The Fall Birthday season has officially ended here in the Recaido-Arnall-Campbell households. The 3rd week in September marks the beginning of a long stretch of seemingly never-ending birthday cake in this family:
Malia--9/17
Joshua--9/20
Daniel--9/23
Keala--9/29
Mikela--10/9
Kale--10/17
DoRe'--10/29
It gets progressively harder to fit into our pants/skirts during these weeks; the collective sigh of relief heard on my birthday is really just us giving up on trying to suck our stomachs in anymore. We then have 3 weeks to hit the gym and recover our normally flawless physiques, before it starts all over again at Thanksgiving. Haha.
Closing ceremonies took place all day Saturday, starting with a leisurely cup of coffee, some early-morning blogging, a quick workout, and then some general laziness. Then, off to lunch at Hakata for sushi? Yes, please.
They made me share. :-)
Abby's face is classic in this group shot. :)
After lunch, home to address the kanak attack, before the guests started showing up for birthday cake:
The early birds get the worm.
Or sit outside in their car and debate going home because
no one else has shown up yet, and maybe there isn't really a
party here tonight. :)
Middle Brother, doing the usual. :)
These two came all the way from Hawaii for my birthday.
Okay; not entirely true, but they did come from Hawaii,
and it did happen to be my birthday.
Talking story.
We have more seating in this house than this picture would
indicate. We're a cozy bunch.
The very cool pumpkin cake Oldest Daughter
made for her mama's birthday.
My former roommate and dear old friend Heidi will be turning oldy-years-old in a few days; in honor of this, her mama threw her a "You're-Turning-Old!" party last night. (In case you have the mostly good fortune of knowing me only from afar, I am typically a sweet and respectful young woman who honors my elders--thanks, Mom & Dad, for raising us well. :) However, I do get a kick out of teasing my friends on special occasions, or on days that have vowels in their names, as a subtle reminder that I am "The Baby" amongst us. )
The party was costume-optional, but in this household with three li'l girls, an opportunity to dress up was not going to be passed up:
Cleopatra II. Her cousin had this same
costume last year, and she gave her due
credit all evening. :)
Miki, getting into character.
Zombie School Girl.
Super Abby!
Heading out.
Still trying to leave. (There were 207
images on the memory card; most of them
looked like this. :-9)
Birthday Girl!
Party guests.
They are fast turning into their daddys' worst nightmares.
Next year, they can just walk around with sheets over their heads.
If we even let them out of the house.
Thankfully, their dads can look pretty scary
themselves.
"You lookin' at my daughter?"
"N-n-no, sir; I was staring at your wife!" I
think my Granny really does have this dress.
Really.
The hat, too, come to think of it. :)
Party Planner.
Maxwell the Lion. :)
This was Katelyn's 2nd costume of the
evening. By the time we left, she had
transformed into a little dog. Her parents
are always prepared for her
ever-changing moods. ;-)
Sweet Khiana. She was over the whole
costume thing before we even got there. :)
Corban, insisting on having his picture taken. Fine.
Doting. :)
Jen, and her little bat.
Jen, and her cool cat.
Mama, and Zombie Girl.
Hi, Mom.....
Aaggh!
(She took a really long time coming back out of character. ;-9)
Psst....I'm 34-years-young today, and not afraid to talk about it, unlike my deflector brother. :)
This is classic Kale: I try to show him kindness to make up for the fact that we forgot! to sing Happy Birthday to him on his birthday (October 17th), and all he can do is complain that his birthday was LAST week, and try to insist that we should be singing to me, since my birthday is technically closer.
Whatevs. Big sisters always win. Even when they're little like me. (And rock the double-chins like me. Ugh.) :)
Yesterday morning brought with it what most consider typical Seattle weather: wet, cold, wet, dark,wet, gray, wet --you get the idea.
Despite my island roots, I love days like that--days where the only sensible things to wear are sweats and fuzzy socks; when my thoughts suddenly turn to those books I've been meaning to pick up again; and I entertain the possibility of doing nothing but swirling coffee (makes it much more enjoyable), and writing to my heart's content.
Coincidentally, Mondays also usually happen to be my grocery-gettin' days, and after much back-and-forth, hemming-and-hawing, and a realization that I lacked the general creativity to throw together a decent meal with the last three cans-of-whatever in the pantry, I decided to brave the weather and fulfill my wifely/motherly obligation to gather food for my family. (Run-on sentence if ever there was one.)
As I sloshed into Costco, my phone rang, and it was none other than Mr. Arnall, "just calling to say hi." Actually, what he said was:
"Hi, babe. Whatcha doing? You're already out shopping? Oh--nice! What am I doing? Oh, I'm just (sitting here on my dry, comfy chair, in my nice, warm office, at my big, pretty computer, looking at your fantastically awesome blog, and) wondering why you haven't posted video of our daughters singing yet?"
(That may not be verbatim, but sometimes things get lost (or found) in translation.)
So, because I'm all about making my husband happy, and just a tiny bit about showing off my daughters, here are a few shots and videos from the concert on Bainbridge Island this past Saturday (be sure to hit the "pause" button on my playlist to the lower right):
The theater.
Getting ready for the show.
What Daniel would look like if he was beautiful.
(according to my sis. :D)
Practicing "Grass Shack" one more time.
Perfecting "Pupu Hinu Hinu."
Running off some of the pre-show jitters.
The Little and the Middle.
Waiting to sound-check.
"Check, one-two...check, one-two."
They miss each other.
Theater starting to fill with friendly faces.
Hi, Jean & Darin!
Dad starts off the evening.
Dad started off his set with James Taylor's "One Man Parade." It was one of the most solid vocal performances I've heard from him, live or recorded. Wish I had video of it; instead, watch this video of him performing his classic original, "Forest," a song he penned at the tender young age of 15 :
The girls joined Dad onstage after a bit, and sang "Pupu Hinu Hinu" before
Uncle Josh joined them for "Little Grass Shack":
The girls' turn!
Eddyville took to the stage shortly thereafter, and strutted their stuff; very talented musicians, with good chemistry, and enough energy to hold the crowd's attention for a couple of hours.
Welcome to Eddyville.
Dave
Bruce
Jason
Darren
There is one more band member--Kyle, Eddyville's saxophone personist. (Only Miki can come up with stuff like that. :-D) Apparently, my camera moves too slowly to catch him--he's a blur in all the pictures.
(Admittedly, I needed to check out their Facebook page to make sure I got their names right.)
Darren's drum solo, and some of the more energetic fans: :)
Tired, happy girls. Papa was far more excited about how the
evening went than this picture reveals.
It was a great evening, as good friends and good music often make for.
Looking for something? You may find it here. (Then again, you may not.)
Thought for Today
“Your children are not your children. They are sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the make upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness. For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He also loves the bow that is stable.”
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Marianne Williamson, "A Return to Love"
Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.
