More Chatting

Here comes another chatty post; are you ready???  I really miss more regular blogging, as always!  Hopefully there are still some of you out there listening to me ramble, despite the rather sporadic activity around here.

N turned 9 last weekend!!

She requested a Harry Potter/Frozen themed party and had all sorts of ideas for games and things that she was going to do (she has always been an "ideas" girl, if you remember).  As the preparations went on in the weeks before the party, most of the Frozen-themed ideas got weeded out, and so it turned into a mostly Harry Potter themed party.

As we were coming up with ideas for cakes, we of course saw many extremely complicated versions online-- a Monster Book of Monsters cake, a Quidditch Match cake, etc. etc.  But when N saw an image of the cake that Hagrid made for Harry on his 11th birthday, she said "THAT'S the one I want."  Boy did she make things easy on her Mama!  Just about the easiest cake ever... I had no worries about the decorations since it's supposed to look sat-on.  What a girl.  We just put her name on it (misspelled, of course) instead of Harry's.

The party was a smashing success and all of N's ideas for games went over so well, despite the fact that her friends were not quite the superfans of Harry Potter that our girl is.

Above is "Spray the Silly String on Draco Malfoy"... somewhat like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, but, well... you get the idea.  Many props to Daddy for his excellent drawing of Draco in Quidditch robes.  I wish I had taken a picture of his Voldemort pinata too, because it was great, but alas, I was too busy for picture-taking most of the day.

Then it was slip-n-slide the afternoon away!

I won't go into the whole mind-blowing part of the day... the part about how 9 is almost 10... and that makes a decade since I became a Mama.  You guys already know how sappy I am about my kids growing up, so I'll spare you the rant about that.  But boy are we lucky and blessed that this wonderful girl is a part of our family.  All the heart-eye emojis.

The day after the party, M left for a 5-day trip with the youth of our church doing some mission work.  I was home with the girls, totally on my own, for the first 3 days. It always gives me a deep appreciation for single mothers, military wives, etc. when M is away.  I think I might have been coming down with something in those first two days too, because it was all I could do to get everyone through the day, do a halfhearted house-tidy and wash all the dishes, and then crash into my bed (and sleep fitfully because it's always a little weird and scary without the hubs in the house).

The big girls were such a help with little J... here's a shot of C playing "beds" with J... they were at this for almost two hours, I think.

(Please ignore our filthy couch from which the cushions were removed... yikes)

On Wednesday I met my Mom halfway to her house so she could take the girls back to CT while I taught violin lessons.  After I finished teaching I came down to CT to join them and we all had a lovely and relaxing two days.

The girls LOVED the beach we chose to visit on Thursday... Rocky Neck State Park in CT.  It was perfect-- the waves weren't huge but big enough to be fun, it was super shallow really far out, and there were lifeguards so I didn't have to stress about keeping track of four kiddos in the water like I normally do at the beach.  J, I think, rivals even L as the biggest lover of the water in our family yet.  She stays in beyond the point of blue lips and chattering teeth, weeps bitterly when she has to get out, and is never bothered by a faceful of water, which happened frequently as the waves increased in size with the tide.  Anyway... great day.  I hope we can go back soon!

We have had Daddy back for three days now and it has been simply wonderful.  Just resting up, doing yard work and housework.

We had the most wonderful day yesterday-- we went to a pool party held by the conductor of Labyrinth Choir (I just started singing with them this past spring and it has been awesome... a great group of people that sings fun music, and the fact that I get paid very well to do it is icing on the cake!!).  The girls had SO much fun in the water and didn't want to leave.  At the end of the party our conductor shared the news that we will be touring Italy and Austria next summer!!!!!!  Then I went to my regular Sunday evening mass while M headed home with the kiddos (we sang Lauridsen and Tallis-- lovely!).  I drove home watching an amazing sunset, and arrived to see a beautiful moon above our house

(picture doesn't do it justice)

and then enjoyed a face-melting episode of Game of Thrones with the hubby.

Life is so very good.

I hope all is well with you, too, my friends.