Benjamin is 14!

Benjamin turned 14 at Young Men's camp this year, so I sent him to camp with some hastily-made (at midnight), unfrosted (at his request) cupcakes to share with his friends (as you can see his friends were super pumped about this). 

Miriam is 16!

Even though we spent most of Miriam's birthday being...busy...in general, and even though we knew we wouldn't be celebrating her with cake until Sunday, she still had presents to open on Saturday. Whereas Alexander had eight presents to open on his birthday, Miriam only had four, thus disproving the rapidly generating myth that children receive the number of presents equal to their age. They don't. It's random.

This post isn't about cake

 

Miriam's cake isn't finished yet. There's a load of laundry sitting on the couch. And my mummy bandages are in the dryer. 

We're doing review for our primary program again tomorrow and Alexander is letting me borrow his "spooky vibes" kit that he got for his birthday a few years ago when he was bemoaning the fact that our house was low on "spooky vibes." It's a stuffed pumpkin that has a number of spooky things inside that I thought we could pull out and that would tell us how we'd sing one of our songs. 

He couldn't find all the spooky things that go in the pumpkin (we're missing the cat—the big kids often hide it because when Phoebe finds it she likes to squeeze it and it has a little voice box inside that starts yowling...so...I don't know where it is and whoever hid it last can't seem to remember where it is) but he found a good number of things.

We have Frankenstein's Monster, which I thought the kids could sing in low monster-y voices for, with their arms out zombie-style. We have a witch, which I thought I could get our rhythm sticks out for and we can cast spells or stir cauldrons (tin cans) or something. And there's a mummy...so I pulled out Rachel's halloween costume from 2014...which I have kept in case my kids ever wanted to, you know, repeat a costume (that has yet to happen except for babies who have no say). They've been sitting in a box for over a decade so they were a little musty, so into the wash they went.

While listening to the spin of the washer spin and crackle of garbanzo beans (Andrew is soaking garbanzo beans to make Miriam's birthday dinner—she wants falafel and hummus), I assembled Miriam's cake and I thought about stuff. 

Having time to think about stuff is important. 

Alexander is 8!

Someone was giving away an expired gingerbread house on the Buy Nothing Group and because it had some autumnal vibes, I figured it would be a great way to ring in this season of gratitude. So for FHE on Monday—Canadian Thanksgiving—we put it together (and worked on some leaves to add to our thankful tree). We were very lucky that the kit came with seven distinct pieces to decorate (two roof tiles, four walls, and a chimney). That meant everyone got something to decorate! The instructions also suggested decorating the pieces flat and then putting them together, which for some reason I have never thought of doing...but it did make the whole project much less crowded.

Here's everyone working on their pieces...

Benjamin did a side wall and worked very meticulously on his vines and things:

Happy birthday, Andrew!!

Andrew turned 41 on Friday. He was at a conference for most of the day and Zoë and Alexander went to a church activity in the evening and didn't return until much later than we thought. A friend of mine gave them a ride since I had to get Benjamin to swim practice and couldn't be everywhere all at once. 

Phoebe was so excited when Daddy got home because she's had such limited time with him the last couple of months. She was really looking forward to him opening his presents (she loves birthdays) and was very upset when he decided to initiate bedtime before the kids come home.

"But Dad!" she wailed. "Mom said presents before bed!"

Lucky for Phoebe the kids arrived in time to rescue her from her having to wait one more day for Daddy to open his presents. 

Benjamin's 13!

Benjamin celebrated his birthday at camp this year—along with two other boys. Their camp leaders threw a little party for the three of them, complete with cake and candles. The highlight of Benjamin's time at camp was canoeing on the lake. He's also proud of the fact that they put four kids in a ten-man tent and stuffed ten kids on a two-man canoe—getting all into the stats side of thing. 

He was a little bummed that he missed the last swim meet (especially since Zoë did so well and he didn't get any ribbons at Fun Friday...because...well...he didn't swim), but he's excited that he gets to try swimming an IM at this coming meet (that's and "individual medley," where he'll swim butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle).

