Party Time

We have a bunch of pics of Chet's birthday celebration but I love this shot so much. Chet is normally rather stiff in pictures. I have a lot of pictures where he thinks he is smiling but it looks like sort of a feral snarl. Truly not a friendly happy smile. This is different. He really looks happy. KC got him these earrings. Chet loves big earrings. I could care less what he puts in his ears as long as the object is sanitary and safe. Around his neck he has a peace symbol necklace that Robbie made for him.

You can't see the decorations much in this shot and frankly I have to fight too much to get the shots in the right order for me to bother with it on the blog so use your imagination guys. Lots of shiny fringey decorations in all techno colors hanging all over our dining room door ways. Shiny spirals hanging from the chandelier with equally shiny purple blue and pink stars. Chet's favorite color is pink. The cake was frosted pink too. The stars I suspect were KC's contribution. He is my celestial child, a lover of the stars and the moon. But Rob did most of the actual work of putting up the decorations and he did a great job. It was festive enough for Chet to feel honored and loved and not over the top that would stimulate him off into the ether.

KC's job was passing the gifts to big brother, and he was as usual inside out with the excitement of it all. What impressed me the most though was that after he gave Chet these earrings, he looked at Chet for a moment and then he leaned way up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Everyone needs a birthday kiss" he informed me on the way to the park later. While I certainly second the veracity of the thought, it was a surprising thing. Surprising because though KC loves Chet greatly he is intensely frustrated on a daily basis by Chet's behaviors, or his inability to show emotions or understand others emotions. KC's emotions run so close to the surface that for him, Chet's failure to notice his feelings is very much akin to physical pain. It was surprising too because Chet let KC do it. He didn't pull away. He didn't respond to it with a kiss of his own, but I think KC knew Chet couldn't do that. I am writing this rather badly but just trust me that it was really REALLY good. Above all I want my kids to love each other, to have each other's backs, to be there with and for each other when I am not. I know that Chet will need his younger brothers and sister to understand that and to continue to aid him in his interactions with others and the world at large.

We are taking off to go camping in Maine tomorrow. We are so looking forward to it. Work was horrid this week, my coworker was out sick 2 days out of 3 and I had no other office support. But somehow by some miracle known only as "no lunch" and "I have been there in that job since dinosaurs roamed the earth (!) everything got done. I am leaving with a clear conscience and a desk that is only slightly messy.

K did a marvelous job doing the pre-cooking and packing prep. We don't do a lot of cooking at the campsite due to the age of the brood right now. In a few years they will be more reliably safe around open flames and I will not feel like everything has to be a quickie meal but for now, it is. Just leaves more time for hiking and swimming and fun anyway.

I brought the kids to the park after the party. The wee ones needed to burn off steam. The double whammy of excitement of party and impending mini vacation would not have resulted in sleep had I not run their little bodies around the field for awhile. We met up with some friends there and it was a lot of fun. The angle of the sun has changed though and the field has a golden cast to it at 6:15 when we leave . I know our times up there are coming to an end for another season and I wish that wasn't so.

Summer is "my" season. I love everything about it and some of it practically didn't happen this year. 1 week of hot humid weather. Come on!!! It has been so chilly in the a.m.'s lately we had to run the pellet stove for 20 minutes or so to get the chill out of the house. Love the pellet stove, but mourn running it so early. We have no salsa put by for the coming year and i am not sure enough of our tomatos will ripen for us to do it from our garden plot. That 6 wk stretch of rain and clouds sure did the crop in. We thankfully had no blight but not a lot of ripe ones either.

So this weekend is going to be my weekend to cram in as much fun that one would associate with summer as I can possibly do. We are visiting Portland Head Light which is one of my kids favorite lighthouses. There are nice fields to play in there and a beach to collect rocks and shells on and cool boats that go by where you picnic and can watch the water. We will swim, and hike and play like crazy. We will make our own "flashlights" by mixing mountain dew, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide in tiny bottles. We will play with lightsticks and our glow in the dark basketball. We will pop popcorn by the fire and snuggle under our quilts because it will only be 40 degrees at night, where I will read and sing to the kids. I will have 2 kids in bed with me so I will be warm. LOL I don't know what all else we will do--I actually have a book I bought the last time we were there that has a lot of free and low cost activities in the state so if we find ourselves a bit lost with the free time, there will be something to fill it.

The moon is shining so brightly as I write this and all things feel possible.

Later I will post a picture of Lissa's hair. K did it in fresh parts and braids and beads for the campout. Some of the beads glow in the dark.