A Very Merry Un-birthday

March is an adored month around this house: Seth gets to go outside all the time, Jenny gets flowering blossoms, Eric gets March Madness, and Isaac gets his birthday!

E has to be gone for the big #4, so we had an early birthday party. Hats were custom embellished by E. Isaac, Amy, and Seth looked the cutest in them.

Cheese pizza was the center of our feast. It's Isaac's favorite.

Seth really dived in...I'm not exactly sure how one dives with one's mouth, but Seth did.

Birthday Tower of presents...

We started opening presents at the table, but in Isaac's mind presents should be opened in the front room, so we moved.

The ribbon seemed to go on forever...Isaac pulled it straight on, so it really could have gone on forever, just around and around the present.

More than anyone I know, Eric likes to get the perfect present for the people he loves best. He got an A++++ on Isaac's birthday present this year, the Bat Cave. We are talking hours of play.

Isaac and Mom,

We have been a happy pair for 4 years and 8 months.

Isaac loves to blow out candles.

He blew and blew, above the mark. So we lifted the cake to meet his blows. Happy Happy Birthday Isaac!

May the road rise to meet you...

I found this little Irish saying

Beagán agus a rá go maith.

Say little but say it well.

Saying "little" is hard...

especially if one has kissed the blarney stone....

which I have...

twice.

My first bouquet this St. Patrick's Day.

The 1st bouquet was brought to me in 2 and 3 little twigs at a time, and took about 15 min. to complete.

He just kept bringing them and bringing them...

And he kept making me happy and kept making me happy.

The little lad who kept bringing me clover love.

We wore green and ate corned beef and cabbage, and Eric actually liked it this year (gasp). I might not be Irish by blood, but I am Irish in my heart on St. Patrick's day. And this year we started a tradition with a little more meaning.

We talked about treasures.

True treasures.

"For where your treasure is there will your heart be also." Luke 12:34

If you look really closely, you may recognize a few faces on the gold coins at the end of the rainbow. For FHE we put them at the end of the rainbow. Eric got to pick the first treasure coin to put up. I suspected he would choose Isaac or Seth. He chose the gold coin with my picture on it. He chose me first. I got a big lump right in the middle of my throat. (Gulp) My cheeks turned red. I am still blushing after 8+ years of marriage.

We also talked about treating our treasures, well, like treasures.

Amy, Eric's younger sister, came for a visit. We are all Amy fans. Here Amy is playing Peek-a-Boo with Seth, and Seth is playing Peek-and-Peek-Some-more with Amy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I do love this wee Irish day, full of shamrocks, corned beef and cabbage, and green.

If a picture paints a thousand words...

If a picture paints a 1,000 words,

And the eyes are the window to the soul...

Then if you take a picture of someone's eyes, it's like a thousand word essay of deep soul analysis,

Yes?

Well, this little critter is Cute!

1,000 words NOT needed. Just one.

GROSS!

But we'll keep him anyway.

The windows to his soul tell of mischief and fun. The little glint in his eye might be the first indicator. Those windows are clear as glass if that is what they show. Ice cream is a precious treat, especially when dad ok'd eating straight out of the carton.
Isaac eating with gusto.
I'm flying! I just know it!
Hmmmm. Their mommy wondered if she should help them or watch them figure it out. I watched and they figured it out before I got my camera. So...I threw the ball back up there.
Homely people can have cute kids.

Here's proof.

This picture, oh this little man, my oh, mighty my.

THAT is shear pleasure, almost to pride, for having dressed himself.
9,000 words, baby.

And mostly what you see in the eyes is right on.

I spy

Isaac is full of mischief and humor and I ADORE him. He makes me happy. Today here are the things he did to make me happy:

Just now he said to me , "Hey mom, look at me." My little goof ball had his pants pulled up to his arm pits, and that made both of us chuckle.

I asked him if he wanted a Toaster Strudel for breakfast. While it was cooking he sang this little ditty, "Toaster Struuuuudel, Tooooooasterrrrr Struuuuudel, Toooooooasterrrr Struuuuudel." Toaster strudel AND a song. It hardly gets better.

