AWANA!

The acronym AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed, and it is an awesome program that teaches children Bible memory verses and Bible truths in an easy to understand format that builds on itself as the children grow and move through the program.  

This past Wednesday was the last day of AWANA classes for this school year, and I am so proud of Jo!  She finished her whole book this year!  That means that she memorized a great many Bible verses, all the books of the New Testament as well as learned many Bible truths and rose to the challenges that were placed before her in her studies.  All of the children did a wonderful job, and I am so proud of them all!  

Way to go!

And I can't wait til next year when Gabriel will be old enough to join in, too!

Sweet Fifteen

My husband is from El Salvador, and in the latino culture, the 15th birthday is the one that is really celebrated.  It is usually celebrated with a huge party that rivals a wedding.  So, this being Elizabeth's 15th birthday, Elizabeth asked if she was going to have one of these big parties.

We compromised.

Our usual birthday festivities consist of a cake and a present or two, and that's pretty much it.  But this year, since it is her 15th, and since she has been working so hard, Jimmy and I decided to go all out and actually throw a party of sorts for her.

It was a blast!

She was allowed to invite 3 guests, so Fifth Child Annie was there, as were Maggie and Frances.  

The shindig started at 5:30 at our house with pizza, then we piled into the truck and headed out to Commonwealth Ave for a pedicure at Sugar Scrub.  I definitely recommend this place!  It wasn't cheap, but they treated us like queens!  Maggie's mom and dad met us there, and although Tommy didn't get a pedicure, I got the pleasure of getting a chair next to Christina  (yes, we are Christina and Christina.  On more than one occasion we have been asked if we are joking when we introduce ourselves to people when we are together!)  It was so relaxing, and the results were so fun!

Then, it was off to Old Town for some Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Then it was down to the docks to wait for the water taxi to take us to National Harbor.  The girls waited very patiently...

Then we were finally on the taxi!  One of our friends from church works for the boat tour company that runs the taxi, so he got us passes which made it all the more fun.

Once in National Harbor, we had to stop in the Gaylord hotel and play a card game or two,

but then it was out into the chilly weather to see the sights.

The Awakening is neat to see, but both Christina and I agree that it had a much better placement and design when it was on Haynes Point.  It's not put in the ground right anymore.  Or maybe it was the beach chairs around it in the sand that detracted....I don't know, but it just wasn't as impressive here.

The Peeps store was neat, but it was closed and so we couldn't get in and anyway, it said there was a storewide sale that didn't include the candy, so what's the point if you can't get cheap peeps?

Then there was just a bunch of running around and random pictures, but it was fun and a good way to spend the time before the taxi came to take us back.

By the time we got home, everyone was pooped, and went to sleep directly, but fun was had by all, and I guess that's what makes for a happy birthday!

Romeo! Romeo! Let down thy hair!

Or whatever those lines are....

Wait!  Here lies the slipper of my one true baby who is trying to escape his nap time!  Wherefore art thou, oh sweet Jesse!  If I were but to find the foot that will fit this tiny slipper, I could know whose head it is that must meet yonder pillow! 

Ah!  I see yonder socked foot!  And could it be?  Yes, it is but the dainty velcro shoe that matches the one that I behold here!  Come back, sweet baby!  Thou canst run from thine true destiny!  Thy will be mine to snuggle and tuck into thy wee bed!

One of the Signs...

...of a true man.

On the floor, diapering the baby, ready to tuck him in bed for his after-church nap.

Sigh...

I Have a Proposal for You...

 When Jimmy's boos, John, went to France for 10 or so days, I was asked to help Jimmy hold down the fort at the shop.  I agreed, thinking that it would be a simple task of helping deliver orders and maybe write an e-mail or two.  I mean, why not?  I used to do this all the time.  It's old hat to just take it up again for a few days, right?

I even went so far as to celebrate my ignorance by slipping into a little bakery in town and getting a little taste of France for the family.

But then, I saw the huge stack of papers...34 to be exact...that were stacked on the desk awaiting my attention.

It was a solicitation that we needed to write a proposal for.  It was for a company that we have been doing business for over the last 7 years or so, so John and I both thought that it would be no problem to just put in the basic info and send it off just to keep our company in the door.

But that was not so!  We needed to write a full proposal for a job that we were already doing...and it was due the week after John got back!

Well, neither John nor I have ever written a proposal like this, and the cost of getting one done professionally was was out of our price range, so, with John half a world away, it was up to me to write this proposal!

