Katie Turns 19

Katie's birthday was Friday. She had recently watched Outrageous Foods on the Food Channel and noticed that they were featuring a restaurant in Michigan. As a special treat for her birthday, we drove up to Muskegon and ate at Papa Bear's Restaurant.

When we located the restaurant, we weren't sure if we wanted to eat there. The restaurant still looked like someone's house. It was sort of run down and probably not a place we would normally eat.

After driving 3 hours, we decided to go inside and be adventurous. This is the entry rug, which Madelyn, Paige and Allie thought was fabulous.

Katie wanted to order The Grizzly, which was featured on Outrageous Foods. The Grizzly is a large meat, pepper, onion, cheese and egg filled hash brown, covered in cheese. Only four people have been able to eat this entree since it was placed on the menu.

Katie trying to eat her Grizzly.

After four people had dined on Katie's entree.

We brought home enough food to feed everyone breakfast tomorrow! We probably will never return to Papa Bear's restaurant, but the portion sizes are generous and the staff was friendly. I can see why so many locals eat there. The cost of Katie's Grizzly.......$16.

Madelyn Turns 13

Madelyn turned 13 yesterday. It's such a big birthday to her. She is now officially a teenager. It was a quiet birthday. She had wanted to do a sleepover, but we don't do Saturday night sleepover parties. I don't want to miss church, nor do I want other people to miss church.

Mike was able to come home from work around 5, so we didn't let her open her presents until he got home. She chose egg rolls, chop suey, rice, chocolate cupcakes and Sundays for her meal. It was just a little rich, but delicious.

We watched the new Doctor Who episode that we had been waiting for all summer. I tried to get pictures of her opening presents and blowing out her candles, but the lighting was horrible, so I'm not posting them.

Happy Birthday Madelyn. I hope your teen years are happy and filled with laughter, wonder, and growth.

Paige Turns Eight!

Paige turned 8 years old last Friday. This was her golden birthday, the year that her age is the same as the day of month on which she was born. She has been so excited about this birthday and has talked about it for months. Three of her siblings were away from home on Paige's big day. Mike and I decided to do some special things because there were fewer family members around.

After Paige woke up and enjoyed a delicious breakfast of home-made waffles, she received her big present. We gave her a new 20" bike. It's a little bit big for her, but she wanted a bike that "didn't look like a little kid bike." It was raining outside, so she took it for a spin through the main floor of the house. Then we headed off to Jungle Joe's bounce area for a couple of hours. The three youngest girls had a blast playing on all the inflatable climbing rides.

After Jungle Joe's, we drove back home to Paige's specially selected lunch of chicken patty sandwiches, veggies, and potato chips. Paige opened up the rest of her gifts in the afternoon and we all watched Tangled and snacked on popcorn.

Madelyn and Amy made Paige a pinata and filled it with candy and trinkets. The girls giggled so much when they were trying to break it open. It was a joy to hear their laughter. Madelyn, being the oldest held the pinata up in the air while the younger two girls struck it with a plastic tube. I was so proud of the girls when they divided up the prizes fairly equally.

Katie, Steve, and Joe called Paige on the phone to wish her a happy birthday. Paige doesn't get many phone calls, so she was thrilled to get so many calls in one evening!

Another Birthday

Steve's birthday was on December 30. He turned 16. My boys are growing up! I had my root canal retreat in the morning, so Mike was elected to prepare dinner again. Steve requested burritos, homemade salsa, tortilla chips, and sundays for dessert. It was weird not to bake any cakes this week.

Steve and some of his friends were to a nearby city and spent the afternoon at an indoor skateboard park. The kids all had a good time. Amy drove them in and spent the afternoon at a coffee shop reading.

They returned home after 6:30, so dinner was a little late. After scarfing down another delicious meal, Steve opened his presents. He asked for a cheap camera, which we were able to find at the last minute after my dentist appointment. After enjoying sundays with too many toppings, Steve got a phone call on his cell.