"Hey mom, you wanna snuggle with me?" You betcha I do.

He brought in several books to read to Seff. "Isaac, bring 'em to me and we can read them on the couch." "No, I'm gonna read them to Seff." He spread the blanket on the floor and let Seth crawl in next to him, and read Seth a couple of books.

We went visiting teaching together. He heard we were going to a specific house and he gasped, "Mom, the Coupes love the Nationals! We gotta go home and wear our National clothes!" He was a little resigned to have to wear, "just our regular clothes." (I put that one in for you E)

We were driving home from visiting teaching and Isaac was playing "I Spy" with himself when I heard this "I spy...a mama who loves me." You betcha I do. Our eyes met in the rear view mirror and I grew in love with him all over again.

I spy...a little boy who makes his mama's eyes twinkle and her heart sing with laughter.

Give 'em your best

Isaac's best friend, Nathan, is moving to North Carolina. I am not sure if he really gets it but he gets how to be a best friend. Nathan's mom was coming over to our house for a tea party and Isaac was going to go to Nathan's and play there (with Nathan's dad).

As we were getting ready, Isaac hollered from his room, "Mama, I wanna give Nathan this." When I went in, I noticed Isaac holding our big fire engine. Uh, it was a used toy. First I had to battle with my pride. I tried to talk him out of it. Seth really loves it and their mommy doesn't mind playing with this particular toy either. Second I had to battle with selfishness. I really dont want to give it away. I really tried to talk him out of it. We cant get another one. So I just ask straight up "Why do you want to give that truck to Nathan?" "Cause he likes it."

Sometimes I get a true glimpse at who Isaac really is. He is generous and observant. I realize that this is the toy Nathan ALWAYS plays with when he comes over to our house, his favorite.

My mom makes homemade bread. Once, when we were talking over the phone about some finer points of the recipe she said, "Then wrap up your best, prettiest loaf and give it away."

So Isaac gave Nathan his best fire engine, and taught his mom a life lesson.

Oh what do you do...

In the winter time when all the world is white?

Do you find a snow slide

Or sit snug inside,
And watch snow fall lazily?

(This is probably one of my FAVORITE pictres of Seth. Love this boy. Also noted is that we have made a batch of cookies, a pan of brownies, and now we are making home made bread...while we watch the snow lazily dance down.)
Is that what you do?
So do we.

(Note: A couple of these pictures are from the pre-storm-storm)
For Tim because he requested it. And hope you are feeling better mom, hugs and snowy kisses from the South.

What's in a name?

My little niece was born February 7th.

We knew she was going to be a girl, but her name was a surprise. What was it going to be? I was sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation of hearing the name.

C'mon, what's it gonna be? I'm dieing here. So what is it? Grace. Ahhh. Cute. Love it. Breathing easier now.

Snow storms in the DC region the big snow storms also have names. For real. And for some reason I am taken in with the names. Again I am sitting on the edge of my seat. Come On! What's it gonna be? Snowmageddon came and went(feb 5-6) leaving us a record breaking 32.4 inches of snow. Whew. And just now we are beginning to see the flurries of...wait for it, wait for it....Snoverkill, as in Snow-over-kill. Ha ha.

From our front porch...every car on the street got dug out with the exception of our poor

Zoom Zoom car.

The radiator is warm but not hot. A great place for these two little fellas to toast their buns. Our Pathfinder is under there some where.

I may snicker at DC's whimpiness when it comes to snow storms, but it seems more legitimate that it's a bad storm if trees fall. And there were MANY that killed over...literally toppled over. This is the TOP HALF of our ever green tree in our back yard. Darn it. (Note: Eric would not let Seth or I sleep in the back room that night.

He's a cute worrier. We'll keep him.)

We have enjoyed the snow, and have especially enjoyed having Eric home for 3 work days...and probably another tomorrow. Isaac asked his daddy, "Do you work any more?" Ha ha. We are trying to teach Isaac to throw snow balls and not ice chunks. Seth likes the snow just fine. Snow that's all folks. Signing out from the center of Snoverkill.