happy birthday, Rich

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Shanda

I love blogging on Mondays. I usually take a blogging break Saturday and Sunday and then by Monday I have lots to write about. But yesterday was empty, I had nothing to say, I spent the entire day catching up with laundry from the weekend and matching socks. My mind was as empty as a bucket.

I’m laughing a little because it’s 7 in the morning and here I am typing. I woke up last night at 3:30 full of all the words I missed yesterday….words running through my head, coming out my ears! Keeping me awake. I wrote two “Happy Birthday, Rich” blog posts in my head and considered getting up to type. Then I remembered, “Sarah is sick.”

“I bet God woke me up so I could go check on her.”

Up the stairs I went to my four year old’s bedroom. The light was on in the bathroom so there was plenty to see by. I tiptoed to the edge of her bed and leaned in to look at her face. Her eyes were open and she spoke.

“Hi Mom.” (so polite! my heart melts)
“How are you feeling?” I stroked her hair back to feel for a fever, she was nice and cool.
“Good.” (in that tiny voice)
“How is your tummy?”
“Bad. Can I wake up now?”
“No, it’s 3:30 in the morning.” (not that she can comprehend the hour) “Do you want to go down and sleep on the couch?”
“Yes! And can I have a drink, please?”

She had a drink and I tucked her in on the couch. Her big brother Jacob was asleep on the other end, we have a big family sectional with room for everyone, he was sound asleep, arms and legs everywhere, whistling and snoring like it was his purpose in life. I stood and looked at them for a moment, half expecting Sarah to complain that she couldn’t sleep with so much noise. But she didn’t say a word. She was happy.

It’s this hottie’s birthday today. He is 41 years old. He is currently sound asleep in our comfortable bed and I’m hoping that he sleeps and sleeps and feels 21 when he gets up, because that would make him happier than anything. Exercising is a passion of his, consequently he is always and forever feeling some sort of body ache. Currently it is the hips. Truly, “no pain no gain”, but he decided that at the age of 41 it’s age making him ache, not a sign of pushing the limits, a sign of manly manliness.

Bodily speaking, I think he’s coming into his own and getting better and better looking as each year goes by.

Looks are important but of course they aren’t everything.

Here are just a few of his accomplishments: farmer from birth, mechanic, race car driver (1 season), semi-pro football player (1 season), married at the age of 21, insurance adjuster, preacher, teacher, deacon (6 years), singer of solos (now and then), softball player, wrestling coach, speaker, VP of claim at an insurance company (currently), and he has been working for the same company 17 years. In my opinion his biggest accomplishment was fathering seven children, and being lovingly involved in their growing.

He is a hard worker, excellent lover, good provider for his family, kind, generous, honest, adventurous, church-going, faithful, courageous, godly, strong, disciplined, mature, wise, sensible, gentle, and brave.

It sounds as if he has no faults, but rest assured, he has plenty, just like everyone else on this created earth. Someday I’ll do a blog post all about his bad points. JUST KIDDING. When you love someone you only want to publicize his good side, but rest assured he and I both have plenty of very irritating qualities. However, I can brag that this man of mine has never hurt anyone, never broke any laws besides the speed limit, and doesn’t do drugs or womanize. I mean, he actually is practically perfect.

Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her book Farmer Boy, all about her husband, which I think is the dearest and sweetest thing. Imagine the conversations through the years as he told her his memories and she stored them away to become a book for children.

I have often thought, that if I ever wrote a book, I would like to do the same thing; write my husband’s stories. He has plenty. He isn’t a big talker (we have, on average, really boring conversations…we tend to communicate in other ways…..) but when he starts talking about his upbringing, random injuries, and other adventures, he comes alive and his listeners, mainly our children, hang on every word. Mind you, he keeps the stories short with very little description and no romance, but there’s a lot to be said for good ol’ prose.

As I sit here tip tapping on the laptop, my heart is filled with gratitude for another year of life for my husband. I trust him with everything and cannot imagine life without him at my side.

happy birthday emily

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Shanda

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Dear Emily,

You have been Jacob’s girlfriend for almost a year and I just wanted to take the opportunity to write you a little note, thanking you for who you are and what you have added to Jacob’s life, with your love. I am thankful for you and that God has brought you into Jacob’s life and consequently our family’s life.

The kids adore you. Well, maybe not Ethan, but you know Ethan is harmless and he does certainly LIKE you, even though you take up too much of Jacob’s time and the two of you talk on the phone at night too much, causing Ethan to sleep on the couch at times. He also would appreciate a little less personal displays of attention when he is in the room, right? But yes, despite all that, I know that deep down inside Ethan is also glad that you are Jacob’s girlfriend. After all, you do a great job of turning the PS3 on and off for him.

