We are back from a 10-day vacation. Just got back, very late Tuesday night (very late!). It will take me forever to sort through all the 736 photos we took (yes, 736… are we snap happy or what?!)… and I know my mom wants photos! đŸ˜‰ So, to appease my mom, and to prolong my blog hiatus just a little longer (I’m not feeling ready to start real blogging again quite yet)… here’s the game—
Where In The World Were The Johnson-McCormicks???!
Can you guess?
If you know (cuz you know us in real life), then you’re automatically disqualified. But for all other readers (if we still have any readers after such a long blog break)… the game is on! Over the next few days, while I’m sorting through the photos, I’ll post some here. You gotta guess where we were.Winner, or winners, win nothing. But, like we’re fond of saying to K & O lately, “it isn’t about winning or losing, it is about the fun of playing” (!)
Just 1 hint: we were in one country the whole time, but spent the first part of the trip in one place and the second part in another. Can you guess where we were?!
Leave comments below.
In the meantime, Mom, and all of you out there who check in on us through this blog, — hope you like these photos![as always, click to enlarge]
we’ll be back when we’re rejuvinated!
Yesterday morning, before we left for Kyle and Owen’s “School Birthday,” as I was cutting up two large containers of strawberries to go with two sets of 24 cupcakes for two classrooms full of kids, I was reminded of how much more work it is to have twins. Now that we have Meera, and are experiencing life with a baby who is not a twin, my awareness of the twin-related-stuff has risen to a whole new level. Everything is just so much more with twins. More, literally. But more in a sort of figurative sense too. Since K & O arrived on the scene here I’ve always thought that twins are not just ‘times two,’ they are infinitely more than ‘times two.’ The whole of twinship is so much larger than the sum of the parts. I simply cannot imagine triplets or quadruplets, or — heaven help them! — Jon & Kate Plus 8 sorts of scenarios. I guess you do what you gotta do. And you do get used to it. But really, it is a lot. I go for long stretches of time now when I don’t really think too much about twin stuff. But then a day like yesterday comes along and I’m just sort of blown away, once again, at not just the fact that I have twins, but at all that is wrapped up with that. But today, all I can feel is relief that our 5th birthday for twin boys is finally over. I mean, the 5th birthday is a biggie to begin with (for the past five years I’ve been hearing parents talk about how big the 5th birthday is, and now I know!), but with twins — and larger-than-life twin boys at at that — well, it is all just kind of over the top. And yes, I take full responsibility for definitely doing it that way (it is just my nature; I do nothing half-way… especially my boys’ birthday!), but it is also just plain big, period. And now, after a week-long-birthday-marathon, it is finally done. Thank goodness because I don’t think that any of us could take it much longer. But amidst all the frenzy and hype and never-ending-excitement that was the 5th Birthday, there were moments of peace and quiet and reflection. This was the first year that K & O really fully totally got it (which is why, after all, the 5th birthday is so big for kids). They completely understand now that we celebrate birthdays to mark the annual date of a person’s birth. They also understand quite a lot about their own histories and birth stories. And in Waldorf schools, kindergarten birthdays (ages 5, 6, 7 or so), are deeply revered and during those years each child receives a very personal ceremony to honor and reflect upon the day of their birth. Kyle and Owen’s teachers did a truly magnificent job of telling their birth stories with both a sense of honesty and a sense of joy (not an easy task for a teacher with a situation like K & O’s). And Kyle and Owen handled it beautifully (which is a lot for a five year old: to have their closest peers truly hear about their stories of Haiti, adoption, loss, and gain). It was all so incredibly moving and brilliant and beautiful that I have a hard time putting words to it. But I will say this, the “School Birthdays” were the perfect way to end a crazy 5th-Birthday-week. And at the end of it all, I think the following little story not only epitomizes the 5th Birthday that we had, but also epitomizes why, for me, it is all worth it~~
We used the ‘5’ cake candles many times over the past week. Sticking them in leftover pieces of cake, in bowls of ice cream, and — on the morning of their actual birthday — in blueberry muffins. K & O have blown out those candles at least five times now and each time they’ve done it with gusto. They know to silently “make a wish” before blowing out the candles, and I’ve seen them stop and pause (clearly ‘wishing’) before blowing them out each and every time. But yesterday morning, for whatever reason, before blowing out the candles, they both said aloud the wish that they had been re-wishing each time they’ve been blowing out those candles for the past week. And hearing it made me pause and remember how much it is all worth it.
Kyle: “I wish that I can have this good family forever and ever.”
Owen: “I wish that I will have my beautiful brother for always.”
We’re smack in the middle of the Marathon Birthday Week. It feels like the never-ending birthday. Not to mention, it is also a crazy work week for Braydon and none other than Final Exam Week (grading, grading, grading, and wrap up the entire year) for Heather. Oh, and there is also the little detail of Meera now coming down with a runny nose/cold. And it has been raining for the past six days straight. Great. Life is just a tad too full here right now. We’re still trying to unwind from the Bigger Than Big Birthday Bash (not easy to unwind from something like that!), but making that even more challenging is that we sit in limbo because excitement is holding constant for two boys about to turn five on Friday. As they remind us daily, May 8 is their “Actual Birthday” and that is also their “School Birthday.” (which means “cupcakes for school” sits amongst about a zillion other items on my never-ending NEEDS TO GET DONE ASAP list). I feel like we’re in a crazy revved up airplane right now, just circling in the sky together in a small enclosed space, just waiting to land. Tonight we made blueberry pancakes and bacon together and the five of us tried to get grounded at the mid-week point. It was successful; the evening was soothing and emotions seemed to stabilize just a bit… which is good. We need all the grounding we can get right now. On a separate note: Meera loved eating her first-ever blueberry pancakes tonight but we think that her oh-so-fair-skinned baby face-and-hands might now be permanently stained bluish/purplish (the photo of her above was taken after washing her up).