After a quick conversation, Steve walked out the door and went next door. A few minutes later, my cell phone rang. Steve was letting me know that he was next door with the police. It seems that one of the boys who spent the afternoon at the skate park with Steve was being asked questions about where he had been. Someone had broke a door and stole outdoor Christmas decorations. My neighbor wanted Steve to confirm that the friend was out of town. She also wanted Steve's shoes checked against the footprints from the theft.

I sent Mike next door to bring Steve home. When Steve returned home, Mike and I asked him some questions about the event. The theft had happened at 10:45 the evening before. My children have to be inside the house by dark (which is around 5:30 here.) The boy who was being questioned had been at my neighbor's house until that time, when he left their house and walked home. Someone had seen him walking and suggested his name. Why did my neighbor feel it necessary to bring my son into this? Why did she phone him to see the police at her home? I understand that she wanted Steve's friend (her daughter's boyfriend) to have his name cleared, but she had not seen anything. She was in her house and the theft was several blocks away.

The neighbor decided that she thinks that she knows who is the culprit. She's been writing nasty messages on this 8th grade boy's facebook page. My son and his friend are angry about how this was handled. My neighbor's mom is making unfounded accusations and continues to harass this boy and is spreading rumors about him. I'm astonished at her behavior. I've made my children unfriend my neighbor on facebook and have requested that they stay away from her.

The neighborhood finally quieted down and we gathered together to play video games to celebrate Steve's big day. He'll probably remember this one.

Birthday Time!

Joe turned 14 on December 27. He had an okay birthday. I had been having migraine headaches for several days and spent the morning at the dentist getting a consultation for a root canal retreat. By the time I got home, my head was killing me, so I spent the afternoon sleeping.

Amy drove Joe through his paper route, so he didn't have to walk in the cold. It was so nice of her to make his job easier and quicker.

Mike prepared Joe's dinner selection, sesame chicken, egg rolls, rice, and chocolate shakes for dessert. No cake. We were all experiencing the effects if too many desserts. The shakes were a nice change.

We ate dinner in an absolutely quiet dining room. Everyone was trying to be quiet so I could stay with them for dinner and presents. After delicious dinner, Joe opened his presents. He was pretty excited about what he received.

Allie Turns 6

Allie's birthday was yesterday. We had church and Sunday school in the morning, followed by a rehearsal for the children's Christmas service in the early afternoon. Amy and I had choir rehearsal before church, so Mike came to the church later with the rest of the family. As they entered the church, I noticed that Allie wasn't wearing a coat. She was wearing a winter headband that covered her ears, but no coat. I guess if her ears are warm, she doesn't feel the need to have warm arms. Mike promised to check for coats, as well as footwear when she leaves the house.

After lunch, we let Allie open one of her gifts, which was a card game. She has recently discovered a love of card games and board games. Mike is getting really tired of never-ending Monopoly games, so he chose this card game because it gets over quickly. We all sat around for an hour and played several rounds of her new game. She won most of the games, so it was highly successful.

Allie wanted to open the remainder of her presents, so we gave them to her. She loved what she got and had a grand time playing with her new stuff until dinner was done cooking. It was so much fun watching the older children and her playing with her Moon Dough(?) in the dining room. I'm hoping that it will be much less messy than Play Dough.

The children are allowed to pick their dinner meal on their birthday. We used to take them out to eat, but with 7 children and 3 December birthdays, we found that we couldn't afford to take them out that often in December. Allie's choices were Pizza Rolls, green beans, tortilla chips, and Mike's homemade salsa. The grown ups in our household all had heartburn last night.

Allie requested a princess birthday cake. I'm not very adept at drawing, so my cake decorating skills are limited. After drawing the princess on the cake with icing, the cake looked pretty sad. In an attempt to disguise my lack of finesse, the cake was thoroughly sprinkled with white snow crystals and named "The Snow Princess". Allie loved the cake, but it was pretty bad. No photo evidence of this fiasco!