Of all the children, Sarah especially loves her Emily. She woke up this morning remembering that it is your birthday, and she searched the house looking for things to give you. One of the things she picked out was a ring out of my jewelry box. I told her to color you a picture instead and she said accusingly, “MOM! That’s not a birthday present!” I’m not sure, I might have to take her out shopping, unless you really DO want one of her stuffed animals? She wants to give you Pepper (her black cat with the buggy eyes). She wants to know when you’re going to get here and if we are making your cake. She says she wishes you could spend the night.

I went through some of my photos from the last few months and picked out some of my favorites.

You are such a special young lady, Emily, and don’t ever forget that!

Parker the dog also wanted me to be sure to tell you that he adores you. He’s hoping you bring him one of those dog cookies soon. (woof)

Dad will be home from his business trip around 7:30 so he won’t miss your party, either.

First Christmas together.

family nap time

Parker the dog.

Jacob playing with Emily’s hair and reading her Edgar Allen Poe. She’s wearing his pajamas and hiding from the camera. They have also read Macbeth, the Bible, and I’m not sure what else. I love that they read together.

When she asked him to the prom, on Jacob’s birthday, December 31. She’s having a great time trying on Prom dresses whenever she can.

One day this winter they decided to paint. And they each painted the other’s EYE. Emily painted Jacob’s and Jacob painted Emily’s. It was the most amusing thing to observe them….they would keep looking into each other’s eyes but only as an art subject. LOL This painting is currently hanging in Jacob and Ethan’s room and it’s labeled “Jacob’s Eye. Emily’s Eye.” It cracks me up.

Wearing his sweatshirt.

After a wrestling match.

Reading to Seth and Sarah.

Making brownies after school, giving Sarah a taste of the batter.

I took this one yesterday. Superman isn’t smiling because Superman doesn’t smile. You can see the love that Sarah has for Emily.

Happy Birthday, Emmeline!

the one and only E

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Shanda

Grace is recovering from the flu and we are on the couch together watching The Well-Diggars Daughter. If you have not watched this golden French film….it’s perfect and lovely…heart warming. David and Seth are also home recovering from the flu. For the last week, I have been Nurse Mother. There is a huge pot of chicken noodle soup on the simmer in the kitchen, along with various medicines, tissues, drinks, and tender loving care, ready and waiting to meet their every need.

One son in the family has remained healthy, the one and only Ethan. He is thankful that he didn’t spend his birthday, which was yesterday, sick like the rest of his siblings.

He requested a Boston Creme Pie and an Apple Pie for his birthday dessert. With the extra work I had as Nurse, I decided to order the pies from a bakery half an hour away. Grace was home from school so she graciously watched Sarah (and, Finding Neverland) while I was gone. I picked up Ethan and Jacob from school. With coffees from Dunkin Donuts, we went on our little road trip to the Bakery and then ate Ethan’s choice for lunch; chinese buffet.

The waitress asked them if they were twins. They are only a year and two months apart, so almost irish twins. They act like twins, though, since the day Ethan was born they’ve been the best of friends. For example, I had originally asked Ethan to go with me alone for lunch, but he asked if Jacob could go because “it would be more fun that way.” He wasn’t being cruel, he was only being honest. I love these brothers. They are good for each other. Ethan’s the only one in the family who doesn’t treat Jacob with respect for being the firstborn. LOL

Ethan had 20 dollars Grandma and Grandpa, and with an extra six dug from my purse,he and Jacob went into GameStop (a used game store).

We arrived back home with a game for Ethan, a calligraphy pen for Jacob, and birthday pies.

After so much Chinese food for lunch, he decided on pizza for dinner. Rich brought it home from Ethan’s favorite place, Frank Pepe.

He loves the clam pizza but their supplier is having bad luck, so we ate shrimp instead. With lots and lots of garlic yumminess. There was a meat pizza for the others. As I gaze at the photo, I am tempted to go get a cold leftover piece from the fridge.

At first, he seemed more interested in playing his games than opening his gift. But it wasn’t true.

One of my favorite parts of being a mom of many, one of the beautiful little things I didn’t expect, is the joy in seeing the siblings get in each other’s way to watch a brother or sister open the birthday gifts. All so very excited.

I had made Ethan wait until later on in the day to open his gift, because Rich was the one who took care of everything, although Sarah and I wrapped it. Look at those faces!

A smile for his Dad, a smile that says “thank you, I love them”.

The smell of leather.

For the rest of the night there was a sound of cowboy boots on all the wooden floors.

A much cherished gift.

