Girlie's Twelve *sniff* <:-}

Okay, so ... I think it's pretty much a well-known fact by now that our children do NOT request typical 'kid food' for their birthdays. No hot dogs and hamburgers, no mac & cheese, no pizza. Nnnnnnno...!!

Natasha requested Cocido, which Jeremy and I learned to like after experiencing it in a Guatemalan restaurant in Tucson. Beef short ribs make the broth, and are the meat. You see the corn on the cob. Carrots, celery, onion, potato, zucchini, green beans, garbanzo beans, and canned tomatoes are the veggies therein. Garnish with grated cheeses, parsley, minced jalapenos, serve with Fresh Chunky Salsa (*gasp* - WOAH, YUM) and fresh chopped cilantro. Serve with chips, opt. The salsa didn't make it into this picture because I didn't think to take the picture until the soup was being served as a leftover, and the salsa had been inhaled the night before by the ten eaters present (recipe/s upon request). Yyyyeah, we made a lot of soup.... The children were my happy, capable helpers, needless to say! On days with this much kitchen work I literally make a check-list of what has to be done and we divvy up during breakfast who's doing what. It's one of my favorite aspects of homeschooling: all the kitchen experience they're getting at this age.

Natasha requested a "football field" cake, with gummy bears for the players. Jeremy and I presented her with this. Not our grandest effort, but not too bad all things considered. Needless to say, he did all the hard parts. Oh, and ... the ... hat. *sigh* Ice cream bucket, turned foil-covered medieval helmet, turned beaded, feathered, handkerchief-bedecked crown...? lol




Birthday presents. This picture morphed into something it didn't start out to be, but - eah - oh well. Mostly I wanted a record of Natasha's notebook where she is writing 1,500x "I will obey my parents." When that project is done she will earn back the privileges of e-mailing, screen time, and fun reading. (Don't ask.... 'Cause I'd have to go back a ways, and it's not pretty; you don't want to know the details. Suffice it to say she's really fighting her rebellion of late.)


Birthday song.

Oh, and .. yes, (LOL!! LOL!!) Natasha is blowing out candles on HALF A CAKE. The explanation is that we delved into the cake with the company of the evening before - with her Birthday Dinner - but postponed on the traditional balloon, candles, song, and presents until Birthday Celebration Day Two. :\ Does that make us bad parents? Ghetto? How 'bout "Flexible"??!? :D ? If it matters, I promise she was absolutely unfazed by it.... :D



I was aiming for a candle-blowing-out picture. I got candles-blown-out. Favorite thing about this picture is that it shows the interesting thing Natasha has done with her hair the past couple days. She soaks a strip of hair there in front, and then twists it around itself 'til it twists back on itself, and then she ties it to dry overnight. In the morning she has a twisty strand of hair by her face, about which she's really, really happy. Like every other woman in the world, she wants the opposite of what she has: straight hair.

In addition to having received gifts from extended family through this past week, Natasha also received a gift basket from Grandma Folding!

Justus bought for Natasha this item, which was on her wish list. I think neither of our children has ever had a huge lollypop. They were both pretty pleased about this.


I was going to take a picture of them both looking at the camera. We got it all lined up, but then Natasha's head, my finger, and the camera's unique timing gave us this picture! It's just too funny not to post.

This is an excitable girl, but she's not usually THIS excited. 'BOUT TO BURST, so excited she was to receive this item which was on her wish list. :D

Modeling the jersey. GIDDY GIRL.


Please note the mailing package at the bottom of the picture above. Well, of course, Justus is always up for some strangeness....

And Jeremy's willing to take a good thing and run with it for some cheap entertainment!


I just kept taking pictures....








In his defense, there is a reason Jeremy was remarkably un-smiley this evening. He spent most of his waking hours at the hospital with a precious church family that got, really, pretty bad news at the end of the already-long day.... *sigh* :'(

Here's a video of Natasha playing a song she composed. She is playing it faster than it's 'written' ... trying to fit it all in before the camera card stops recording because it's full.