We opened presents after Fun Friday (so Benjamin is in his swimming suit). Phoebe wanted to have the best seat in the house right beside the birthday boy. And is she still in her pyjamas? Why, yes, she is! 

Phoebe is THREE!

Phoebe finally got to open her presents on Saturday morning. But first we had to finish folding the clean laundry, which she was excited about because sitting in laundry baskets is one of her favourite activities:

Miriam's 15!

Miriam turned 15 on Friday! 

She (and Rachel) had some friends over for a game/movie night so we had her birthday dinner and cake on Saturday, but she still opened her presents on Friday. She didn't have much on her list, but asked for some new clothes, some novelty pins, and a book. Most of what was on her list was actually marked "maybe for Christmas?" but that was probably because she only got me her list a few days before her birthday and knew those items would need more time to ship. 

For example, she wants new organ shoes. I can't find or ship those in a couple of days. 

Last time (or the last couple of times) we just got her (boys'/men's) latin dance shoes because they're cheaper than actual organ shoes but are...along the same lines. But now that she thinks her feet have stopped growing she wants real organ shoes. So we'll probably look into that for Christmas. 

Anyway, here's Miriam opening presents, with Phoebe right beside her so that Phoebe can be in charge of telling Miriam which order to open her presents in:

Alexander is 7!

Today is Alexander's birthday. 

It's also Canadian Thanksgiving. 

And Indigenous People's Day in the United States.

Sometimes I feel bad for celebrating Thanksgiving on what was Columbus Day in the States (since both Canadian Thanksgiving and that holiday land on the second Monday in October) because that might look like I'm celebrating Columbus Day (which I'm not), which losing its footing to the counter-celebration of Indigenous People's Day (with good reason). 

Though Canadian Thanksgiving has a separate history from American Thanksgiving it's truly no less colonial in nature. And the selection of the second Monday in October—though claimed to be because it's often the last nice weekend of the season—is suspect. Canadian holidays often align with American holidays even if we're completely unaware of it.

Ever heard of Family Day? It's a holiday that celebrates families—you get a day off of school and work and there are discounts at family friendly venues and it's great fun! It's the third Monday in February...which just happens to be when they're celebrating Presidents' Day south of the 49th. 

Coincidence? 

I think not. I really think it's simply convenient for Canadian institutions to have these kinds of "bank holidays" on the same schedule that the American Superpowers have their bank holidays.

But that's just my theory. 

Anyway, we had Thanksgiving dinner for Alexander's birthday dinner and Andrew went all out because we aren't hosting Thanksgiving this year (for the first time in a long time)! 

Here's our little harvest of garden carrots that we had with our meal:

Rachel is 17!

Somehow—almost impossibly—Rachel turned 17 today. 

She (and Miriam) had a game night with friends last night (so it was like a birthday party but without her having to be the very center of attention, which she doesn't particularly enjoy) and Rachel woke up to a flurry of texts from her FSY friends. 

Later in the morning she and I solidified her schedule for next school year. She'll be doing a full course load at BYU-Idaho and is particularly excited for a sewing class we found—Apparel Construction 1. 

Grandpa brought the kids home around noon. We opened presents soon after they arrived. Phoebe has actually been pretty okay with birthdays this year. I mean, the first few were upsetting, but she's realized that her turn is coming and rather than being upset by the ongoing anticipation she's chosen to be increasingly excited for when it's her day.

When she wandered into my room at midnight—soon after I'd finished wrapping Rachel's presents—she said, "Oooh! Are these presents for me?!"

"No," I said. "They're for Rachel."

"Oh," she said, slumping. "Okay."

She perched right beside Rachel the whole time:

Benjamin is 12!

Five years ago we moved to Georgia and then Rachel turned 12, and Miriam was still only 9, and Benjamin was barely 7, and Zoë was newly 4.

Zoë is 9!! And our very first swim meet!

It's the beginning of birthday season at our house. In the next six months we will celebrate all eight of our birthdays, a statistical improbability. 

Zoë opened her presents right around noon—soon after the kids got home from their swim practice. 

Phoebe is TWO!

