The Princess

For sixteen years, she has filled our lives with love, dreams, beauty,

and a lot of sound.

We wouldn't change any of that for anything.

Happy birthday, sweet Lydia.

We Hope

We hope the rain really has ended.
We hope the temps really do get above 50 today.
We hope to get up Pike's Peak this afternoon.
But most of all, we hope that this boy who turns 13 today, will always know what a gift from God he is.

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15 Today

Old enough to be in driver's training.

Old enough to be a fantabulous baby sitter.

Old enough to have her parents panicking at the thought of college tuition.

Old enough to be in AP/honors classes.

Old enough to have the boys looking twice.

But never old enough to stop being her parents' sweet baby girl.

Happy birthday, pretty girl.

FF: me, Me, ME !!

Today is my birthday,

and I think it's great.

To be half of 96

is my current fate.

What I most love about Friday Fragments is the reassurance that other people

are less organized than I might have feared.

I never heard of bumpy cake until I moved to Michigan. Since that wondrous discovery of chocolate cake covered with lines of buttercream and topped with chocolate, it has been a birthday tradition for me. This year my friend told me where to find the best bumpy cake - this one covered in Sander's hot fudge. I guess that's another Michigan tradition. Just so you know, the cake has a Caution shelf-life of 24 hours.

Why didn't you all ever tell me about Friday Follow before? What fun!

After last week's Friday Follow, I was happy to see that this blog had 80 followers, but then I realized I was following myself.

I've always loved Mary Chapin Carpenter's music but I'm a little disconcerted how she seems to have videotaped my life to get her lyrics.

I've been working my arms with 3 pound weights. At this rate, I should have toned arms for my 60th bday.

Would someone please explain to me how the new health care bill which requires people to have health insurance enables them to pay for that health insurance?

I've asked my family to recycle things they already own as birthday gifts for me. Now I ask you the same thing. What great advice did you once receive from someone that you would now be willing to pass onto me?

While you're typing up that advice, ponder this: With the heat generated by 48 candles, 5.49 ounces of water could be boiled.

Uncle Baby Has a Birthday!

We first became aware of your story when I cleaned out that bathroom closet and found the unused pregnancy test, which I couldn't bear to throw away without using. Then, instead of the negative result I KNEW was coming, it was positive.

Some months later we made a crazy 10 minute trip through a major snow storm, and by the time we got to the second floor of the hospital, you were pretty much here.

Today you're eight!

You, who are the best friend to each of your siblings.

You, who begins each day and ends each night with these words, "You know what, Mommy? You know what, Daddy?" I LOVE you!"

You, who rarely, rarely complain.

You, who gave serious thought to inviting your teacher to your sleepover party, but decided against it since not everyone would be able to sleep next to her and someone would be sad.

You, who made our family complete.

Uncle Baby or Kid or whatever nickname you've given yourself these days: you know what?

We LOVE you!!!!!

We Didn't Plan it this Way, but ...

