The Birthday Bash!

Yay for Elizabeth's fun birthday! The original plan was to play frisbee and soccer in the park, and then come home for cake etc, but the sky looked threatening, so the plans changed to badminton in the yard, and then games inside.

Dad and the BD girl on the same team.
Smiles from Patricia.
Nice action shot, Shanna!
Ready and waiting...
Trishie was so smiley I had to take two pics of her!! :)
Robert retrieving the birdie.
Then it was indoors to play some Dalmuti. Boy is that game a riot! All you need to know is that there was a greater peon who had to wear a stupid-looking hat (that would be me in this pic). It's basically a game based on position and it's a blast. I don't know why everybody thought I looked so funny. I am seriously considering starting a new style: weird, unmatching winter hats in the spring. Come on, it'll be a total hit!
That is my poker face, for those of you who don't know (fake smile). And Ellie looks like she's plotting how to take over the dalmuti chair.
Amy, the Great Dalmuti (the highest position one can reach), along with Felicia, the Greater Peon (who is definitely looking the part).
Now she looks patient and long-suffering. I sympathized with her as I was the Lesser Peon (to her right).
Hey! Mary's turn to be the Peon!
And here I arrive, all the way from the Greater Peon seat, to the Lesser Dalmuti seat! Motivation, baby!
The game started out a bit slow (check out Hannah's yawn) but it sped up.
Candid.
All the merchants fraternizing (find Dalmuti, buy it, and play it!!).
Present/cake time!
Lovely flowers from the W family!
The gal of honor opening her cards.
Yummy.
Shanna enjoying her watermelon.
Two of the only three guys at the party hide in the corner, probably feeling totally outnumbered, and deafened by girls talking, laughing, giggling, chatting, and squealing.

Fia telling what was no doubt a lovely story.
Catch Phrase was nearly played at the end, but everyone had to go.
Val and Ellie.
Mary and Kristin.
*HUGS*


Mrs E and Mom.
Mary and Ellie.
Hannah and I.
Shanna, Ellie, Kristin.
CUTE :)
Ellie and Amy.
Friendsies.
How very attractive, Robert.
Sweet.


It was a fun time. Happy birthday Elizabeth!

Elizabeth Joy's Birthday!

Elizabeth and I got back from Florida on May 29th and we celebrated Elizabeth's birthday (which really happened on May 27th) on the 30th. This post is of the family BD breakfast, and then I will do another post of her party that night.

The smell of a rose is the loveliest smell on earth.

Nice face, Ellie!
We gave her an ornate trunk for her room, with little treasures amongst the tissue paper inside.
A sweet shot of me, if I do say so myself :)
An eye patch for sleeping! What a romantic gift *jk*
Mary has a go at the patch.
Dad thought he saw a thief stealing into our back yard, but he was mistaken *wink*
More ado about the eye patch.
Blur!
Trish's new braces!
Elizabeth's hand (this is Patricia's art).
Sleepy smile (I'm still on FL time I think, at this point).
Reading a blessing for Ellie aloud.

Happy Birthday dear Elizabeth! It was a splendid day... More to come!

FL Trip Post 11: Remembering the Old Days...

1996 to 2001 this is where the Cochran family lived. Oviedo, FL. In the "English Tutor" (we kids used to laugh at that ALL the time!). We didn't own this house, but rented from a kindly landlord. It was on nearly an acre, and we had so much fun as children in that house... I was seven when we moved in and 12 when we moved out. When Ellie and I were in FL recently, I wanted to stop by and take some pictures... (I am a very sentimental person, at heart.) There used to be a HUGE tree right smack in the middle of the front yard (would have totally covered the picture below if it was still there) but our neighbors, who we still know and were visiting, told us the tree was dead, and had been cut down to avoid being a hazard in wind.

Mimosa Trial...
That yard was just awesome. Many a game of tag and hide-and-seek played there :)
A little closer. I must say it looks better now than it did when we lived in it! There were huge bushes all around the house, and those are gone now.
The side yard.
Front.
Our street to the left.
Our street to the right. Yes, we lived on a dul-de-sac! Perfect for a bunch of little kids...
View from the cul-de-sac.
This is Ellie and I with our dear friend Mrs. Ingram, who lives one door over, in the cul-de-sac. She had us to a lovely tea at her house :)

Well that ends our FL trip. We flew home the day after these pictures were taken... And while it's been good to be home, and I know there is a time for everything, I find myself thinking about and missing ALL the old houses I've lived in... From California to Colorado. I just hate moving, and would have been happy to stay wherever we were, forever. But a time for everything, and everything in its place, and God has seen fit to move us around quite a bit! Born in San Diego, CA in 1989, moved to Miami, FL, in 1992. Then to Orlando, FL in 1995, and then to Oviedo, FL (they're very close together) in 1996. Moved to north GA in 2001, to Denver, CO in 2007, and in 2008 we moved to Centennial (near Denver), CO, and here we still are, in our seventh home so far (at least, for Robert, Ellie, and I). God is good...