 

Phoebe has been not-so-patiently waiting for her turn to have a birthday. It was quite the long wait for her, too, since her birthday is the very last one in the calendar year. I'm not sure what knowledge she remembered about birthdays prior to this year (though somehow she already knows a troubling amount of information about Santa—mostly that there is a man named Santa, who is very recognizable in his suit of red, who is supposed to bring her exciting presents. Why does she know this? I can't say. But she does), but she was reintroduced to the idea of birthdays on Zoë's birthday in May and she instantly fell in love with the idea. 

Presents? Cake? Everybody singing to you in an adoring fashion?

These were traditions she could get behind!

Miriam is 14!

 

October has been a rather busy month, and Miriam was rightly particularly worried about the week of her birthday. Last Sunday the youth had their Worldwide Testimony Meeting. Miriam played the piano for that at our building. We also had to be at the stake center earlier in the day for a musical rehearsal. Miriam and I both participated in Women at the Well, a musical production by Kenneth Cope, and although most of our meetings were via Zoom (so we had a number of Zoom meetings to attend), we also had to get Miriam together with the soloist she played for.

That performance was this Sunday. Miriam played Daughter, Arise. I was a narrator.

Miriam (and Zoë) also had their fall festival for piano on Saturday, for which they both had to play a number of memorized scales and pieces. 

Also, we had our ward Halloween party scheduled for Friday night and a multi-stake dance scheduled for Saturday night. 

Also, the youth were in charge of games for the ward party, so on Tuesday night they were supposed to meet to continue preparing for their game stations. Last week they met and made monster posters to go over the corn hole game and talked about other activities they could do—like doughnuts on a string and things like that. 

Instead, they had their own little Halloween party this week because for some reason our ward party was moved from Friday night to Saturday night. They announced this on Sunday and...it caused a bit of a stir because everyone had already planned out their weekend with the ward party on Friday evening. There was some discussion about whether or not the youth should "sacrifice" attending the dance in favour of running games stations at the ward party, but I told my older girls that was ridiculous and encouraged them to go to the dance. 

Serve others...and don't be a doormat. 

Like, there are only a handful of youth in our ward. It's good for them to get out and mingle with other youth in our church who aren't in our ward. If the conflicting dates had been a question weeks earlier, I might have encouraged my girls to be of service at the ward party, but...to have the rug yanked out from under them mere days before the dance, when they'd all been excited about their costumes and everything? I don't think so. 

They're still kids and kids get to be kids. 

Anyway, we had all of that going on the week of Miriam's birthday...plus Miriam's birthday. And the fact that we were just moving the girls from Grandpa's house to our house. And the fact that we were still due to get our carpet installed. In fact, the carpet was scheduled to be installed on Miriam's birthday!

(Unfortunately, the installers' van broke down so they weren't able to make our appointment and rescheduled for the following day. Miriam is still counting it as her most expensive birthday gift, however).

Here she is standing in her freshly vacuumed room that has a real ceiling, fresh carpet, an actual closet, and a door. It's like a real room!

Alexander is 6!

As I may have mentioned, Rachel and Miriam have been staying at Grandpa's house while we've been under construction over here. It's given us a little taste of what life might be like in the next five years or so, with both those girls grown and gone. And, really, it hasn't been so bad...but only because they're still close enough to come home for dinner.

They'll be happy to be back in their own room (soon), I'm sure. 

The last couple of nights, Rachel has stayed late working on Alexander's birthday cake, requiring rides home (to Grandpa's house) in the wee hours of the morning. I drove her home on Thursday night. Andrew drove her home last night. 

It's really kind of a strange dynamic we have at our house lately.

But Alexander's cake turned out beautifully. He requested an owl-shaped cake, which he felt would be a challenge for Rachel, who prefers to make round cakes. It would help her expand her skillset, he told her—help her grow in ways she didn't think she could. 

And it was a challenge that allowed her to explore several new techniques. 

Anyway, when Rachel and Miriam turned up at the house this morning, Alexander took one look at them and said, "PRESENTS!"

So that's what we did.

Miriam had helped wrap presents one evening when she was here late and we had them set out in the music room the last couple of days. Alexander mentioned that he decided for his birthday he might like to have some presents and I said, "Too bad. I don't think we have any of those."