K & O’s 5th Birthday Party was on Sunday. It was crazy fun. Crazy, crazy fun! We started this annual birthday bash the year they turned two. I was struggling to get past my own sadness over the emotions of their birthday. Of course, I’m happier than happy that they were born– I mean, obviously— it isn’t hard to celebrate the day of their birth! But in the beginning it was a challenge for me, as an adoptive mom, to not think a lot about the fact that I wasn’t there on the day that they were born, and that they were in the very difficult circumstances that they were on that day. Their birthday was full of mixed emotions for me. For me, their first birthday was a real struggle. I was weepy and emotional and still grappling with trying to sort it all out in my own mind. But a year later, the year they were turning two, they were really coming into their own, and we made a deliberate and conscientious decision to use their birthday as a way to truly celebrate that they were thriving. We chose to do it up big time and throw a huge birthday bash for all of our friends. It was a turning point. It made their birthday pure fun. It isn’t that I don’t still think of the sadness and loss related to that day. I do still think about that. And at this point, Kyle and Owen know enough to think about that too. But we have found a way to make their birthday very, very special and absolutely full of genuine joy. I am proud that for Kyle and Owen we have created a very positive association with the day of their birth. I hope that in the years to come, as they understand their own histories at deeper and deeper levels, that the happiness that is associated with their birthday celebrations will carry them through some of the tough times that probably lie ahead as they put their own stories together more and more in their minds. So, for the time being, we go all out for their birthday. It is a bash. A double bash. We do it big. Really big! And this year it was bigger than big!!!56 kids
47 adults
6 drummers
2 photographers
——
= 111 people at the party
- 1 dreary, drizzly, gray day
- 111 very happy party goers
- 2 birthday cakes frosted with big orange 5’s
- 1 pinata filled with 250 lollipops
- 3 big buckets full of juice boxes, chocolate milks, and “squeezy drinks”
- 2 gallons of Rum and 9 jugs of juice and 12 limes for the adults-only rum punch
- 1 huge moonbounce with a 2 lane slide inside
- 2 minor injuries but, (amazingly), 0 serious injuries
- 1 drumming troupe
- 40 pair of drumsticks for kids to bang on 60 various buckets, cans, and containers
- 75 party hats
- 30 helium balloons, 40 regular balloons, 16 punching balloons
- 1 gigantic pile of presents
- 50 bags of Smartfood and 50 bags of Sunchips and 1 huge container of pretzels
- 10 candles total on the 2 birthday cakes
- 2 super duper best ever grandparents
- 2 happier than happy parents
- 1 party lovin’ baby
- 2 could-not-be-happier, turning-5-year-old, gentlemen hosting the best birthday party ever
P.S. When we started throwing their Big Birthday Bash in 2006 I got one of my graduate students, a great amateur photographer, to come document it for us with photos. He did an awesome job of it (and Braydon and I could fully enjoy the party without having to worry about snapping photos). My student graduated and moved to NYC, but has come back each year to do the photography. This year he brought another photographer with him too. As soon as I get the photos from them I’ll post more to the blog. For now, he just sent me the one above as a little photographic appetizer.
MorMor and MorFar arrived Thursday afternoon for one of the biggest weekends of our year — Kyle and Owen’s Birthday Party Weekend. The boys have been counting down the sleeps to this day for weeks now. I do not think that their birthday could possibly be any bigger of a deal to them. And let’s face it, twin boys turning 5… really, it doesn’t get much bigger than that. And now, finally, the long anticipated time is upon us! My parents arriving Thursday marked the start of a week-long marathon birthday celebration! And, of course, amongst the birthday events we also have a ton of other stuff going on too. Miscellaneous snapshots of the past couple of days:
Friday, 8:12 am: MorFar and the boys are ready to head off to school. Papi left the house at 5:30am for a big work meeting in the city. So, special day!– the boys get to have MorFar drop them off at school! (obvious note: Red Sox)
*Friday, 10:41 am: MorMor and MorFar head out to Grandparents and Special Friends Day at River Valley Waldorf School… complete with picnic baskets and picnic blankets and coffee (!).
*Saturday, 7:04 am: The boys opened their birthday present from MorMor and MorFar at 7:00. Here they are riding it in the garage just minutes later! (click to enlarge)
*Saturday,9:02 am: While playing baseball in the driveway, Owen slammed one right into the Pitcher’s (a.k.a. MorFar’s) right eye. Nice. Nothing like getting a black eye from playing baseball with your four-year-old grandsons (yes, they’re still technically four until May 8, and yes, I’m in denial that they’re turning five). Here’s MorFar with ice on his eye. The ice and some ibuprofen served him well— the injury is now barely visible (we’re shocked because, based on how it looked when it first happened, we thought for sure this would be a really bad shiner).
*Saturday, 9:21 am: Meera is not yet walking independently, but is quickly becoming very mobile. She gets more and more mobile by the hour. The past couple days she’s made tremendous progress.
*Saturday, 12:56 pm: Little Miss, Braydon, and MorMor at MayFaire at the boys’ school.
*Saturday, 2:43 pm: MayFaire– Kyle picks a surprise from one of the Pocket Fairy’s pockets.
*Saturday, 6:41 pm: Watching the Kentucky Derby. Meera already in bed asleep.
*Saturday, 10:48 pm: Things are in good shape for tomorrow~~~
the Bigger Than Big 5th Birthday Bash.
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