Sunday, March 27, 2011

Isaac Turns 9

I am suffering my second camera catastrophe in less than a year. I was getting ready to download my most recent pictures from my brand new Christmas present camera this morning, and I somehow managed to completely strip the place where the USB port enters the camera. So no pictures from Isaac's school patriotic program...no pictures from his birthday...no pictures from the Where's Waldo activity our youth participated in last week.

I'm feeling glum...and frustrated...and angry...and hungry...but that's because it's Fast Sunday. Anyway, I decided that I can't fall back into the old trap of thinking I can no longer blog without photo evidence so I am trying on a positive attitude and if I manage to get the camera fixed, I can always add the pictures to the post later, right?

Last week Isaac turned 9. We had a party with 9 of his friends at Planet Play. Basically this is an establishment that is the crossroads between the baby-ish "Chuck E Cheese" and the obnoxious teenage hangout "Boondocks." Although I know it's less expensive to throw parties from home, you have to love the ability to let someone else do all the work of entertaining 10 feral boys. Isaac is a mild, good-natured, cheerful boy...but let's face it...Laser Tag is a far more appealing "boy cage" than pin the tail on the Donkey.

Sunday was Isaac's actual birthday, so we focused on celebrating together as a family. I have decided this year that I want to implement more family traditions, and one idea I had was to make a "birthday poster" for our family members on their special days. I made it and Anna helped me decorate it, and then I asked every family member to write a special message on it for Isaac. I could tell that it meant a lot to him to read kind words from his sometimes taciturn and teasing older brothers. We hung the poster up in the kitchen and have left it up all week.

After church, Isaac requested a special dinner of "make your own pizzas." We had aunt Kim and some friends from the ward over and loaded on all of Isaac's favorite toppings. Usually when we do pizza, I make salad to go with it. As most people know, Isaac would rather eat a fried worm than a piece of lettuce, so for an added birthday treat, we dispensed with his nemesis. My children all have rather refined palates when it comes to treats, so Isaac had requested his birthday candles be ignited on individual "Molten, Chocolate, Lava Cakes." We spent the evening playing games, watching Veggie Tales, and hanging out. All in all, a satisfying weekend.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Deja vu

I felt the need to re-post this entry this morning for some reason.

Ode to a Utah Spring