Happy 3rd Birthday

A birthday lunch of Pancakes!

Opening gifts - tongue out!

Harry gets into the act

Reading cards

Birthday Donut Cake - a "Blues Clues" pawprint

Yum!

Kevin's Birthday

Robert and I bought some fun accessories in honor of the day!

Yesterday was Kevin's birthday.  We started the celebrations with a night out on Sunday since Kevin wanted to spend his birthday evening with all of us.  Kevin chose our favorite Asian restaurant in East Greenwich.  It is kind of funny how we have affected each other over the years.  Kevin enjoyed Asian food before we knew each other, but that has usually been the more likely choice for me.  So we had a lovely leisurely dinner on Sunday and got a chance to chat and relax without the kids.

Kevin's big gift was a clock cabinet, which he has already installed next to the front door.  It has all kinds of shelves and hooks for keys, but on the outside it looks like a clock.  We have been slowly figuring out and organizing the "landing place" in the front hallway.  We may finally be there.  I have an aversion to clutter and Kevin also likes things in their places.  So in the past few years we have added a cabinet (where mittens, scarves, and hats live in the winter and sun lotion, beach stuff and hats live in the summer).  On the other wall is a shoe rack which is also a bench and above that is a shelf with hooks for jackets, etc.  In New England there are jackets hanging year round and the weight simply changes by season.  At the moment there are still winter jackets, but hopefully lighter ones will be needed soon.

We had a nice dinner and had a friend and her daughter over to share cake last night.  The kids then ran around like crazies and had a grand time while we sat at the table and chatted.  I think it was a nice birthday.  It is hard to believe that we are both now 40 (I turned 40 the end of December).  I remember my mother saying that she never felt old and I can relate now.  Most of the time I still think of myself as in the 20s, but then I'll get a glimpse of myself in the mirror or I'll feel sore after some extra exercise and I remember that I am not as young as I think.

So the first spring birthday has happened and this weekend Robert will turn 3 and in a month or so Harry will be 8.  The time sure flies by.  I remember meeting Kevin when I was 27 and we were beginning on our seminary careers.  Things sure have changed since then.  The journey hasn't been anything I would have expected.  It has had ups and downs and curves that I just barely made, but we are riding that road together and doing our best to give each other help and guidance when needed and to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way.

Opening cards and presents

It has become something of a tradition for the boys to give an oversized love you card on birthdays

Amusing things

Robert and I have been singing the Belly Button song relatively often recently.  There is a line that goes "Patty, pat, pat, patty, pat, pat, baby fat, baby fat and an itty bitty button in the middle of that."  He came up to me as I sat at the computer and patted my tummy and said "Patty, pat, pat, patty, pat, pat, girl fat..."  Something about that really tickled my funny bone.

We had a nice weekend.  It was Pinewood Derby Day on Saturday and although there were no wins for Harry this year, it was a nice time for the guys.  Robert and I went by to see a few races, have a slice of pizza and then we headed home.

It has taken me all weekend to get these 2 paragraphs down, so I am now going to add some pictures and post this.

Cuddling in the new chair and finally new ottoman too :-)

Baseball hats are again the hat of choice and R is wearing K's!

Black Beauty - Green Hornet's car was Harry's inspiration for his pinewood derby car this year

Robert and his friend Willa picking up sticks at a clean up day at church

It is important to be very thorough when checking out the free box at the thrift store

Lunch and a game of foosball at the same time

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper - our own little Mardi Gras

Every year we get this fringe for the tables - each year the kids (especially the little ones) love playing with it and it only survives one season.  I sometimes wonder why we bother, but it is a festival and a time for abandon and as you can see on R's face - he is loving the chance to run his fingers through the lovely fringe.

Somehow I don't have a picture of H (but if you look closely he is in this one).  Robert spent a good 20 minutes just playing with this crown.  Nothing like shiny things with fringe :-)

Outside play as the weather warms

It is finally getting warm enough to be around the yard again.  Here are the boys climbing on the branch that landed on the power line to our house in fall.  Robert was a bit annoyed that he couldn't get as high as Harry was.  He is a climber, I'm sure he'll figure it out next time we are out there.  I figure if he can up, hopefully he can get down, but if I help him, he is going higher than he should and he probably doesn't have the skills (other than simply falling) to climb down, just like he couldn't climb up.

Boys climbing a big branch in side yard

Robert was yelling - help me climb up and very annoyed that we weren't.

Eating the branch or contemplating the ground - your choice.