"Can't I just have those presents?" he asked, pointing to the stack of presents.

"Oh, those presents? I guess so," I said. 

Here he is ready to open presents this morning:

Rachel is 16!

Today was Rachel's birthday and in the spirit of Throwback Thursday, we had a massive storm roll through right at dinner time, which knocked out the power, so we celebrated her birthday in the dark...just like we did four years ago!

Fortunately, Miriam had already finished decorating the cake and Andrew had already finished cooking dinner, so all we really had to do was break out the candles and finish eating. The lights flicked off and on a few times before snapping off completely. This was soon followed by a big crash, which set half the table to screaming. 

Grandpa was sure our house had been hit by lightning, but it was only a branch that had landed on our roof. Alexander and Zoë were already panicking and Phoebe evidently wasn't feeling too safe, either, when I decided to stand up to find the emergency candles. At that point Phoebe started screaming bloody murder, so I sent Rachel and Miriam down into the basement to find the candles while I calmed down the children. And then we all finished our dinner (which was orange chicken, made by Andrew (who didn't eat any because he doesn't like chicken)).

After we finished eating we got the cake ready...and went outside to assess the damage to our house (which all seemed to be superficial, thank goodness—when Grandpa went home he discovered that his neighbour had two big trees topple, though both trees decided to land away from any buildings, which was good news).

Here's the cake that Miriam made for Rachel:

Zoë's 8th birthday (a guest post by Rachel)

Two more of us fell to this week’s mysterious plague today: Mom and Grandpa. Because 2 of the adults were down for the count, Zoë had a pretty low-key birthday. In the morning we just hung out at the beach (Grandpa was still feeling alive at this point so he came with us). 

Commissions and commissioning (are everything in life...at least this weekend)

This weekend was rather industrious for Rachel and Benjamin, who were each working to fulfill their first commissions. Benjamin made a set of winter hats as a gift for the set of twins around the corner from us. When we babysat them at our house, their mom mentioned to Benjamin that they needed new hats this year and that she'd gladly pay him to make a bigger set for them. Benjamin's eyes lit up with dollar signs and he worked rather diligently on these hats for several days.

Phoebe's cake

As I've mentioned before, Phoebe loves Grogu. She has a ritual of saying hello to the Grogu in Daddy's office. She climbs onto the top bunk in the boys' room to visit with Benjamin's stuffed Yoda. And Alexander generously offered her the stuffed Grogu he earned while finishing up his potty training (but which he lost interest in since...well, it's not an owl). She just adores Grogu.

Miriam is 13!

Miriam has been 13 for over a week now, but I finally managed to get everyone's birthday balloon contributions for her tonight, so I can finally tackle her birthday post today!

I'll also share that she had a piano adjudication this weekend and was so worried that she had messed up on one of her songs (which she had to play from memory), but today at her lesson her teacher gave her her scoring sheet and she was ranked...superior. So she did just fine (and more than fine—excellently)!

She played Prelude in C (J. Bach) and was told she gave a "good solid performance with great continuity and memory," along with many tips to improve her piece (like, "if you use 5-3 fingers at the end of the measure, you might be able to connect to the chord at the beginning of measure 4, which would really add a lot to the sound here").

She also played Solfeggietto (CPE Bach) and received similar instruction and appreciation for her hard work. 

It truly is a joy to listen to her play, to watch her enjoy something so much, and to have her share her love of music with others. Sometimes I think back to those early days in Durham when I was teaching her piano lessons and my mind is blown because she took the rudimentary knowledge I could give her and just...has run with it. She knows way more about music than I probably ever will and plays so beautifully! And she's so gracious about it, too!

The other day I was stumbling through a piece that she'd arranged and I mentioned something about how fluent she is with music. Like, she can see music and know just where to place her hands while I still have to pick my way through things. And she can hear how music might work together in her mind and is able to put it on the page...another thing that I really just struggle to do. 

And she just smiled and told me that I'm fluent in other things, that it takes all kinds of people to make the world run, and that you don't have to be fluent at something to enjoy it (that is, it didn't bother her that I was stuttering my way through her piece one bit).

So, you see, she's wise, too!