.JPG)
photo on right: Rich, Lori and Rick
photo on left: Left to right (back row) Blondie, Michael and Larry (middle row) Josh, Airk, Ashley, Vanessa and Julie
(front) Lili, Gabe and Nate
Because Larry's birthday is during the week next week and his friends from Job Corps could not be here, we held a surprise party for him after the completion of Lili's raffle drawing.
Most of the kids we'd invited were present for the drawing so afterwards, while the rest of us loaded Lili's things in my car, Airk Bennett took Larry with him to pick up Ashley. That gave the rest of us time to get everything ready at home.
Birthday time at our house is rather low key. We have a dinner - with whatever foods the birthday person chooses - and then everyone is free to hang out and do whatever they choose. Generally the birthday person knows when the party is happening. Larry and I had planned to have his party next weekend but when I spoke to the kids he wanted to invited, I found there as a conflict at Lili's school. So...at the last minute we threw it all together for after Lili's raffle drawing and Larry was one startled kid when he came home.
Attending Larry's party were his brother and sister-in-law, Rich and Lori, and his friends, Vanessa(with her fiance, Michael), Josh, Nick (can't remember his last name - we just call him Blondie), Airk (with his girlfriend, Ashley), Julie, Gabe(from Job Corps), Nate and, of course, Lili, Rick and me. We had a full house!
It's a very eclectic group of kids from a wide variety of backgrounds yet they sat in our living room last night and had the most fun. I couldn't help commenting to Rick how fortunate we were that these kids, raucous as they were, were having good clean fun. I can put up with the boisterousness any day. What I knew I wouldn't have to deal with was having to involve the police or an ambulance because one of the kids ODed or got stabbed or shot. I can't begin to express how grateful I am for that! Diverse as they are, these kids come to our house and hang out and have fun.
Julie was the first to leave. Since she lives around the corner from us, everyone walked home with her. You could hear the kids all the way to her house and all the way home - sometimes I wonder what the neighbors think of our noisy bunch. It was fun to listen to them, though. We'
ve had drive-by shootings just a few blocks from our subdivision lately. When Lili and Josh and Gabe were out selling tickets the other night some man started stalking Lili - not realizing she had someone with her. My kids weren't involved in anything I had to worry about as they walked Julie home. I have a lot to be thankful for.
And so Larry starts his third decade. He made the comment, the other day, that it didn't seem real. He thinks his life is on the downhill slide, now that he's no longer a teenager. I had to laugh. For me, the pinnacle was when I turned 18. I've been on the downhill slide for the past 40 years. Guess the ascent is pretty steep but the descent has been really gradual. I think he'll find his life is the same. I hope so, anyway.
(front) Lili, Gabe and Nate
Because Larry's birthday is during the week next week and his friends from Job Corps could not be here, we held a surprise party for him after the completion of Lili's raffle drawing.
Most of the kids we'd invited were present for the drawing so afterwards, while the rest of us loaded Lili's things in my car, Airk Bennett took Larry with him to pick up Ashley. That gave the rest of us time to get everything ready at home.
Birthday time at our house is rather low key. We have a dinner - with whatever foods the birthday person chooses - and then everyone is free to hang out and do whatever they choose. Generally the birthday person knows when the party is happening. Larry and I had planned to have his party next weekend but when I spoke to the kids he wanted to invited, I found there as a conflict at Lili's school. So...at the last minute we threw it all together for after Lili's raffle drawing and Larry was one startled kid when he came home.
Attending Larry's party were his brother and sister-in-law, Rich and Lori, and his friends, Vanessa(with her fiance, Michael), Josh, Nick (can't remember his last name - we just call him Blondie), Airk (with his girlfriend, Ashley), Julie, Gabe(from Job Corps), Nate and, of course, Lili, Rick and me. We had a full house!
It's a very eclectic group of kids from a wide variety of backgrounds yet they sat in our living room last night and had the most fun. I couldn't help commenting to Rick how fortunate we were that these kids, raucous as they were, were having good clean fun. I can put up with the boisterousness any day. What I knew I wouldn't have to deal with was having to involve the police or an ambulance because one of the kids ODed or got stabbed or shot. I can't begin to express how grateful I am for that! Diverse as they are, these kids come to our house and hang out and have fun.
Julie was the first to leave. Since she lives around the corner from us, everyone walked home with her. You could hear the kids all the way to her house and all the way home - sometimes I wonder what the neighbors think of our noisy bunch. It was fun to listen to them, though. We'
ve had drive-by shootings just a few blocks from our subdivision lately. When Lili and Josh and Gabe were out selling tickets the other night some man started stalking Lili - not realizing she had someone with her. My kids weren't involved in anything I had to worry about as they walked Julie home. I have a lot to be thankful for.
And so Larry starts his third decade. He made the comment, the other day, that it didn't seem real. He thinks his life is on the downhill slide, now that he's no longer a teenager. I had to laugh. For me, the pinnacle was when I turned 18. I've been on the downhill slide for the past 40 years. Guess the ascent is pretty steep but the descent has been really gradual. I think he'll find his life is the same. I hope so, anyway.
1 comment:
Great blog, keep the good work going :)
Post a Comment