Birthdays, Birthdays, and more Birthdays

I thought I'd post a picture of the lovely birthday cake that Dusty and Jonathan made me for my 30th birthday. I had a nice birthday. I took the day off and spoiled myself (massage and shopping). Then I was treated to ice cream and cake in the evening.

Johanna's birthday is next weekend, June 8th. Family and friends should have received invitations in the mail, but just in case the details are as follows: Sat., June 7th, at our house from 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Dusty's birthday is June 13th. This year it's on Friday the 13th (ooooahhhhh). We're having a party. It will be on Sat., June 14th. We're thinking around 6:30 p.m. (It's also flag day. Even more reason to celebrate). So bring your booze, a tasty treat to eat, and your favorite flag. We'll also have some goodies to eat as well.

Good Day Sunshine

We took the kids to Pioneers Park last weekend for a picnic, some sunshine and a little hiking on the nature trails. We had a good time. The weather was great! Johanna is checking out one of the pine trees we saw. Jonathan and Dusty are posing for a picture in front of a large sculpture in the park.

Teeth??? Maybe. . .

Johanna is a little late on getting teeth. I noticed last weekend that her first tooth was starting to pop through (her bottom right one). She's busy brushing her gums while Pops holds her for a picture. She does quite well with table food despite not having any chompers yet. We'll keep you posted. Maybe the tooth will arrive in time for her 1st birthday.

Closing Down Another Daycare

For the second time in as many years, our daycare has closed. Last year it was the University daycare closing its doors. Now, the Kindercare that we've been taking the J-kids to since last May will be closing at the end of this month. It is across the street from an elementary school that the city is closing. Since a good chunk of their business came from children at the school they decided to close, too. They were able to transfer us to a different Kindercare which is actually closer to our house and, so far, seems far superior to the one that we've been going to. In the long run, it will probably be a good change. However, right now we have to say goodbye to all of our teachers and friends and start to meet new ones. We brought the camera to school for their last day at the old place.

Above, we have Krista. She was the primary teacher in the baby room. She did a great job and we were very comfortable leaving J-girl with her every morning. Her oldest daughter is Savannah who happens to be one of J-man's girlfriends. (Cynthia was the other.) I was going to see if he would put his arm around her, but as you can probably tell, she wasn't into the whole picture taking thing.

This is not a flattering picture of J-man's afternoon teacher, Sunny, but that's okay. Sunny is a single mother of three girls. She has to be at her other job at 5 a.m. and then comes to Kindercare in the afternoons and works til 5 p.m. This picture was taken about 11 hours into her work day. (By comparison, I work 7 hour days.) Anybody who works that hard to give their kids a somewhat normal life is beautiful regardless of how they look at the end of the day.

Other notes:

• A couple of weeks ago, Mommy went to a museum geek conference leaving Daddy alone with the J-kids for an entire week. It went smoothly until Wednesday when J-girl was sent home from daycare with a fungal skin infection. Note the red circle on her head in the picture below. Thanks to Matt for covering my Thursday class on such short notice.



• The blessed water used during baptisms does not cure ringworm. However, Lotramin AF does.

• Jonathan's favorite song to listen to recently has been "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M. This song was released in 1987 making it 21 years old. When I was a kid, we would listen to Oldies 95 on the way to visit grandparents in Oklahoma. That was in the 80's. The songs were mostly from the 60's. The songs on Oldies 95 were about 20 years old. Inevitable Conclusion: R.E.M. songs are Oldies.

• Speaking of Oldies, Mommy turns 30 this coming Monday (the 19th). Please wish her a Happy Birthday.

Baptism

Johanna's baptism went well. Thanks to those who came to support us. Everyone came over for some post-baptism Jambalaya and cake. Mmmmmmmmmmm . . . post-baptism Jambalaya and cake.

Here are a few more baptism photos. Johanna wore a pretty little pink dress. She was adorable.