Happy 1st decade, sweet boy, and welcome to double digits!! We love everything about you: your gifted mind, your sensitive heart, your passion for the arts. We think it's pretty neat that you were born on our anniversary, and if you're sure that you want to have your birthday dinner at Taco Bell tonight, well ... we're okay with that, too :)
~~~

Happy 1.6 decades to us, Checkered. I would not have missed these years with you for anything. Love you forever !

(But why did it take 16 years for me to learn that husbands don't love Christmas sweaters?)

The Oopsie Birthday

Once upon a time, a husband had a birthday. For days prior to his birthday, his wife contemplated what she would give to her husband. She was certain that the greater the gift, the more love the husband would feel from her. She decided that since her husband had lost 25 pounds since Labor Day, she would honor his request and buy him some weights. But where would the weights go?

So the wife formed a plan. It was a plan to declutter the basement and open floor space for the new weights. She got her children's approval. She got her homework done in order to free-up time. She nearly killed her back dragging her much-maligned Ab Lounger 2 up the stairs and into the car and to a store which bought it from her. She worked and worked and finally that floor space was clear.

The next stop was to purchase the weight equipment. She found many, many cute machines. She found many, many with cushioned seats and a softer, more feminine side. But she knew the husband just wanted weights.

And that is where the proverbial wheels fell off her plan.

No matter how much additional time she invested flirting talking with the salesmen at the sports stores, she truly had no idea what the husband really wanted. She thought about just buying one of the cuter machines, but she knew that would only mean she would have to bring it back after her husband tried to hide how much he hated it.

Time moved away from her and soon it was time for the family to eat the celebratory birthday dinner. During dinner, the children all began to recall that they each needed emergency school supplies for the next day. At some time, therein, the husband and 7 year old son had an argument about the husband's new age, and the husband learned that he is actually a year YOUNGER than he thought he was.

When, during the eating of the so-so crock-pot Weight Watchers cake, the children asked if it was time to open presents, the wife was forced to admit that there was not a single gift for the husband.

After dinner, the husband and wife went to Walmart to get the necessary school supplies. While there, the guilt-stricken wife bought her husband a belt and two pairs of Walmart jeans.

Amazingly enough, he still seems to love her.

Joy for October 27

My younger sister

Gifted pianist

stellar student

clever doctor

busy mom

loyal military wife

My husband

fixer of all things

helpful neighbor

self-disciplined executive

involved dad

loving husband of a blogger

These two people I love share an October 27th birthday.

Someday we will live close enough to celebrate together.

I promise.

Love

Twelve years and many beaten odds. We will never forget the miracle of your past, but gladly celebrate your exciting present and future.

Happy birthday to our precious boy !

A Big Day

Happy birthday, Mom.

May I look as beautiful as you when I celebrate a similar birthday.

Of course, I didn't get your present ordered in time, but what a surprise it will be when it finally is ready :)

Can't wait to see you on Friday.

Love,

Caution

More Candles

How, baby girl, is it possible that you are turning 14?

And WHAT is Michigan thinking by beginning drivers training at 14 years, 8 months??

Checkered Flag Speaks and Renders Caution Silent

Perhaps you haven't heard about my giveaway/giveaway/giveaway/giveaway??

And now Checkered takes the wheel:

It’s my wife’s birthday and I have asked if I could venture out into her cyber world of friends with some thoughts about her. I could do one of those clever acronyms or acrostics but those seem so cliché. I could attach a bunch of lovely pictures of her, documenting our lives together but she’s really not in many of those, she’s usually on the other side of the camera. So I think I’ll just go down the line and tell you all the great things she is.

She’s a discoverer. My wife seems to be constantly discovering things about herself. And with that, we get to discover them too. It can be anything: blogging, a new musical instrument, a recipe for crunchy cookies (I’m for that), an interior décor theme (we may not always act on them but she still has the ideas), …

She’s a trier (is that a word?). As “cautious” as she is, she’s not afraid to go out and get that guitar, buy that paint (and stripe the wall with it), ask me to invent that Tony Little Gazelle exerciser and computer desk combo (patent still pending), keep buying dogs until we get it right. I think we’re good now.

She’s sexy. OK, so the Victoria’s Secrets Christmas kit turned into a giggle fest before she made me take it all back, I still find her to be extremely hot.

Smart, she’s very smart. I know you all know how smart and clever she is. I don’t let just anyone do my homework. I thank God for blessing me with a partner that I can share the wheel with. If it were just me and a half wit wife, I’d be terrified to navigate a family through this race course (a little corny NASCAR throw back). I take great comfort in having a wife that questions my decisions.

She’s a fantastic mom. Health, school, sports, music, she’s got it all covered. I pity the teachers and doctors who don’t seem to have a clue about what our precious children need. Caution will not rest until her kitty cats are taken care of.

