Story of the Sixth picture in Sixth folder

Some of my friends have blogged about (and "tagged" me to do so, too) the Sixth picture in the sixth folder. My directories are subdivided into folders by person which are then in turn subdivided by year and then subdivided by date of processing. Needless to say I have several "sixth picture"s in the "sixth folder"s (too much accountant in me I guess)! But strictly speaking, this picture wins the honor:

Now there's a wonderful story behind this pic, like all of yours. This is, of course, a birthday party. It's from when my youngest son turned 4 and wanted a "Spiderman cake" because he had seen one at a bakery (he really had no idea who Spiderman was :) but liked that cake design best!) My oldest son (age 24 at the time) took this great photo with his super-duper-I-could-never-afford-it-camera so it's better quality than any of mine! The brithday boy shares the same birthday with his Dad but shares the "bad hair day" look with Mom! Really, I miss those curls which are now kept sheared off because he hates being so hot on his head (his hair is really thick!) and says they are "too baby-ish". [BIG SIGH INSERTED HERE FROM ME!] That year he got a "three wheeler" (aka "Big Wheel") for his birthday and had been out in a rather warm day for March, got sweaty and continued to run his fingers through his hair to try to cool off. Thus the "Don King" look!
It is amazing to me that he is now 6 (going on 7) and it seems like only weeks ago that he had this 4 year-old birthday. Where does time fly to???

(Share your 6th pic in your 6th folder and the story behind it, too. COmment here and let me know when you do -)

Police, Puppies, Parties and... the "Crud"

We've been beside the toilet "under the weather" for the past few days so I will try to catch up with all our happenings (well, the ones you want to hear about!). Last Friday we went with our homeschool group to a local police station and got a tour including getting up close and personal with the K-9 puppy. The kids loved her and from the licks some of them received I think it was mutual!



On Saturday we had Ethan's birthday party at a Chick-Fil-A in a nearby town. We were blessed with lots of his friends being able to come and celebrate with us, and he loved his Star Wars cake and all of the wonderful gifts. What a blessing to have so many great friends and relatives! Here's the two birthday "boys" blowing out the candles! And of course here is our "knight" (don't tell him he's not the good guy!!) with suit and laser sword. Just gotta love this age!! And a very special gift from Dad to be used "only on special occasions with Dad" - his first pump BB gun. They have set up a pie-pan target in the backyard and he can only use it with Dad or his two big brothers. I'm very proud of the fact that he told me yesterday "Mom, I know you're a grown-up but Dad said only when he or my brothers were here so you'll have to wait until Dad gets home if you want to try it out!"

Happy Birthday to Emma K!

What fun we had Saturday at EK's party! I pray that each girl enjoyed it very much. Emma had spent a lot of time preparing and planning, doing her own invitations, picking out goody bag items, chosing her outfit, prepping the craft materials, mixing the frosting and helping ice the cake, doing all the streamers and decorations for the house and lots of other details. She started out as soon as the girls arrived by giving them their "goody bags" since they each had a necklace a ring they could wear with their princess outfit if they wanted as well as each had her own diary. They signed each other's diaries (you know, Princess Diaries!), then proceeded to decorate their own crown and scepter (Michael's had a great thing here - $1 for each precut adjustable foam crown ready to decorate with jewels and sequins and glitter glue and stickers and $1 each for a foam scepter also ready to decorate.) After the crafts were finished each girl took her turn on the "runaway" (aka our stairs!) and we cranked up the music for them.
The castle cake was a great success and with pink punch, ice cream and chips they all definitely enjoyed the food as well as the fun and fellowship. After opening gifts they enjoyed the outdoors jumping on the trampoline and riding the zipline (yes, even in princess outfits!). Later the friends went home , the family (Gran and cousins, etc.) arrived and we had pizza, cake (a different one we call the "Creech Classic" aka Chocolate Syrup cake) and had more fun times together. Happy Birthday Emma - may this be a special one that you always remember!

Happy Birthday Dear Daughter!!

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Officially a "man" today....

Twenty-one years ago this morning the Lord blessed us with our second son. It's amazing to think that he is 21 and yet somehow he has been a grown-up man for quite a while so it's not so unthinkable. It's fun on birthdays to think about all the blessings we've gotten from being chosen by the Lord to be the parents of the birthday child so here's a few memories -
Right after birth he cried a soft, almost "calling" cry - very opposite from the cry of his older brother! Just a quick reminder to me that God created each of them very different, with their own special purpose and reason. At age 8 months he couldn't walk yet but would climb the slide from bottom to top, turn around and slide down (talk about giving a mother a heart attack!!). From an early age to even now he loves to observe and analyze anything in nature - rocks, flowers, spiderwebs, frogs, anything ... and then of course bring it into the house to keep :) . At age 5 he didn't want to even learn the alphabet because it kept him from being outside but by age 7 he was reading 2 years ahead of his age. At age 8 he announced to us that he wanted to be a "volcanologist" and study volcanoes up close (ayeeee!!!), had grown his own experimental cotton plants, had 2 guinea pigs as pets, and had a vast array of "collections" under his bed! At age 11 or 12 he and a friend started collecting computer parts and he self-taught himself more about computers than most programmers with advanced degrees. (Check out his website). At age 14 he developed an intense interest in all things military and begged us to join Civil Air Patrol. He excelled there and went on to two successful years at West Point before deciding that military life wasn't his calling after all. Now I look and see a very loving son with a smart mind, willing and working hands, a big heart and a strong desire to do God's will. Mighty proud to call you son and wish you a very Happy Birthday, Russ!!! Thanks for making 21 years of our lives a true blessing!

October = Birthdays

In our family we have a proliferation of October birthdays. Sons, nieces, sisters, best friends, sister-in-laws, and the beat goes on... la dee da dee dah... (OK, for those who knew what I meant from that - you have had too many birthdays like me!!). Anyway, we kicked the month off by having my Brother-in-law's birthday bash at the end of September and it will be one after another until Nov. 1st (including Oct. 31st!!). It's really fun but it gets to be confusing how to juggle it all now that so many are in college away from home, have boyfriends/girlfriends and their families, all the other activities and flurries of October - soccer, dance, harvest festivals, state fair, battle re-enactments, more harvest festivals - and then of course somewhere in the mix has to come laundry and school and vacuuming and those other annoying interruptions from the parties! The worst part? By November I don't even want to think about how many pounds of cake I have consumed !! And that's BEFORE Thanksgiving!!

Happy Birthday!

It dawned on me last week that I had been a mother more years than I was old when I became a mother - confusing? It's OK, old people like me get confused! Anyway, I just had to share a picture of that sweet baby boy that we almost lost on the day of his birth. But God had/has a special plan for him (and us) for the past 26 years and I cannot begin to describe how amazed I am that God would give us such great children. Truly undeserved, truly a grace thing. "Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu! " - that means "Happy Birthday" in Japanese (where son#1 is going at the end of this week). I have no idea how you say that but I thought it was neat anyway! Have a great birthday and wonderful trip Matt!