My Anthony is NINE!

I know, he’s big he looks nine…but really, nine? I mean, I know HE runs faster than the wind but does time have to? Gee whiz.  My Anthony is nine.

And he’s some great kid! He’s smart and funny and kind and sweet and good. He’s fast and sharp and can kick a ball faster and farther than I can see.  He’s handful and he’s a lamb.  He’s my sweet boy.

And today he is nine.  And we love him and are SO proud of him.

Happy Happy Birthday sweet Anthony! Nine is a fantastic age (and your last year of single digits, wowee)!

We are so proud of you!
We hope all your birthday wishes come true!!

We love you!

Oh my Gabey…he’s NO baby!

No.  He’s six.

Of course he’s getting the book, duh!  That’s tradition.

But anyhow, all I can say is that this sweet boy is growing into the most delightful boy.  He is SO six.  A stupendous six.

We love you sweet Gabey!

We hope ALL your birthday wishes come true and are SO proud of you!

Happy Happy Sixth Birthday!

“But now I am six, I’m as clever as clever;

So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever”

Oh my, my Emmy is fourteen!

My girl, who has a heart of beauty that surpasses all…she is a wise old fourteen today!

She’s my other “old soul” in the house and I hope she has a fabulous happy birthday! She’s the only kid who gets a visit from Peter Joseph for her birthday, so that’s pretty special too.  The WHOLE family here to celebrate with her; yeah, because she’s all that.

Happy Birthday beautiful Emily!

We are SO proud of you and love you so!

Extra jolly because it’s my Sarah’s birthday!  Fourteen!

My Christmas beauty is fourteen! And she still outshines any sparkling ornament on the tree.

We love you Sweet Sarah!
We are so proud of you and hope all your birthday wishes come true!!!

It’s Marta’s Sixteenth Birthday!

I would say we can’t believe it but of course, she’s been anxiously waiting for this big birthday and reminding us and everyone she knows or meets that it is her birthday, today.

If this pic doesn’t say “birthday” I don’t know what does!

Marta is going to have a good year ahead I think! School is going well, as a sophomore  she is back in the groove with the role as the girls varsity basketball team manager (she even has other frosh managers to boss around, she’s in heaven!).  And, for her most special birthday present, she got her hearts desire. No, not to drive, though you’re right. THAT would be her hearts desire.  But, her OTHER desire: to see a concert.  So, she and her sister both got bday tickets to a concert for tonight, each get to bring a friend and Dad and I get to go be the old fogies at the Regina Specktor concert.  I hope it’s teen friendly and fun.  I know it will be a thrill for Miss  Marta, her first concert EVAH…..

Anyhow, our Marta.  You are just such a teenager girl!  Happy moody bubbly sleepy talky fashiony picky silly crazy moody funny girl, through and through.

We wish you the very happiest of Birthday’s.

We love you!

And hope you have a Sweet Sweet Sixteen!

Happy Happy Birthday!

We are so proud of you!

Now, CAKE!!!!

>Ah my little man is seven now.
Anthony, seven…and yes, a little man.
He is a wild and rascally seven year old, as all self respecting seven year old boys should be.

Today has been much anticipated and planned for….
precise orders on dinner and dessert and pleas for specific gifts.
It didn’t land on the Super Bowl like some years (last year), which is just the pinnacle of birthdays in boydom…but it’s still just a great bright spot in the winter of February.
It puts a smile on my face, knowing this boy and celebrating this birthday:

Anthony, Little Man, you came to us at three months old.
And I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw your beautiful sweet face.

You’ve been making us laugh and roar ever since.
You have a heart of sugar spun gold: sweet and good.
But tempered with a mischievous bent and a instinctual swift dive for the goofy joke.

You are a loving boy with compassion built in.

You race through your world like a comet.
You run fast and hard,
jump high,
laugh loud and easily,
smile big,
think deeply,
chew happily,
stay up late,
sleep in hard,
snuggle close.

You have developed, this past year, a really cool artistic side.
You have a great ear for music and already are fun to listen to as you play on the piano.
You sing in the car when you’re happy; you did that as a toddler too and it’s one of my favorite things.
You have a great eye for drawing, with terrific attention to design and talent to draw what you are imagining.
You have an eye to really see the world around you; to notice the details with an artist’s appreciation.
This artistic blooming makes my art mom’s heart swell with happy.

You love to play hard.
But you also love to dress snappy.

You are the most dapper seven year old I’ve ever known.

You have a temper to beat the band; it is almost bigger than you are.
You are learning to slow down that firecracker temper and find the gentle underneath.
It will be many years of lessons there.
But you will learn it, it’s your nature.

