Happy Birthdayssssss!

I really like that the girls' birthdays are just five days apart. They're so competitive that it's nice to be able to do much of the celebrating together. Plus, they enjoy the same things, so they often get the same things, which is much easier to deal with when they are getting their gifts at the same time.

C kicked off the birthday season when she turned six. We had a quiet celebration at home with just us and the Mod grandparents. C picked out a menu of pepperoni pizza and a chocolate heart shaped birthday cake. Since her birthday follows closely on the heels of Valentine's Day, I'm sure that's why she was so adamant about the shape of the cake. The week before I ran across a recipe for chocolate ganache in the paper. I'm no cook, but I do love ganache, so I thought I'd give it a try. As luck would have it, not even I could screw it up! Yum!!

The birthday girl sampled the ganache and agreed it was fit for her cake.

The next day the girls each brought a friend for their annual visit with Chuck E Cheese. C and her friend had a great time. M's friend wasn't too sure what to make of it. Like any good hostess, M ditched her friend to pursue her own fun activities. Meanwhile, I tried to talk her friend into various activities, but the only one that piqued her interest was feeding the tickets you earn from games into the automatic ticket counter that made munching noises.





We tried to get a picture of all the girls together looking happy, but our suggestions to smile were met with resistance from one little party goer. So we resorted to turning it into a game - which seemed to work, as long as we didn't tell her to smile.

Roar like a lion!

Look silly!

Go to sleep!

Grandma and Grandpa Beachy made a trip in to town to take us all out to eat, and the girls got to open presents from them the next morning.


Then later that day we met C's birthfamily at McDonalds for another celebration. Although C wasn't shy about eventually requesting her presents, I was surprised at how reserved she was with the adults. She's normally quite outgoing with children and adults alike. Our shy one, M, was the one that snuggled up with C's birthmother when we attended her other daughter's basketball game after lunch.

I couldn't stop pondering the situation, and came up with my own theory as to why C was standoffish and M was perfectly comfortable with C's birthfamily. The next night I asked her why she seemed so shy. Without any prompting from me, she confirmed my theory that she was worried they might try to take her away. I assured her that while they like to be able to see her, and they love her too, they are happy that she is a member of our family. They don't want to take her away from us. I also explained that although foster children have been a part of our family and then gone away, neither of them were adopted by us. Both she and M are adopted, which means that they will be in our family forever and ever! She seemed to understand, but it remains to be seen whether she will be more relaxed at the next visit.




For M's fourth birthday, she requested chicken noodle soup and quesadillas for dinner, with popsicles for dessert. Go figure. I had to talk her into an additional dessert just so we would have something to put candles in. I have to say though, that with all the cakes and cupcakes we have had between our parties, and bringing birthday treats to their respective church and school classes, I was really ready to have something besides cake!



After six days of celebration, we wrapped up with the combined birthday party for all the locals in the Mod family to attend. It is by far the biggest party since P's family is so large and the girls have so many cousins. As giddy as I was for the birthday season to begin, it was a huge relief for it to come to an end!


A few days after things quieted down, we took the girls in for their annual birthday pictures, and decided to do a few of the family too - so be sure to check out the slide show at the top of the right column.

We are fam-i-ly (sing it with me!)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Since I'm extremely short on time, I'm just going to let the photos speak for themselves. My apologies for being so verbose!

Cousin Cal's baptism

C with cousin Kellene visiting from out of state. M was the photographer above.

Kellene is my youngest brother's daughter, but he couldn't make the trip.



Celebrating Kellene's 2nd and my 3xth birthday

Grandpa and Grandma "Beachy" with Kellene

Aunt Nikki with Kellene and Grandma

P's birthday

I haven't posted lately because something is wrong with my computer. It's slower than tar and I expect it to crash any day now. But at least everything's backed up, so I'm ready if it does happen.

This week was P's birthday. For the most part, it passed just like the days preceding and following it. He worked hard & had a stressful day. He came home from work later than anticipated. Pretty much the same ole, same ole. We did go out to eat at Olive Garden with his sister's family and his parents. The girls really are pretty good when we eat out these days. I am so loving the extra options that are opening up to us. C did complain initially that she didn't like her mac & cheese, but when her cousin told her that that was Brooke's favorite dish, she found her appetite and practically licked her bowl clean. (Brooke is her 13 year old cousin's good friend. She's at their house so much that I'm not sure C [or M] realizes that she isn't a cousin too. I'm not sure why, but the girls adore her!)

Our good friend "Mr. Hillbilly" had a birthday this week too, so we all (well, the adults) went out to celebrate at Macaroni Grill. I dare not say how late we were in arriving, for fear my extremely time conscious cousin has a coronary when he reads this and vows never to do anything socially with us again ; ) Suffice it to say, we were inexcusably late. In my defense, I have to say that it was 95% not my fault. They must really like us, because not one complaint passed their lips while we were with them. Despite our dubious start, we had a rollicking good time with them. We love you guys!

For many years I have vowed that we will never own a video game system in our family. Luckily, video games aren't really P's thing either, so it's never been an issue. When the Wii came out I decided that it wouldn't be the end of the world if one landed in our household, but we weren't interested enough to look into them or add it to our mental wishlists. Imagine our surprise when P's brother gave him a Wii for his birthday! I am finding his gift entirely too entertaining. P's played the boxing game a couple times and was really impressed that it caused him to break a sweat. I'm loving the tennis game. I haven't had anyone to play tennis with me since college. P watched as I played a game of tennis and baseball one night, and was surprised that I did so well. He apparently had no idea he'd married such an athlete : )

Well, I've had enough typing for now. For some strange reason, I feel the need to ice my right arm and take some ibuprofen.

