not my favorite.  It started out rough because getting ready for church is always rough, and I was extra tired since Perrin doesn't like to sleep.  We went to the condos in the evening, and Perrin got passed around a lot.  :P  Poor boy.  

 

Solving all of the worlds problems and encouraging Kacie in her coffee camper dreams... or something. 

 Playing "Cards Christians Like."  It looked like a fun game, Cecily was doing pretty well.

 

Why is water so irresistible on a hot day?  😁

 

Oh Cadence Mae.  Baked oatmeal is not her favorite, and I try to make things palatable by letting them put sugar on it.  Well.  I think she put half the sugar bowl on hers. 

Miri was mad about something and didn't want to put her shoes on to go pick up the girls and was crying around, and then it got quiet.  Haha.  She slept there for probably 20 minutes, silly kid. 

Cadence came home from school last Wednesday with a bruised and swollen pinky.  She said she pushed her chair in really hard and smashed it, but it didn't really hurt and she didn't cry and they gave her ice and she was fine.  It was still looking really swollen and more bruised that evening and we waffled about taking her to prompt care.  It was almost closing time so we decided to wait and see how it looked in the morning. 

Meanwhile, Emmy sewed herself a purse.  :)

Thursday morning her finger looked worse, so off we went to prompt care- they were actually quite prompt this visit.  She was disappointed that there weren't cartoons in the waiting room like at the pediatrician.

Oh, hello Perrin.  :)

Aaaaaannd the x-ray said her finger is broken.  *sigh*  Hooray.  They sent us home with a splint and a referal to orthopedics.  Poor Cadence.  She was more worried about her classmates staring than anything else. 

 

Aunt Rita brought me the best baby gift at Mother's day.  Hehe.  I was using it for the first time and it looked so artsy I had to take a picture.  :P  

 

The grade school music teacher is young, energetic, and a total music nerd.  He also has a Tiktok and made a video with Emmy's class singing in the background.  It just so happens that the song they were singing was written by Tom Delonge (pretty famous pop rocker) and it went viral.  So they're now internet famous and Tom's manager sent the class his autograph, patches, and guitar picks. 

She has no idea who this guy is, but she's got guitar picks! haha.  My cousin Austin (Blink-182's biggest fan) is a little bit jealous.  😄

The grade school had an outdoor concert, which would have been wonderful except it was over 90 degrees all week.  Kindergarten went first.

Perrin was thankfully really content despite the heat.

We gave the neighbor girls a ride, and then their older sister walked to the school and joined us and I suddenly realized that I was the responsible adult for 8 children.  All by myself.  um...  😳

It was hot.

Friends make everything more tolerable. 

I would have enjoyed the concert more if it wasn't so hot, and if I suddenly hadn't had 3 extra kids to keep track of (which I didn't do a very good job at).  Also, they all piled in the van to go home too, so two were not in legal seats (or seatbelts).  *sigh* 

We had the garden tilled, and it was a little bit cooler, but not enough.  Way too hot to be planting the garden but Miriel was still very willing, if not helpful. 

Perrin had had enough of the heat.  So we finished planting later that evening.

But then the older girls were there and wanted to help.  Haha. 

And the clouds looked like there was rain coming. We finished in a hurry, so hopefully things actually grow. 

We had a quiet weekend, and then Monday I got three cavities filled in the morning, and then went to field day in the afternoon.  Woot.  The weather was great, and I think Miri was thinking 'farm' when I said 'field' so she was not all that happy to be sitting at the school. 

There's Emmy's class! 

Bob and I both thought this HS helper looks like Kray.  :D  Even his mannerisms, it was funny. 

Tuesday Was. A. Day.  In the morning I took Cadence to her Orthopedics appointment, all the way on the other side of Peoria.  Just as we pulled into the parking lot, the front of the van started steaming/smoking.  Woot.  So I checked under the hood to make sure it wasn't on fire, and then we hurried to get to the office on time.  Priorities.  Also, Bob wasn't answering his phone/my texts. Cadence was pretty excited to be in the Paw Patrol room. And was climbing all over; kid can not be bothered that her finger is broken.

Poor Perrin, another day, another doctors office. 

She got a new, more comfortable splint, and then we went back to the van and made a bunch of phone calls.  The mechanic didn't think I should try and drive it back to town, so I called a tow truck. woot.  And Bob finally checked his phone and came and rescued us.  In his new (to us) car because his civic died a few weeks ago.  So basically it feels like we're hemorrhaging money right now. 😭 They were probably begging for McDonald's for lunch...

So with the whole van snafu, Cadence got back to school pretty late, and I missed the stations for Cecily's field day.  Her friend's mom sent me this picture of the tug of war.

I made it just in time for her relay race though!  (Just in time and completely unprepared- I didn't have the big stroller with the sun shade, it was in the van, and poor Perrin was not dressed for the sun... ugh...major mom fail.) Her team was in 2nd when she finished, and 4th over all. 

Bob bought a chainsaw and is working on getting this poor dead tree all the way cut down.  The girls found some nasty looking beetle larvae inside. Cadence was trying to climb the ladder, of course.  

Today was a little slower paced, which I needed, and the mechanic managed to finish fixing the van this afternoon already! Cadence has a note that excuses her from P.E., but she's ignoring it.  Today she told me she climbed the climbing wall. "Nobody stopped me."  I'm not sure how she's going to not re-injure her finger.  

Blessings.