You are so smart.
And this year you are taking off with your schoolwork.
You are becoming a terrific reader and that too makes your book loving mom proud.
Because reading is power and can open up the world for you.
You have big adventures ahead Little Man, I know it,

And so on this day, your birthday, you may be seven.
But I can still sing you your song from babyhood:
“Oh, my Anthony…
you’re the one for me.
I just love you so, 
never gonna let you go.”

>

I would say, “Happy Birthday Gabey Baby!” but I’m not entirely sure I’m allowed to anymore.
Because this ‘baby’ is FOUR.
Four!
Well, as the mom, I retain certain inalienable rights, so I’m gonna shout it anyway (and probably will to his great chagrin, for the rest of his life):
Happy Birthday Gabey Baby!

I love this boy.
He IS the baby of the house.
But he is NO baby.
He is a big boy now and he knows and he relishes it.

Because at four:
Gabey goes to school, just like the other kids.
And he loves it.
He cries when he wakes up and it’s not a school day.
He grins and does a little actual jump for joy when he wakes up and it IS a school day.
He tells me about his best friends at school.
He proudly shows me his “green card” for being good, the daily stamp.
He looks for me in the pickup line and grins and hugs me tight.

Gabey loves his big brother Anthony more than anything;
they are best buddies through and through.

 
Gabe loves to play with cars and trucks…
….and balls and sticks and bikes.
And, thanks to his big brother Jon, nerf dart guns. 
He loves to watch tv and read books.
He has been sucked into the recent zu zu pet fad, oh dear.
He loves to play games and insists even on playing bananagrams.
And so he does.

Gabey is a good eater.
He loves cookies beyond anything else that there is to eat.
Unless it’s cake.
But that really means only the frosting…
He loves hot dogs.
But not the buns.
He loves ketchup on anything and everything, from fries to eggs to pumpkin bread.
No kidding.
Yes, it kind of grosses us out too.
His drink of choice is water.
Which kind of baffles his mom, knowing his penchant for unhealthy goodies.

He loves his dogs.
Sometimes too much.
They have learned to hide if he looks like he is in head hugging pulling tight like mad mode.
He will grow into a good dog buddy.
Perhaps the puppy and my boy will all grow into calm together?
It may take a bit; wild fun is the name of all games right now.

Gabey is learning to love books.
This makes me, his mom, do my own little jump for joy as I love them too.
His favorite time to read is bedtime.
It makes my  heart swell up, watching him read to himself in bed, kinda lazily perusing a chosen book.
But it can’t last long, because Gabe is no night owl.
He likes to think he is, never wanting to go to bed.
But if you can just get him IN the bed, and things quiet for a few minutes…
he settles down fast. 
We sing our song, ending with a quiet soft “yay.”
And then he lays back, his eyes drifting and then a flutter; to sleep.

But today he is up!
He will take cupcakes to school, oh boy!
And he will have his requested hot dogs for supper.
And we will have another Mickey Mouse cake after.
And we will sing and laugh with my big sweet four year old boy.

>

What a way to start the year off right: to be able to wish my big sis a happy bday – for all the world (or handful of blog readers) to see and hear.  I love my sister!

I wish I was there to walk to the bagel store and yak along and buy some hot coffee and bagels to go;
blowing on the hot coffee and trying not to spill as we laughed and mosied back to her house, stealing time together before we were dunked back into the pool of loud happy kids at her house. 

I wish we could go to the spa and sit in the sauna and talk about girl stuff, then go across the street to Border Grill and have margaritas and mexican food. 
I wish we could shop and she could scold me on my frumpy fashion sense as I teased her about her ridiculous shoes, while secretly coveting the fabulous ones. 

I wish we could read the paper and watch the LA news, mocking the weather girls, and tssking about the current crop of teen movie star wannabees…in her quiet early morning kitchen before the kids found us up.
I wish we could solve all the family’s and world problems as we drove around Santa Monica, sidestepping the political potholes and just watching the world go by.

I miss her. 
I think she  misses me.
I have one sister who shared my bedroom and ignored me and my dramas as I grew up…but she means everything to me.
I idolized her and wanted to be just like her.
When we get together the energy level skyrockets, then we both crash in happy exhaustion.
She has my back and I have hers.
We will call each other out, but also cheer each other on.
We are so different, in so many ways.
But she’s my sister and wish I could give her big bday hugs in person.
I can’t, but I’ll do my best to in cyberspace and over the phones.
And we’ll take a rain check on the spa and margaritas!

>It’s my Dad’s birthday!
He’s a still going strong 79!

I can’t tell you how much I wish I was there with  him, to hug him and peruse the paper over good strong hot coffee…
to discuss the merits of coffee and coffeemakers…

to bring all the loot (Read; donuts.  Yep. We throw those diabetic worries to the wind on these rare mornings…ahem….) back to the house and wait for Mom to wake and pad out to the kitchen and join us…
and continue our lazy morning pondering.