Of course, the first thing you have to do to be able to respond to a document is to understand what exactly it is that the document is asking for in the first place.  It took me the first 3 days just to read through the thing and cross out what didn't apply to us, mark what did, and highlight what I didn't understand.  Let's just say that there was so much yellow on those pages they probably would have glowed in the dark.

Then, I made a list of my questions and sent to off to the person who posted the solicitation in the first place, and his answer was that basically, we didn't need to do anything with the first 32 pages, but all we needed to do was listed on the last 4 pages, one of which was mostly blank.

With that news, I redid my markings and got on with it.  John was back by now, but since I had already started the whole thing, it was much 'easier' for me to just finish it and let him do the marketing stuff that he needed to be doing.

Anyway, I did the best that I could and turned that bad boy in on time on Friday morning.

Oh, and can I just throw out there that in the middle of this whole thing, we also went through a name change for the company, so all of our numbers, DUNS and CAGE and registrations, had to be switched to reflect our new name.

Anyway, come Monday morning, we got the notice that the solicitation was cancelled and we could resubmit in a few days after they post it again.

What?  Really?  All that just to have the whole thing cancelled?  Can they even DO that?

Well, I guess so.  But at least it's done for when they decide to open it back up!

C'est la vie!

The reason why...

Here is the reason why I have not been posting very often lately:

I can't get my computer to upload pictures.  Not off my card directly, nor if I put my card in a reader with a USB attachment.

And I want to post things like the pictures of Elizabeth at the ball, and other things like that, but since I can't upload pictures, then it makes it hard to say, 'Elizabeth went to a ball.  She was beautiful!'.  I mean, she was, and so was Fifth Child Annie, but you really need pictures to tell the stories!

We are working on it.  Jimmy has promised to look at it.  I hope he is successful.

Til then, I'll just have to put up postings with no pictures!

One a Month

In our family, we have a birthday every month from February-July.  Jesse was in February, and in March it was Gabriel's turn.  Then comes Elizabeth in April, Jimmy in May, me in June and Jo in July.  

Part of the 'resolutions' that I have made concerning our family is that we will be sure to celebrate everyone on their birthday.  Jimmy and I have been trying to reduce the 'gifty-ness' of Christmas, and so to compensate for that, we have decided to do more for each child's birthday.  We figure it means more that way anyway.  Each child can be specially recognized on their special day with a special day and their presents.

We can't always have a party on the actual day of the birthday, so in order to be sure that everyone can gather around and celebrate at least a bit on the actual day, we have started a new tradition of doing a special breakfast.  This worked even better for me since I had given up sweets for lent, and Gabriel's birthday falls right in that time frame.

Our weeks are often very busy, so we planned ahead and Elizabeth made a huge stack of pancakes on Tuesday.  She did a wonderful job on them!  They were perfectly formed and evenly sized with just the right amount of brown on them.  Beautiful!  We took those and wrapped them up with wax paper between them and put them in the fridge.  Then, Wednesday night, I whipped up a batch of whipping cream and put that in the fridge, too.

Thursday morning, I got up early and heated a stack of pancakes in the oven, leaving one cold to put on the top.  I cut a hole in the top one to put the number '3' candle in, and then stacked it on top of the warm pancakes, stuck the candle in and decorated the whole thing with the whipped cream.

Then everyone came downstairs and in their pj's we sang happy birthday, Gabriel blew out the candles and we had cake!  Pancakes, to be exact.  It was so much fun!

Next, we opened presents.  Well, actually, we opened present, singular because what I ordered for him online had not gotten here yet.

He was very particular about not ripping the paper, and finally he had to get some help from his big sister.

Yay!  A train puzzle!  He and Jo wasted no time in putting it together on the floor while I dropped Jimmy off at work.  It was a great start to a special day!

Then, when his other present FINALLY got here about 5 days late, he got to open that one, too!  I have a picture of it, but I can't upload it for some reason, but it's the cutest little guitar.  It's actually a musical instrument and not a toy, really.  It has metal strings and a very nice body that is white with different colored and sized polka dots all over it.  He absolutely LOVES it.  Elizabeth has a ukulele that we brought back with us from Hawaii, but that was more of a toy with the plastic strings that broke quickly and wouldn't stay in tune and he wore that one completely out, so we decided to go ahead and get him one of a little better quality.  He carries it everywhere and likes to take it in the car and strum it while he listens to and sings his favorite songs on the radio.  So cute!

So, we have not yet had an actual birthday party for him with a traditional cake and friends over and whatnot, but we did celebrate, and hopefully we can pull something together soon...before Elizabeth's birthday!