Hidden treasures

I have been having an internal debate on and off for the past couple of weeks.  I knew Lent was approaching because I was helping to get things together for the Pancake Supper.  Also as in most clergy family houses the ebb and flow of the church year is very well known in our house.  I measure the year by church seasons - Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and ordinary time.  The debate has been what to do for Lent.  Should I give something up?  Should I take something on?  At the moment I am feeling my regular late winter blahs and also like I am already on overload.

Since I became a mother, Lent has not been the same.  I don't quite have the time that I used to have to devote to my own edification and spiritual growth.  Yet at the same time I do feel like I have grown a great deal in my spiritual life - there have been strange bumps along the road and unexpected curves and outcroppings as we have gone along.

Even in writing this I have been interrupted  two or three times to tend children and chores that need to be done.  Many days I think of myself as scattered, but somehow I do manage to pull together the things that need doing even if it means doing it in steps rather than all at once.  So I ponder how to spend a holy Lent.  I could probably give something up, but I wonder if that would be a true spiritual exercise or a way to somehow punish myself for the many ways in which I fail to be the best person I could be.  I think that is not meeting the sacrifice properly, I don't believe that is what God wishes fasting to be for us.  Or is that just an excuse that I make because I don't really want to give up the few little pleasures that I allow myself occasionally (a piece of chocolate or a glass of wine).

As I sat to write this, I thought I would like to add a picture.  I found this picture above of the rocks on the beach and in the middle a piece of sea glass and a pretty little shell.  I think perhaps a good exercise for me would be to seek out the hidden treasures of my life and to document them for myself.  In the past few years I have stopped watching the news and read less and less of what is going on in the world, not because I don't want to know, but because I have noticed how negatively most news sources view the world.  They seem to look for the worst possible picture of humankind.  I think perhaps part of my Lenten discipline will be to look at those hidden treasures of life, those special times when a ray of sunshine illuminates a beautiful person, place or thing in life.  Those moments of illumination that make me realize that people and creation is essentially good and God is here with us, pushing and prodding us to be and become the best people we can be.

Blue & Gold banquet

Friday was the annual cub scouts blue and gold banquet.  It was at St. Matthew's and a bit of a tight fit.  Harry got his wolf cub badge.  Cub scouts has been his most consistent activity for the past couple of years (outside of church school and regular school).  He seems to enjoy it and it is something he and Kevin can do together.  I was only a brownie for one year, so I am a bit out of my league, but I help where I can.  There are lots of activities to do and they are rewarded with a badge, bead or belt loop and so it is somewhat motivating to do the activities.  I think Harry just likes going to the meeting and spending time with other little boys outside of the school setting.  Meetings can be crazy with a bunch of excited little boys, but so far it seems like a worthwhile activity for Harry.  The blue & gold banquet was a nice event and it was nice that Harry won a little prize for knowing some random cub scout trivia.

sitting at the blue & gold dinner

The parish hall was very full!

At some point I came back to the table and K & H were taking silly pictures - to pass the time I guess?

inspecting the pin Harry won in the trivia quiz

Finally warming up!

The weather is finally allowing for walks again.  We are at the in between stage with Robert, sometimes he walks, sometimes he strolls.  It usually takes longer when he walks, especially if we have a toy along.  But we have had some nice walks in the past week or so.  Winter is slowly letting go.  We have days where it is 40+ degrees and a great opportunity to get out then the next day can be 20- degrees and nobody wants to do much more than dash in and out of the house.  All winter though, we have faithfully walked down to the bus stop to wait for Harry.  When all the snow was on the ground I had to gear Robert fully out because he would want to climb the piles and play in the snow.  Now the snow is mostly gone so he's back to popping in and out of the trees that are near the bus stop.

Pulling along his "car" with Daddy, Harry & Robert on board (Mommy is MIA)

Car's in Daddy's pocket and now we're just walking

Robert's favorite place to wait for the bus - in his "cave"

Our little author

http://mrso23news.blogspot.com/

I'm sure I've written here that Harry considers his best toy his imagination.  He calls it his "un-take-away-able toy" and he has a rich imaginary life.  He has written many stories in his mind and planned many movies.  Now that he can actually read and write, he has begun to write stories for school.  Above is the link to his most recent story, a twisted fairytale.  Take a gander over there and check it out if you are interested.

Also here are some pics from his first overnight for cub scouts.  It was at the local Children's Museum and had a Harry Potter science theme.