Pics or Treats!

My cousins trick-or-treated at my place yesterday with their little boys.

Baby Ben (now 5 months old) arrived as an adorable little pumpkin.

His cousin Lucas (age 4) came as a dinosaur.  Rahr!

And then Ben magically changed into a penguin!

Questions at age 4

I’m guessing that age 4 must be when kids’ brains are ready for a lot of comparative reasoning because I’ve had weekly conversations with my cousin’s boy that revolve around:  which is bigger, which is stronger, which is faster.  The question for today completely cracked me up.  Are you ready for this:

“Which is easier:  making ice cubes or building a house?”

I love this age! 

A time to mourn, a time to dance

I have always loved the Ecclesiastes text that is read at funerals and talks about the season for everything — a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what was planted, etc.  My favorite part is that mourning and dancing are presented as counterbalancing seasons — “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…”

My Mom and I returned home early from our trip to Mackinaw when we learned that my piano teacher’s husband had died, and services were today.  My piano teacher has been my “extra Mom” for almost all of my life (in addition to the best piano teacher anyone could ever ask for), and she and her husband are such dear and kind people and central characters in my life, for sure.  They had a lovely service for him today, and a large crowd of tearful friends and family.  A time to mourn.

But, there were also great laughs and gorgeous music, and the music reminds us of the other season to come.  A time to dance.  And dear Mr. D would want us to dance!

That’s what friends are for

In the wake of my decision to leave school, I have been receiving so many messages of support from friends and family, near and far.  This kind of response is what I would wish for anyone who has changed their life course and made a new plan.  One of my friends said that I have a whole tribe of people cheering me on!  I appreciate that more than any of them will ever know, I’m sure.

I have an odd month ahead now, with few commitments beyond a brief trip up north later this week.  I am more free than I’ve been in a very long time.  It’s weird.  And good.  I have had about six trips in mind that I could take in these weeks!  Trips to see friends and cousins and babies — oh so many babies in North Carolina, West Virginia, New York, and then those way far away babies in California!   I’m not sure any of these trips are likely to happen on short notice, but it’s been fun to think and wish.  In the meantime, I’ll spend some days here visiting friends and chatting over lunches and being lifted by their support and humor and friendship.  It is good to have friends.

Happy Baby!

This is Christian Joshua, the first of the five 2009 babies in my family!  And he lives in North Carolina, so we didn’t know when we’d get to see him.  Everyone was thrilled that he and his mom could fly up for his Grandpa’s party!  He is a super sweet baby and smiled at everyone.  And I think if you put 100 babies in a room and asked me which one was related to me, I could have picked him out easily — he sure looks like our family babies!

U.P. Trip Photos

During my recent trip, I saw my grandmother, two uncles, two aunts, eight first cousins and their families, and three of my Mom’s cousins and their families.  That was roughly a zillion relatives!  We saw the most relatives at my uncle’s retirement/birthday party, which was held at my cousin’s house right on the water.  A great setting, despite chilly weather.  I forgot to ask permission from various cousins to post photos of their kids (especially the new babies!), but here are a couple of shots from the party.  As my mom said, I was getting great shots of people’s backs that day!  Ha! 

A couple of days later, we drove to Ontonagon and had lunch on the shore of Lake Superior.  Here are some photos from that day.

Home again, home again

I’m back home!  And I have to be at work in less than eleven hours.  Boo!

I’ll quickly sum up my trip, by the numbers (totally stealing the idea from another blogger…):

Miles traveled:  1,341
States visited: 2
Hours spent in the non-Michigan state: 3
Deer seen:  4
First-cousins seen:  8
Other relatives seen: about a zillion
Babies held:  1
Chocolate-free s’mores eaten: 1 (yum!)
Pictures taken:  87
Meals eaten on the lake or canal shores: 4 (or five?)
Mosquito bites:  None!

A good trip:  priceless

Off to the great upper peninsula

Tomorrow morning, I have my annual physical, and then I’m leaving town!  Away from work and school and doctors and the internet, thank you very much.

My Mom and I will head north after my appointment tomorrow morning, and I’ll see many generations of family in the days ahead – from my grandmother who is 89 to baby Christian Joshua who was born in March!  So hopefully there will be baby holding, and for sure there will be picture taking!  I’m taking two cameras to keep up with everything.

We’ll be gone for several days, and I didn’t set up any blog posts to post magically while I’m away, so my blog will observe several days of silence…

Have a great week!  Keep an eye on the world for me.  *hugs*

Baby #5 of 5 has arrived

Another baby girl in our family! 

Baby Bella arrived today in California (so far away!).  She is the last baby of this amazing baby boom in my family where we’ve added five babies in 2009, plus two in autumn of 2008.  Seven babies in 10 months!  Crazy, wonderful times!

And, for five of my cousins, these are their first babies, so we could go through another baby boom in a couple of years when they are ready to add to their families again!

Kid Day

When I was leaving Lucas’ birthday party this evening, I said, “Happy Birthday!”  He said, “Thank you for coming!  Am I 4 now?!”  I said, “No, you’ll be 4 tomorrow.”  He just sighed.  He’s been waiting to be 4 for a long time.  Here are a couple of photos of the birthday boy, looking so grown up.

And here is the birthday boy’s cousin Ben, now almost 6 weeks old and on the verge of smiling on purpose!  So adorable.