The Best America's Birthday Ever

It was while heading towards the sunset, going full speed in Pepper's boat, that Irene turned to me and Mary and exuberantly said, "This is the best America's birthday, EVER!". Here is proof positive...

THE SETTING


By the shores of Eagle Lake

THE PREPARATION


Robert and Irene confer on the rules of engagement.


Anything you can do, she can do with a baby on her lap.


Jonathan and Sayward: Corn Huskers Extraordinaire

THE DAY


Let the games begin...

I definitely had a blast with my cheerful partner, Autumn.

Nothing cuter in all 82 counties

Rule One for a successful Croquet Invitational: Have lots more than just one rule.

The team to beat

Sometimes, when she has been very good, we let her sleep in a bed.

Lovely Mamie, whose hard work made all the festivities possible... Thank you!

Awwww, and I thought Harper Ann couldn't get any cuter than she was in her hat.

I was walking by the badminton court and Ken hollered to me, "Watch this ace, Katie!". I clicked the camera as Ken aced those boys. True athletes are so rare.

The Croquet Champion receives his naked baby...

And his trophy, which Beth, as reigning champion, graciously handed over to Donny and Robert.

My child would most likely have perished had Savannah not kept a watchful eye on her all day.

I will always be amazed at this youngun's walking skills.

She loves cake, wearing things on her head, and America. In that order.

Hunter and Barbara have always been good friends.

These folks have the right idea.

Mary has just thrown a whole, fried brim (which she had been carrying, kissing, and calling "wittle fishy" for a while) into Eagle Lake. I wonder if that freaked the fish out...

The boat ride was definitely the highlight of Mary's day.

I think Holt's and Irene's day was one long highlight reel. Those kids had a blast!

I wonder what she's thinking. I'll bet it's funny.

Lance could probably get a job as a Fear Factor chef.


All the food and festivities are just icing to the wonderful fellowship.

THE RECOVERY

Savannah's got a real way with the wee ones, Lord love her.

THE DEPARTURE

Rob and I were delighted to see the Lone Star blowing in the breeze on the neighbor's fence as we drove away the next day. God Bless Texas!

Our Very Special Girls

A Lovely Wedding

Sierra and Will got married last Saturday. It was sunset at the beach, the bride was beautiful, the groom was grinning, and the wind was gentle. Irene and Mary were sweet, but clearly novice, flower girls. Mary was only coaxed into parting with any petals at all after great fanfare; after the ceremony the poor dear started collecting sandy, wilted rose petals and putting them back in her basket. Fortunately, she mostly behaved during the ceremony (although she did spy a big, interesting bird walking in the water, and clearly she had to point that out). Irene got her first ever case of stage fright and decided not to stand with the wedding party, but she did thoroughly enjoy being a flower girl.
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The Reluctant Flower Girl
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The Newlyweds
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The Dancers

A Dream Captured

Going to the beach has been a long treasured dream of Irene's. From the casual comments such as, "Mommy, did you remember that you never took me to the beach?" to the bold requests, such as asking Uncle Robert in a letter to take her on a beach outing, she has been trying to get herself taken there for almost a year now. How wonderful, as a parent, it is to satisfy your child's deepest longings! I was a little nervous that it wouldn't measure up to whatever muddled daydreams she was having, but that was just silly. After all, one of Irene's trademark characteristics is her joie de vivre.

Mary's big moment was riding the ferry across the bay to Port Aransas. She'd been talking about boats since we got in the bay area, and driving around Corpus Christi the day before had even suggested that we ride a boat. "Ride boat, ride boat, ride boat, ride boat..." were her exact words, I believe.

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Dawn was our secret weapon in our mission to have a pleasant first time at the beach. She's a local, so she knew to hustle us out early, she knew to get parking stickers, and she knew the beaches. I highly advise having your own local when you go to the beach.

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Irene put on her first layer of sunscreen in the car. It makes for a sticky seat, but the time flew by for her. I consider that an even trade.

The Bishops at the Beach


Dawn taught Irene how to jump with the waves, something I never exactly mastered.


Did I mention that Irene loved the beach?



Let us be clear: The beach was Irene's dream.

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Grandma helped Mary forget where she was, and for a little while, Mary put aside her anxiety and played happily. I think the 2:1 adult child ratio was perfect. When Mary had stoods enough and couldn't stands no more, Grandma and Dawn were kind enough to take her to the house, where she napped for some three hours or more.

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Rob and I stayed a bit longer with Irene. Here she is designing "sand pants".


And here she is modeling "sand pants".

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Irene has not wavered on her opinion that the water was the best part.

Catsup

So very many wonderful times, so very little blogging time...

May has been a wonderfully busy, exciting time for us. As anybody that crossed paths with Irene on May 5 already knows, Mary turned two. Irene was in a play and a dance recital (no pictures of that), and she finished up her year at Curious Mind. We all got to watch Sierra graduate. Hmmm... seems like I'm forgetting something, but whatever.

Rob had to be out of town the week of Mary's birthday. I tried to keep it special for her, anyway. She wanted to wear nothing but a headband around her neck and eat mac and cheese for breakfast, so that's just what she did.

She wanted to paint later in the day. The girls were so occupied, being so good, and the paint was so out of Mary's reach that I figured I could dash upstairs and take a turbo shower and they would never even know the difference. Eight minutes later, I was hosing them off outside.

Mary loves the "counting kind of money", too.

You see, in Texas the way we celebrate birthdays is like this...

My little Dryad. What would The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe be without them?

Irene strikes her living forest pose. The best, naturally.

The Dryads' mascot peeped in the side door while they waited to go on stage.

During intermission I did, in fact, let my two year old roll around in the aisle with a pen. Ah! the difference between being a first born and being a second born...

Uncle Robert learned the hard way that if you lie with Bishop girls you will stand up with glitter.

That Saturday, we went to Grandma's to celebrate Mary's birthday some more. Irene loves Grandma's "jungle", and Mary loves num-nums, so picking beans was an ideal activity for them.

Mary got some great birthday presents, but what she really wanted was to hear Go, Dog, Go! for the eight hundredth time. GG to the rescue!

Turns out Mary's an icing kind of girl, too.

This is Irene occupying Mary while we got ready for the presentation of the fish (um, yes we got her fish for her birthday).

Irene is pretty good at getting herself dressed. I mean, if I send her upstairs with the directions to get dressed and ready to go, she comes down looking reasonably cute. And sometimes she comes down looking like an aggressive smurf.

This has been included because Irene loves this picture, and I love Irene.

After class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Irene and Mary would often have playtime at the Curious Mind playground. This was the last day of class and we brought homegrown peaches, which were a smashing success.

Though we are not planning on returning next year, I am really glad Irene had the experience. She made some great friends. The CM was an excellent crutch, but now that I feel sufficiently plugged into the homeschooling community (oh, yuk, I hate this kind of use of the word "community"), we can save the money.

Yay, Sierra! The medal on her neck is for graduating in the top 20% of her class.

The happy couple obligingly pose for yet another picture.

I just think this picture of Irene and That Man is so sweet. (We encourage her to call him Uncle James, but all weekend Irene would come up to me and stage whisper, "What do we call That Man?" when she wanted to speak to him.)