I wish I could discuss the latest books we’ve read, what we liked, why, what we didn’t and why….
solve life’s ongoing problems,
plan the futures of all the grandkids,
fine tune the lives of the siblings,
generally save the world – all from our comfy spot on the stools around the kitchen counter.

I would make him tamales and pour him some wine,
we’d discuss why Notre Dame’s team is gonna get better even though he is unconvinced.
But we’d watch today’s bowl game today anyhow, I’d shout and he’d tsk at the fumbles and shake his head.
I know my sister would show up and we would all get a bunch of laughs and Dad would get more bday hugs.
We would all agree that hanging out for a quiet birthday is simply and truly the very best way to spend New Year’s Eve; that there is no other place we’d rather be.
We’d both start nodding off in front of the television,
and I’d peck his cheek as he got up to head to bed, shaking his head at the goofy dogs he his “housing” for my brother {but that he secretly likes quite a bit}.
He would pat my head goodnight.

I’d wish him one more happy bday, and wish him goodnight.
Because I love him.
He’s my dad.

>

It’s a great day for a birthday, in the quieting week between Christmas and New Years, we have one very important day to mark: my sweet Emmy’s birthday!

It might be easy for Emmy to feel lost in the shuffle of holiday festing frenzy.  But never, oh never, do we want that to happen…because our Emily’s day is the sweet close to the year.  It reminds me, each year, of the goodness of God’s abundance and makes me grin at the gift of this sweet wonderful girl!

Our Emily, virtually twinned with her sister Sarah, and yet so very different.  They share a special bond; but are so unique in their own ways. I can’t imagine life without either one, but today, is my Em’s day so this list is for her.

My Emmy, now you are twelve.
And you are still possibly the most stubborn, strong willed child in my house…though many would like to steal that crown. 

But I’m not sure they can, nor would I want them to. 
Because your strength of will means you will have one of the tools that will help you go far and do whatever you set your mind to do.  
You can set the world on fire, I daresay you will.

You are an animal lover:
Geckos, cats, horses, dogs – most especially jumping dachshund puppies.

You are a lover of sports as well: basketball, swimming, boating, volleyball.
Which works well since you are an impressive athlete.

You love to learn to cook, which works well since  you love to eat.
You have sophisticated taste buds: shrimp, pasta carbonara, toffee, berries, coffee drinks, antipasta salami and olives and cheeses.
Which would work well as you travel the world in your adventures to come….
except that you are a homebody and might be most content to hang out around the house, preferably in flannel pj pants.

You are a terrific friend, loyal and kind with a keen sense of justice.
Which makes middle school a little prickly and painful at times,
and will probably do the same for high school…
but will be a golden toolbox for college and beyond.

You are so smart, but don’t always admit it.
YOu will make a most excellent marine biologist one day;
and I will come tour your aquarium and clap with amazement at your work, so proud I could pop.

In the meantime, I watch you growing, so fast, into a young lady.
And I am already so proud I could pop.
So is your pop.
You are good through and through, my Emmy….{despite your moody self sometimes}.

So on this  your birthday, we wish for all your birthday wishes to come true (except for the permanent pet gecko one).
And we want to  make sure you know, for now and for ever, how very much we love  you.

>

My eldest brother and the one I don’t see nearly often enough.
So much so that finding current pics is like finding a needle in a haystack, so I’m going with the fun old ones.
He’s a mountain man at heart, a GIA certified jeweler (I know! Cool, huh?!),  an entrepreneur now importer/exporter, and a world traveler extraordinaire.
He’s the kid in our family that would alway surprise you, and at the same time, NEVER surprise you.  Because with Dave, anything could happen.
Always.

He was the one to strike out, on his own, across the globe.  Totally and utterly self-sufficient – an Eagle Scout you know – he was kind of an early version of “Man vs Wild” but without the gross out food stuff and the video cam strapped to his pack.
He likes to pose as a gruff curmudgeon, but he has the best of hearts under that and his twinkly eyes give him away.

He can make me laugh til I cry, he is innately funny, always has been.
I love him to pieces and am sending him bday hugs from the south.

>My first daughter, Hannah Banana is fifteen today!
Oh My Goodness!
I know, I know, I say it all the time, but really, ya just don’t get used to it..this whole kid getting older thing. I mean, you DO, but  you don’t.
Not me, anyhow.

Then again, she is an amazing fifteen!
My Hannah.
She is dragging me today to the driver’s station to take that test, of course.
And I will let her drag me and hope she will pass the test, and I suspect she will.
Because she is smart, and what’s more, she has a good feel for the road and the car (in the few parking lot sessions we’ve  had). 
That said, I can’t even look ahead to sixteen and on the road, because it makes me a nervous wreck.  But that’s next year’s post! So, back to this day, this momentous day.