I, for one, became over-stuffed with pie. Look at that cream in the middle! And it’s real! Not cool-whip or frosting, but real lightly sweetened whipped cream. The cake (Boston Creme Pie, rather) was entirely delicious.

Apple pie was good, too.

Seth missed out on the birthday song and pie because he fell asleep on the couch. David missed it because he was feeling sick with the flu. There are leftovers for them.

After a while, I left Emily, Ethan, Jacob, and Grace playing a video game together with their Dad watching over them. I got into bed with a grateful heart, all tired out from a day of happiness, celebrating my beloved son Ethan’s 17 birthday.

All those years ago I tucked him into my arms, a perfect fit, with so much love.

{this moment} and a video announcement

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Shanda

This is me, blowing out my candles at 9pm at night after a long long day and wrestling practice for the guys. I wish you could have heard the family’s rendition of “Happy Birthday” it was goofy and I think it was in three part (or more) harmony, too.

It took a while for the smoke to clear from the kitchen!

And, thank you so much for having fun with me here on the blog regarding the perfume sample giveaway. Here is a video announcing the winner. We did no preparation and we only did one take. I love my Davy.

perfume for my birthday

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Shanda

Have you heard of Jo Malone perfume?

I was on a website a month ago and listened to a radio program featuring the gifted perfumer, Jo Malone. I was inspired by her story (listen here) and after I learned all about her, including that her husband almost died of a terrible illness, she battled aggresive breast cancer, and is dyslexic, I decided that I would request a bottle of her perfume for my birthday, which is today. Every time I wear it I will think of her strength.

Rich took the day off from work and took us out to a fancy breakfast at the Marriot Hotel. Both of us ordered eggs Benedict served over crab and asparagus. It was delicious, I mean seriously, I was groaning with joy over it. Sarah was so cute and asked me to tell her all the things she could have, since it wasn’t time for macaroni and cheese. She settled on sausage with maple syrup and she ate every bite.

After breakfast we headed for the mall and straight into Nordstroms. I was so excited to finally be able to experience all the fragrances of Jo Malone. (I get way too excited over things like birthdays and perfume).

Rich couldn’t help us until the end because alas he gets headaches from smelling too much perfume. Sarah and I had an absolute ball smelling every single bottle. There was a jar of whole coffee beans at the counter, too, to “cleanse our noses” between sniffs. So fun!

It all smelled so wonderful it was hard to make a choice. I had Rich smell the last two bottles that I narrowed myself down to and he said, “Get them both!” “No!” “Yes, I really think you should get both so when you get tired of one you can wear the other.” “Okay”. I was touched once again by his generosity toward me and he left with his wallet and the nice lady, to make the purchase.

It’s so easy for people to love on Sarah Joy. I’ve been working on her attitude of friendliness for so long and I am happy to say she was a sweet little girl to the saleswoman, but it’s sort of easy to be sweet when you’re surrounded by such nice things like ribbons and boxes and good smells.

The lady’s name was Lydia and she is from Belgium. She put Sarah right up on a tall stool and put her to work making Mama’s perfume pretty. They carefully put the bottles in boxes with tissue paper and Sarah helped tie the bows.

He wanted to get me two full sized bottles but they didn’t have the big one in one of the fragrances. I picked out Red Roses, and Blackberry & Bay.

As a treat for you, I have a free sample of the Red Roses perfume to send to one commenter on this post. Leave a comment on this post, NOT ON FACEBOOK, and tomorrow afternoon at 3pm I will ask my son David to give me “a number, any number”(not telling him why or showing him this post)….and the number that he randomly chooses will be the comment on this blog post which wins the perfume. You will receive one tiny free sample bottle of Red Roses perfume in the mail from yours truly.

Thank you, God, for one more year of wonderful life.

{this moment}

Image

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

snowy birthday for seth

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Shanda

Seth turns six years old today and received his first wristwatch. It’s adorable when he calls out the time. He also received a lego set from Uncle Dave and Aunt Maria, a remote control car which every child in the family loves to play with, and a wallet with twenty dollars to put inside of it.

He has requested a turtle cake. I mixed up the batter and baked a round cake, and a dozen cupcakes. Later on, after they cool, we will put the cakes together as a turtle and frost them green and brown. Seth scraped the batter from the bowl and had to have his face washed.

Our fifth son Seth is a loving, energetic, impulsive, happy, bright little boy just like his brothers were before him. He teases and laughs, jokes, and dances. He burps and toots. He is healthy and strong. He has a thin, wiry body and his Dad calls him his little Scrapper. Rich says the part of Seth he loves the most is his fearlessness. My favorite thing about him is that he endearingly calls me “Moo-Moo” and still loves to be by my side constantly, talking to me, hugging me, kissing, and snuggling. He still says, “I want you, Moo-Moo! Can you come sit on the couch with me?”