One of my favorites, she’s silly. I’m all about silliness. That may well be what we have the most in common. Don’t ever do a hippo yawn in front of her, you just may get her finger in your mouth (sorry, Honey). She loves to bring up “sensitive” topics to discuss with our daughter in front of all of us then stands back to watch the fireworks. That’s always good for some laughs. The Victoria Secrets thing, ahhh…, we’ll skip over that one.

She’s Godly. Not to be confused with “Holy.” She always seems to keep the family well grounded in our spiritual walks, even though we haven’t found the “perfect” traditionally contemporary church. My wife has a beautiful spiritual way about her. She’s introduced you to Christ and sometimes you don’t even realize it.

Last but not least, she is selfless. My wife would give you her last DQ Blizzard if it would make you happy (OK, maybe she’d think on that one a moment and then give it to you). My wife is one of the champion gift buyers of the world. I don’t know how she does it. If you just think it, she’s on line trying to find it. I once tried to match her skills, only to end up buying her the complete (every episode ever made) Waltons DVD set. I was ordered to send that back too but she did give me credit for trying.

Well, it looks like a long winded document now and I’m sure she’s going to pare this down and edit the heck out of it before she posts it to her page. Bottom line, I love my wife and I thank God that she has come into my life and made it so beautiful. She has taken me so much further that I would have ever gone without her. Thanks for believing in me, Babe. I hope you had a wonderful birthday. You deserve many days that celebrate you.

GIVEAWAY!!

To recap:

• My parents welcomed a lovely baby girl into their lives 40 plus/plus and then some years ago this week.
• Anyone older than I am automatically qualifies to be my newest BFF.

• And then there's the party!

It turns out that "The Princess of School" has a real name. (I wish I had known that years ago. It was always so cumbersome writing, "The Princess of School," on all those notes I sent her and my daughter was exhausted from calling, "Excuse me, Princess of School," during second grade.) The Princess' real name is Jill, and one of her many hobbies/talents is quilting. And evidently, she quilts well because she has won awards.
I always wanted to own one of her quilts, but that never happened...


...until she surprised my daughter with this:









Jill now makes quilted pictures. She takes a simple drawing someone has done and turns that drawing into a quilted picture. The quilt in the previous picture was based on my daughter's self-portrait.


Here is one she did for my oldest son (also his second grade self-portrait - mysteriously lacking a body):

Here are some others she has done:

And this meaningful one:

And now I am giving you the opportunity to own your very own quilted picture custom-made by Jill!!

The prize:

One quilted picture (approximately 16" x 20") made from a drawing you submit.

How to play:

Just leave me a comment between now and Friday, April 3 at 9:00 p.m. EST.

• 
  
  If you really want to make me happy, become a follower (if you're not already) because I'm having some follower envy.
• 
  
  On Saturday, we will randomly choose the winner's name!
• 
  
  Now get commenting!

Laying the Groundwork

Option 1: Curling into a fetal position and sleeping the entire week away.

Option 2: Investing in a few dozen boxes of tissues.

Option 3: Find all those 20-something and 30-something parents of the other 1st graders and beat them up just 'cause they exist.

Option 4: A lovely, refined gathering of intellectuals virtual friends.

Option 4 it is!!

Helloooo: I'm having a birthday on Thursday, and you are invited to the party!!

If you're worried about who else will be at the party, here's a little hint.

Perhaps you remember The Princess of School aka my daughter's favorite teacher from elementary school? Perhaps you remember that we thought she was a gifted teacher with a terrific intellect and so many fascinating interests? Well, this teacher broke our hearts last year by retiring, and we moped around because a very nice part of our neighborhood school community was gone.

But September arrived and she was back. A different teaching assignment, but back. I was so happy she hadn't disappeared entirely that I put her on my short list of where to send some of those email forwards which come my way. (Gift-giving IS one of my talents, you know.)

If you're wondering how The Princess of School fits into my virtual birthday party, the answer is coming tomorrow.

Okay, I can't wait. The answer starts with a "G" and ends with a "Y" (and there's a little "IVEAWA" in the middle :)))

A Busy, Busy Week-End

We had:

sleepovers

Rock Band contests

Tim Hortons (yes!!)

parties

gifts

cake (with trick candles that kept relighting)

and buddies.

And this:

 

The sad part?  That it's Monday already.

Maybe We Should Get Out the Fire Extinguisher for Those Candles

Happy birthday, my darling Checkered!!! And happy birthday to my old, younger sister, Red!!! (Please note the equal amount of exclamation points which are indicative of my unbending fairness.)

May your day be filled with laughter, chocolate cake, and maybe a bill or two paid off.

To Red:  perhaps it is the math major in you,  but could you possibly explain how your birth year remains constant, but your age grows progressively younger?

To Checkered:    I must warn you:  If Red shares her secret, you will pass right by my age within the next year or so.  And what our son said about your gray hair frightening him?  What does he know about sexy?