Birthday mania

Oh the frustration of not having an internet connection. I feel isolated without the ability to connect to the outside world. That is pathetic I know. We’ve not had good internet service after 5 pm for about a week making our home internet-less at the most opportune time to be online…when it is quiet! It is 9:15 and I am finally sitting down for the day…all I hear is the dishwasher running, and while this would be the perfect time to “blog”, I can’t do it the way I want to because I have no internet!!

It must be apparent based on my entries that my time to sit has been minimal lately. I’m not sure that I could accurately account for how my time has been spent, I just know that I haven’t been productive, but I haven’t been still either. I’ve had time to be at my computer, but not quiet time to think clearly enough to express myself. This week has been eventful. To begin, on Sunday we went to Joshua’s basketball game at 4:00 and from there immediately went to Conquest as a family because it was banquet night. Julia made Mexican salsa and I made Italian salsa to take as our contribution to the meal.

On Monday, we made snacks for Mathilda to celebrate her ½ birthday at school. We’ve been in cupcake mode for some reason, so we decided to make cupcake pops…crumbled cake mixed with frosting, molded and dipped in chocolate with sprinkles, complete with a sucker stick in the bottom. It was a team effort to get them wrapped in little treat bags tied with a ribbon. She and Julia share a birthday (which was actually Monday…but we “celebrated” on Tuesday).

Since Julia won’t be here in August, we decided that she better get a dose of the “happy birthday breakfast in bed”, so at 7 am on Tuesday morning we brought her breakfast in bed and sang happy birthday to her. I think that may have been the first time she’s had breakfast with us since she’s been here. 

Joshua's class went to Heritage School on Tuesday, so we packed his lunch of beef jerkey and salami, a hard boiled egg, an apple and a molassas cookie along with a mason jar for water in a lard bucket.  He dressed in jeans, boots, a plaid shirt and a straw hat.  School was set in 1892 in a one room school house with individual slates, a spelling bee, and a strict teacher!  He said the day was fun, but hard and at times boring...I guess without the technology.

Tuesday was also Amelia’s 11 month birthday…not that we celebrate it monthly, but it is fun to recognize! I can’t believe she’s almost a year old already! Today is Wednesday, but it already feels like Friday. Joe’s birthday will be here in two days, Josh’s in six and Ben’s in 13. Tim has been super busy between traveling and local tax season, so we’re trying to make everything fit. He’s very good about being available for family affairs though…and there are lots of them during this time of year! We sure didn’t plan well around tax season, although we wouldn’t change any of it. I’m excited to celebrate birthdays. I enjoy being able to make each of the kids a cake…sometimes they are elaborate, sometimes they are a stack of twinkies adorned with candles. I believe Friday will be a barnyard scene…