Birthdays, 2015, Part A : )

On this past Thursday morning, as I was waking up and thinking about the day ahead, I came to the conclusion that for the first time since at least a week before I officially went back to work in early August, I was reasonably caught up with myself work-wise. Whew! Almost 2 months of frantic, always feeling behind, definitely stressed and over full days. It's not that I'm now on top of every detail, but I've shifted into being out of constant panic mode and into manageable. A nice place to be! (Deep breath!)

One of the blessings of a large family is that there seems to be a birthday around every corner. We start off the year with Stephanie and Claire:

Then come the birthday twins Simeon ...
 

...and Jordynn, who was 18 in January--an important milestone;

LIz was 10 in February, a double digits celebration; 

Cherith was "Sweet 16" in May;

June gives us both Micah at the beginning of the month and Alice at the end. This year they celebrated with an "Alice in One-derland" theme;

 
Melissa, Phil and I are May, June, July. Phil finally got his yearly made-from-scratch German Chocolate Cake when we celebrated while we were at Jeshua and Sara's in late June. Nice to have Grands helping make and decorate!

After we all came home from camp, Andrew turned 5 in July (caught him in a still moment--enjoy it while it lasts as he's usually in motion!).

Jeshua finally comes along at the end of August (photo taken in June).
 

Then we get a break until this past week, when Jen turned 33 on October 5. If we're calling "10" double digits, I guess we'll call this "repeating digits!" 

For her birthday I gave her a craft morning. And those words bring me back to the beginning of this post...I finally felt like I could share my time without adding to my stress level. So this morning, the children, Jen and I had a Hobby Lobby field trip, added our pretties to some treasures out of her craft stores and mine and made good use of the leftovers of last year's Christmas tree that Phil had cut into slices for me for a school project. 

 

Busy at work.

The finished product...

 ...and on the door.  Beautifully adds a touch of fall!

A nice stress-free way to spend a morning. 

So now we get another break until November, then the December deluge comes!! But I guess I'll save that until they have come and gone...a Part B to look forward to. 

Meanwhile I'm enjoying the calm, engaging in a few projects of my own and am counting my blessings! God bless us, every one!