Happy 3rd Birthday, M!

M is so funny! She doesn't grasp the birthday concept yet, nor is she overly excited about presents. What she is interested in is the cake! When I wish her a Happy Birthday, she responds with "Happy Birthday, Mommy". She also still wishes me a Merry Christmas each night after I put her to bed.

We finally worked out what she wanted for a birthday lunch (since Grandma and Grandpa At Home couldn't make it for dinner). She kept insisting that she just wanted cake, but finally agreed to Dad making hamburgers in addition to the cake.

She seemed to enjoy her presents, but after receiving her doll from Grandma she had no interest in opening her final present. C finally got her to open it several hours later.

We did take a break in the afternoon to go to her cousin's baptism, and then that night she got to pick any movie to watch. So we watched Night At The Museum, (sigh) again. I guess I should just be thankful it wasn't Jumanji.

Happy Birthday, my love! You bring such a wonderful spirit to our family, and it is my great privilege to be your mother!

Happy Birthday C & M!

P's family is quite large. When all of his family attends a function, we have 12 adults and 17 kids - which feels a bit overwhelming for me at our house. I should also point out that the extended Mod family is not a quiet family. If members of my family attends, it's an even larger group. Since our girls' birthdays are only five days apart, we just opt to have everyone get together once, off premises. Meanwhile, we still celebrate each birthday quietly at home on the date of birth. Anyway, this is the reasoning that leads to what feels like a busy week of birthdays!

Once again, the girls chose to celebrate at Chuck E Cheese. I remember I dreaded family birthday parties at Chuck E's before I had kids. Now it's payback time. This year we lucked out and the place was relatively quiet. C had a great time making new friends, M enjoyed playing the games, and I loved leaving the mess behind!!!

It appears that the best gift this year was the basketball hoop. It was a joint gift for them, and each girl got her own basketball.

Happy Birthday, again, C!

As I mentioned in our intro, both of our girls have open adoptions, although the degree of openness is quite different. Since C was born locally, we have regular visits with her birthfamily, at least once a year for her birthday. I feel bad that M won't have the same kind of contact with her birthfamily largely due to geographics, but also different circumstances. Hopefully she will understand as she gets older and it won't be an issue. I know I worry too much about things that haven't come to pass yet, but that's just what I do.

I've made a point of discussing adoption regularly with C. We have terrific photos of her birth (C-section) where she can see quite clearly that she is coming from her birthmother's tummy. I have no doubt that she "gets" these things because I've heard her explain them to others. Beyond that, she doesn't really understand yet her relationship to her birthfamily. We refer to everyone by name and I explain all members of the family based on their relationship to the birthmom - her mom, her other daughter, etc. I want to give her all the pieces of the puzzle now, and then as she gets older and can better comprehend, she'll see how the puzzle fits together in relation to her.

Anyway, last night we had a birthday party at McDonald's with C's birthmother and family. We had a pleasant visit while the kids had a great time playing! C came home last night excited about all of her "friends" and the great presents they brought her. This morning she climbed into my bed and asked me to read her a book - "How I Was Adopted" by Joanna Cole.

Happy 5th Birthday, C!

Well, birthday season at the Mod house is upon us. Our week is full of birthday celebrations - starting with C today. Tomorrow we have a birthday party with C's birth family. Then on Thursday it is a combined birthday party for C & M with all of our family at Chuck E Cheese. Finally, Saturday we'll have a small party at home for M.

The day started as any other, with C politely saying thank you when we wished her a happy birthday. About an hour into the day it occurred to me to explain to her that she was five years old now. "Now? Right now?" she asked. Once she realized that she was a year older already, the excitement kicked in. She checked the mirror several times to see how much bigger she looked. She stood up straight to show that she was taller.

We went to the grocery store to pick up things for her birthday dinner and she picked out her birthday cake. Surprisingly, she set her heart on the chocolate cheesecake sampler platter. Ahh, I love this girl!!! Since there will be plenty more cake to be had this week, I was more than happy to oblige. Oreo ice cream and daddy's favorite Carmel Caribou ice cream to top things off.

Since it was a beautiful sunny day, quite a rare commodity in the Pacific Northwest in February, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to the park. I hadn't taken into consideration the breeze, which didn't seem like much until we were shivering at our picnic table in the sun. We did still get some play time before we headed home to eat lunch in the warmth of our kitchen. Later the girls would go outside to play a little basketball with their uncle and cousin while I prepared for the event.

Sadly, Grandma and Grandpa At the Beach weren't able to come as grandma was in bed sick with the bug she picked up from C at their last visit. Sorry!

C was quite specific about what she wanted for her birthday dinner - chicken, rice, toast (french bread would have to do), and sandwiches (if you really want it, you'll have to make one with the chicken and bread). She balked at the green salad on the table because she didn't ask for that, so we gave her a one time pass since it was her special day.

The girls with Grandpa At Home

Thinking of her wish

Happy Birthday baby! I can't believe I've been a mom for five years now. We are so thankful and blessed to be your parents!