Happy 40th BIRTHday to HEATHER!!

A little pictorial montage dedicated to my sister-chic, Heather, on her 40th birthday! Heather, you continue to be an inspiration to me and I am grateful for MargeAnne introducing us 9 years ago.

Enrichment

I have always known the truth in the saying, "the more you give, the more you receive", but I still am surprised at the depth of this truth. This past weekend is a classic example.  In giving the gift of a Healing Yoga Retreat (conducted by my beautiful friend, Wendy Billie), to my Heather for her 40th birthday, I was enriched, inspired, energized, uplifted, healed, and motivated. I was able to quiet my mind and listen to the truth within myself and the truth surrounding me.  Here is what I know:  I am a believer in God and His only Son, Jesus Christ.  He surrounds me with the gift of Love.  When I quiet my mind and listen with my heart, I hear that Love; I feel that Love; I become that Love. When I struggle with doubt and feeling worthy of the Love, it closes me off from truly receiving what He intends. I am a work-in-progress. I am evolving. I strive to keep my heart open to accept Love. 2012 is and continues to be a time of ENRICHment.

Another party PLUS the annual apple harvest

 We headed to the farm Saturday morning and Kippy got to celebrate her 12th birthday one more time!  This time with family and extended family from out of town (Aunt Joan, Aunt Judy, cousins Julie & Maria).

 By special request, Grandma Rose made a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, plus a few extra chocolate mustaches to go with.

 

 It wasn't all about the party at the farm.  There was some work to be done. While Uncle Randy, cousin Brett, & cousin Kaleb were busy bringing in the corn harvest, the rest of the clan worked to get the apple harvest completed.  Although, much of the low hanging fruit had already been feasted on, there was still work to be done.

 The apple trees were loaded with apples, but many of them had become food for the birds who also realized how juicy and delicious those honey crisp apples were. 

 Steve got his traditional job of loading up in dad's Cherry Picker and harvesting all the apples too high to reach by step ladder.

 Dad was in position to catch the apples that Steve threw down and Kippy sorted the apples into the appropriate bucket.  The sorting isn't an exact science, but there is a method to the madness.

If there was nothing salvageable with the apple, it would go into the crap-apple bucket.  These apples got fed to the chickens.  Bluck!  This is all bird damage.  Dirty birds!!

Completely perfect, unblemished apples were put in the "teacher" apple bucket.  These apples were shined up by Kippy and personally handed out to each of the teachers at Our Lady of Victory.

The rest of the apples were sorted out for apple sauce, apple pie or just plain old eating.

 Of course, there was always a kitten or two around to get a little extra attention from Kippy.

 Abby practiced some of her newly acquired driving skills by taking a load of crap-apples to the chickens.

We also didn't miss an opportunity to get some photos of Kippy next to her now 12 year old Red Canadian Cherry tree.  And Meg didn't miss a chance to get some extra love from Kippy too.

The Mustache Bash

I must say that I had a blast putting together Kippy's 12th birthday party.  When I originally suggested a "mustache" themed party, Kippy was rather skeptical.  Then I told her my ideas to create an invitation "I mustache you a question, will you comb over to my birthday party?", give every one a "my stache" jar filled with goodies, and play a few games, Kippy came on board.

A huge shout-out to my sister-chic, Lori, who went above and beyond with creating adorable vinyl mustaches with her Silhouette cutting gadget. The only supplies we bought were some stache jars at the Dollar store, along with some green, black, and white streamers, plain white cups, white balloons, mustache duct tape and stick-on mustaches.

We stuck the vinyl mustaches on nearly EVERYthing.  From family pictures....

To balloons....

To bulletin boards...

We even hung them with filament from the chandelier... and with a hole punch, made mustache straws.  The City Bakery created some adorable mustache cupcakes for us, even tho they couldn't figure out WHY I wanted mustaches for a girls 12th birthday party!

The mustache crew had a great time selecting their mustache style, creating milk mustaches while dunking their oreos and just laughing and giggling.

 The girls played some games... Who am I? with labels stuck on their foreheads.

got blind folded and tried to stick the mustache on correctly...

 

ate treats, made faces, giggled some more and watched a movie.

I have to say, I love hosting this party for these tweens.  They were a very fun "crew".

Our unique girl

Today is Angelique Grace's 12th birthday!! Our Kippy Grace is a very unique combination of tough and tender-hearted.

She is so caring, loving, sentimental and sensitive, but has a strong, stubborn side to her as well.  She wants to be a marine biologist and a lawyer.

 It is this mix of seemingly contrasting characteristics make her so special:
  

• socially shy, yet adventurous, bold and willing to try new things (sushi, snowboarding, scary rides)

•  high-energy (think "Red-Bull with legs"), yet can sit and read for hours and hours

•  a true tom-boy, yet likes to have LONG hair and dress up

• extremely creative, yet messy beyond belief (may actually be a hoarder)

•  cries during sad movies, yet never sheds a tear when she is hurt (badly burned her arm this summer and was tough as nails about it)

We love her to the MOON and BACK and wouldn't change one single thing about her!

One of Kippy's birthday requests was to get her own e-mail account. Big steps!!

We wish her the very best, joy-filled birthday today!

Just ONE guy

One of our family's favorite sayings comes from our nephew, Nixin Rudy, who when he was 3 years old and wanted to do something by himself would emphatically say, "One GUY!!"

Our Honey Crisp apply tree ended up with just ONE guy too.  One apple that is. 

 It started out with 3 apples due to only one branch blossoming this spring.  The wind eventually reduced our produce to ONE. SINGLE. SOLITARY. apple.

I have yet to pick our ONE guy.  I suppose it is to prevent the inevitable quandary of who will get to eat it!  We are all hoping this year is an anomaly and our tree will go back to being the producer it has been in the past.

Remembering

Yesterday I was honored to participate in a balloon release in memory of Joshua.  He is the first born in their family and a big brother to 4 precious sisters.  The sky was painted a vibrant blue with wispy clouds and provided the perfect backdrop for the 18 balloons to float with our heartfelt intentions.

 

 Death Leaves A Heartache No One Can Heal,
Love Leaves A Memory No One Can Steal.
From a memorial headstone in Ireland.

 The balloons all too soon disappeared from sight, but our hearts were full.

Born September 20, 1994 ~ loved and remembered always.