ten

September 11 is a birthday at our house!

This year Hannah turned ten! I can hardly believe it!

The big news for this year was that Steve's brother Daniel and his wife Bonita welcomed a tiny 3lb, 15oz baby girl the same day!

We packed ourselves together and headed to Chattanooga just to be there. Of course, the baby went straight to the NICU. She was doing quite well and I am pretty sure she was the biggest baby there though we didn't really get to see her, just a glimpse. Tiny, just the same. The good news is that she came out crying and has been breathing on her own!
Since all looked good, we came home that afternoon and remade plans to party with G'ma and G'pa falk at their house. We stopped and got the stuff to make subs for dinner (Hannah's request) and bought a cake (Oh, happy day; I LOVE storebought cakes!). We watched Hannah's new movie, Enchanted, and ate the cake.

So, it's official now. I have a child in double digits! I think that is some kind of milestone for a parent. Unfortunately, no presents for the parents are involved. Well... there was cake...

We got Hannah a digital camera and gave it to her early in case she had a chance to take pictures of the baby. As I suspected, no such luck but she was pretty happy anyway! I love watching the kids open birthday presents. The other five all clamoring around the birthday child calling, "Open mine first!!"and "Mine next!!" I love seeing their faces light up with pride when the careful Dollar Tree selection is properly admired. I also love watching my Grandpa enjoy the show. He really gets a kick out of not being able to see a thing around the horde of small partiers! :-) He laughs and smiles the whole time. And my dad gets it all on video. Or at least he tries to. Its that way every time. And it makes for a kind of comfortable, cozy predictability that we all enjoy.

Family reunion

We had a Falk family reunion this weekend. This included 27 of us to feed and one of us eating for two (not me!). Mom sent us all home stuffed!

We played a little of the new clue game. It is really quite fun. And Beth brought this game, Fill or Bust. We played it and had a good time.
John and Jude kept score while I practiced my stylish rolling of the dice. I am not sure I am ready for Vegas....
Jude switched jobs and started helping his mommy throw the dice.
Daniel working on a good dice roll.
Evan, who won so soundly I am suspicious that he must have cheated...

Ethan enjoyed his fried ice cream from Aunt Beth while second-in-line Isaac drooled nearby.

John, Beth and Jude came to our house for a bit before they left for home and Jude met our temporary pet turtle while his dad, mom and Uncle Steve did some shooting in the yard.
Moving turtle freaked him out a bit. Closed up turtle made him alternately hungry and quarterback-like.
The front steps were a fun place to play!

Before they left, Jude got to go and see the little chickies in the back yard. He really enjoyed them. From a distance, that is. A good, safe distance. Because you can never be too careful around peeping baby chicks.

Story Blog

Hannah has started a new blog called Stories Galore! She reads a story onto the computer and, since Blogspot won't publish plain audio, she had the idea to make a Youtube video of her narration complete with pictures that she has taken herself! She is doing a great job. I recommend her first story, Little Red Riding Hood. Hmmm...doesn't that little Crimson-hooded darling look familiar?!