It was a fun day, twinged with some sadness. My baby is now a big kid.

Another Adult in the House

My second daughter turned 18 today. It seems such a short time ago that she was born. We had planned to crown her birthday celebrations with a trip to the midnight showing of the Deathly Hallows, just like we did last year. Unfortunately, our small town theater is not showing the movie at 12:01am. Driving is still very difficult for me at night and snow is forecast, so I decided that we would watch the 6th movie at home and then attend the 11:30am show tomorrow.

I had previously promised to take everyone to the midnight show. Everyone agreed to the morning show and then I realized that Kate has school during the day. Because I am the ultimate "cool" mom, Kate will be home from school tomorrow for a family event. Harry Potter movies are a family EVENT at our house. This is an regular tradition and she shouldn't miss this experience.

Today's mail also brought a "present" for Mike and me. Our insurance premiums went up 500/year because Kate is now listed as an occasional, not primary driver. I'm almost afraid to see what's going to happen in the spring when we have 2 teen drivers, one young adult and 2 middle-aged drivers. It might be time to shop around for better rates.

Madelyn Turns 12

My children are getting old. We have one 20-something, three high school-aged children, one "2-teen", and two elementary-aged children. Next year, Mike and I will have 4 teens. Yikes! Just kidding. My teens are more blessings that problems.

Madelyn celebrated her birthday with Mike off at work, Amy stuck in her bedroom with an ear infection, and no birthday party in sight. I did surprise Madelyn by inviting two of her close friends to spend the night. Now the furious bedroom and bathroom cleaning makes sense to her. Madelyn had been feeling a little down-trodden with the extra chores I assigned everyone on her birthday morning.

The 3 girls had a good time doing strange things to their hair, riding their rip sticks all over town, staying up late to giggle, and swimming in the pool. We were happy to have Madelyn spend most of her birthday time with friends, but I was a little saddened by the shift in what she wanted to do.

A few years ago, Madelyn was thrilled to go to the movies with her family for her birthday treat, now she wants to spend more time with her friends. Her choice is a normal part of growing up and away from her family, but the period when spending time with mom and dad was a high priority passed all too quickly.


The 3 girls ganged up on Steve and did his hair as well as their own. He's such a good sport!

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year

We had a nice Christmas. Went to my mom's house in the afternoon and were home at a reasonable hour. Took down the trees and Christmas decorations on the 26th and I developed a major migraine headache. The 27th was Joe's 13th birthday. My "baby" boy is growing up too quickly. He is now taller than Amy. I spent the 28th and 29th in bed with my migraine and took way too many pain killers. Yesterday was Stephen's 15th birthday. I felt good enough to do some birthday shopping, but still ended up in bed by 9. Today, I woke up without a headache. Hopefully, the migraine has run its course.

Mike left this morning to work on the floor and walls of the other house. I'm supposed to spend the weekend painting Madelyn's bedroom and the remainder of the stairway.

I'll be spending a lot of time packing the next few weeks as we prepare to finally move into the other house. We're hoping to find a carpeting sale soon, so we can get the upstairs carpeting installed. Blog posting may decrease as we do the big push to complete all the smaller projects on our list.

Wishing everyone a blessed new year!

Happy Birthday Allie!

It's official. There are no longer any babies, pre-schoolers, or toddlers living at my house. My "baby" turned 5 today! It seems as if I blinked my eyes and she got "old". Mike will be working until after 7 tonight. My mom, sister, and nephew will be coming by this afternoon to help us celebrate. Alison doesn't know that my sister and nephew are coming, which will be a fun surprise.

Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Happy Birthday Katie!

Happy Birthday to our little blond princess! It's been a wonderful 17 years. I can't express the joy that your dad and I have felt as we watched you turn into a poised, happy, industrious, young adult. You have faced physical challenges and overcome obstacles with grace and good humor.