He is in Kindergarten and learning so many things.

He wrestles and has a lot of talent and heart.

I put a little extra time into his birthday portraits this morning because we are having a snowstorm and school was cancelled. I wet his hair down, washed blue candy stains off his lips and put some clean clothes on him. I bought two photography apps for my laptop to edit the portraits with and enjoyed looking into his handsome eyes as I played with the editing tools.

Outside the window there are snowflakes blowing around from the sky and off the roof of the house, snow on the ground is slowly getting deeper, and hungry little chickadees line up to select sunflower seeds at the feeder. The nine of us, and our six pets, are all snug and warm in the house. Jacob is putting dinner into the crockpot for later and Grace is reading a book, The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier. It is actually Jacob’s reading book for school. It looks as if she’ll have it completely read before he does, which he finds somewhat annoying.

David and Caleb are playing together in their room and Ethan is drawing. Rich is working from home and the two little ones (birthday boy and his sister) are taking naps. We were up late last night *having a super bowl party* so they are tired and need a snowy day sleep in the afternoon.

*****

Happy Birthday, Seth!

friday already!? (this moment)

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Shanda

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

18th birthday

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Shanda

Today, for his 18th birthday……

….Jacob received more than just a football.

He was asked to the prom by Emily!

*******

Happy Birthday to our firstborn. We love you dearly.

fifteen

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Shanda

Grace had a birthday yesterday. She turned 15 and woke up early to hug her Dad before he went to work. None of the children had school yesterday which was a treat for her….to have the day to celebrate. Just after 9a.m. her big brothers finally woke up and she could open her stack of gifts that Seth and Sarah had helped me wrap.

She received a candle, three fabric mesh bags for treasures, a book on nail polish styles, socks, a sketch pad, an art book, and a necklace.

Then we sat around trying to figure out what to do. She wanted me to take her shopping so we decided Jacob and Ethan would stay home with Seth, David, and Caleb. Grace and I took Sarah and picked up Aunt Cassandra on the way to the mall. It was a beautiful day. After our day of ice we had a day of 65 degrees. Grace sketched in her new sketch pad and played tunes for us, as we drove along.

We ate a nice lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.

Sarah needed to use the bathroom and I surprised Grace by asking her (even though it was her birthday) to take her little sister to the restroom. While she was gone I took the opportunity to flag down our waiter (whom Grace was in love with) and order her a piece of chocolate cake for her birthday. The girlies came back and after a while, Grace was surprised with a piece of heavenly cake with ice cream on top, placed in front of her by the charming waiter.

When it was just the four of us again she asked, “How did he know it was my birthday? Did you tell him or did he overhear something?”

There were four long handled spoons so we could share and it was DIVINE. Cassandra only had one bite because she has been overindulging in leftover Halloween candy.

Grace bought herself a new ring and a belt with her birthday money and Aunt Cassandra bought her some thick comfy socks from GAP (Grace has a thing for nice socks).

We left the mall way too soon because the boys needed to be taken to practice and Grace needed to go to Drama rehearsal. Before we left the house for practices, I took a few “Look Who’s Fifteen Now” pictures to document her special day.

Aunt Cassandra helped me with the children at the playground so I could get my Bible study lesson done and then we headed home so I could start dinner and make some phone calls. I picked up the boys at 5:30 while the rest of the family watched Tangled with Aunt Cassandra. Back home again (busy day), I finished Grace’s special requested dinner, chicken Alfredo. Uncle Isaac arrived and Rich picked up Grace at 7:30. We were all singing a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday by 8pm.

It was a Reese’s peanut butter ice cream cake.

*****

A daughter is a day brightener and a heart warmer. ~Author Unknown

Grace is an adorable, well adjusted 15 year old teenager who loves school, family & friends, sign language, reading, her pets, Jesus, singing & drama. She is a responsible and capable teacher’s assistant to her beloved chorus and drama teacher. She is in Honors English. She knows what she believes and she is not afraid to share her beliefs in a loving, respectful way. She has her tough days but has good friends to talk to. She is very loving and likes to give out hugs. She hates to see people she loves hurting and would do anything to help them. She likes texting, pinterest, and instagram (at home on the iPad). She is a jeans and cute/casual top, with sneakers or UGGS kind of girl. She has lovely long hair and pretty brown eyes.

I am thankful to have a daughter GRACE LILLIAN, watching her grow is a blessing and a joy.

She said when her Dad hugged her the morning of her birthday he called her a little girl about five times. She understood what he didn’t say, “I don’t want you to grow up too soon.”