Hannah was our first daughter, hence, our entire universe and understanding of same was rocked that morning she came into the world! Indeed, the heavens opened up and clapped thunder and lightening  to announce her arrival.  We should’a taken it as a sign, no?  Yes.  Because this sweet fifteen year old girl is all about taking the world by storm.  She is a drama queen in all the good ways, and only a few of the not so good ways….(but it’s all her age and I’m quite sure she will grow right out of that…..)..and always has been.

Our Hannah is big-hearted, beautiful, loud, wonderful, moody, smart, strong-willed and just plain good.
She loves her school and her friends to distraction, literally.

She loves to cheer and loves her squad.
She loves to sing and play music.

She loves to sun and swim and boat.
She loves the beach, maybe more than anywhere else.

She loves to text and talk and text some more.
She loves to watch bad tv and stay up late.
She loves to go to the movies, almost any movie we will allow, any time we will allow.
She hates when we don’t allow her to go to movies.
She thinks we are too strict.

She is almost at the point of “knowing everything.”
 But not quite.
However, she is at the point now of “texting everything.”

She loves to read and can get lost in books, just like her mama.

She loves a rollercoaster, then and now.
She loves to cook, sometimes, and sometimes, loves to invent new yummy recipes.
She is a terrific and loyal friend.

She is a terrific and loyal sister.
She is a terrific and loyal daughter.

She is artistic and creative and loves art and music.
She is a terrible mess in her room and her things; organization is not her strong suit.

She loves to travel and see the world, like her dad.
She loves her faith and is courageous in defending it.
She loves to debate, anything, from current events to apologetics, or fashion or curfew.
She is opinionated and really, couldn’t be anything otherwise, coming from this gene set.
She is not shy, she is extroverted, outgoing and blows my mind at that.
She could be called a wee bit headstrong.
She is a talker, like me, which can be a blessing or a curse (as I know so well).

She worries her brother – that she will become the standard modern teen diva.
But I know better, she is not that.
She is more.
My Hannah blows me away with her integrity and compassion and willingness to step outside the box…..and I can’t wait to see what she grows into as she truly comes into her truest self.
She is well on her way.
And her dad and I couldn’t be more proud.

 So today on her birthday, we both want her to know how proud we are of her, and how very much, we love her.

And that, yes, the drivers testing station is open til five.

>

We celebrated with the family last night, because we get the fun bday activity of driving through the hot flat Indiana cornfields today to drive our son Jon (And Julianne, welcome honey, please ignore the crankyness and snuffling as I drive…tell your mom I really am stable.) up to school and get Jon settled into his dorm for Frosh Orientation and the start of school. Whoohoo. 
Not the optimal birthday event, but a dad’s gotta do what a dad’s gotta do.
 And that is just one of the reasons we love him so. 

 

Here are some more.  

We love our Tom/Dad
He is funny,
he is an adventurer,
he is a terrible cook,
because he is totally left brained
and thinks linearly
and only does one thing at a time,
which can be a great gift
if you’re doing surgery and putting in a new knee,
but not so great if  you are making a meal.

 He has a sweet tooth and loves cookies best of all,
especially if they are homemade.
He is a man’s man and loves to have a beer
and laugh at dumb jokes outside,
preferably on a boat or by the water,
but he is also a romantic,
who loves to go out to a quiet dinner with me,
and share a drink and smooch.
He is also a gentle dad,
who will comfort the tears of a frazzled daughter,
and hang with his boys listening to music
late into the night.

 He is an adventurer,
having jumped out of airplanes,
and snorkeled around the world,
traveling anywhere at the drop of a hat,
and getting twitchy when he has to stay at home too long.
Which is a direct odds with me, his wife,
and yet he works hard to tamp down that urge
so he can be around for me,
and his kids.

He is somewhat indulgent,
agreeing to a new puppy,
when he was perfectly content with our old dog,
and even assenting to a small little doxie,
when he has historically been staunchly opposed
to any small dog.
Which means he is essentially a pushover,
for his girls.
That’s something of an open secret.
Ssshhh.

 He is a dreamer,
always thinking big,
and usually complicated,
and often just a little bit beyond the pale,
pushing just a bit beyond the margins,
stretching himself and us all to do more than we think we can.
Which is why he has done many
and many wonderful things,
some might say radical things,
in his amazing life.

 And it’s why we are all so glad that we too
are along for the ride.
Because life wouldn’t be the same without him.

 He loves his faith,
he loves his work,
he loves his friends,
he loves his family,
he loves Italy,
he loves technology,
he loves to laugh,
he loves art, and food, and music, and prayer,
he loves his Church,
 he loves the beach,
he loves his boys,
he loves his girls,
he loves his wife…
he loves life.
And we all love him back.