One of Those Birthday Days: Isaac, 11

*: 11:*

I know we shouldn't be surprised but Isaac is 11.  

Sometimes at night, after hanging out with Isaac before he goes to bed I just get all tickly inside over how much I love him and how cool I think he is.  

For his birthday weekend we had planned to go to our favorite beach spot in Croatia.  But the weather forecast turned sour and it was a measly 60' and rainy.  We canceled it and had a little sleepover instead.  

This is the only photo I took of the whole shebang...big regret!

But if the video is working you can hear the rapid fire Italian while they played balloon volleyball.

The Actual Day:

Look at that hair!  He has sooo dang much of it.  Granted he needed a hair cut here and, thankfully, now, he has one.  Our hairdresser has to thin it for him everytime otherwise the stuff will never lay down.  

 For breakfast Isaac wanted crepes.  He's so sick of the breakfast and snack foods we have around here.  He likes to grumpily tease me about it.   We had to break out of the box so that he would actually eat something substantial for breakfast.  

As our oldest Isaac has been the path treader in our family.  He has taught me, as a parent, how much your kids are their own little people, how they have their own righteous ideas of honesty and consideration, of doing whats right and responsible and oh how those ideas thoroughly delight me.  Isaac is a rule follower, he's honest (sometimes he rebukes me), safety conscious and thorough (sometimes he rebukes me because I am not, strictly, any of those things, except honesty, sort of)  He's also funny.  I hope he knows how much I really, really like him.  

For his birthday dinner we had a picnic outside in the backyard.  Joey is finishing up the yard work over there in that back corner and the girls set up the pic-nic.  

The day after his birthday Isaac went to the dentist for, drum roll please:

*BRACES*

This picture doesn't do him justice.  He looks really handsome and, shockingly, OLDER!

 Isaacina, with pigtails and a mullet, before the much needed haircut.  

Another birthday wish for Isaac was to get the spaghetti cup at the gelateria.  

Big Momma delivered:)

We love you dude, and I love watching you become who you are!

xoxo

Mom et all

One of Those Birthday Days: Georgie, 9

Georgie is 9

Look at that good morning face

For breakfast in bed we didn't even have to ask Georgie what she wanted because I already knew:  

Uncle Walts' Poached Eggs

On her way to the bus stop in her favorite sweater

On the eve of her birthday we met family friends at the park for pizza and then headed over for Gelato at Il Gelato in Aviano.  It was heart melting for me to see all of our friends come out and show love for my daughter.  I could tell by the smile on her face and the spring in her step that it gave her a boost as well.  This is Marienell who's daughter Lana was in her Italian class.  Their family, the Narciso's, have become pretty close to us, the reliable, good hearted neighbors who you know you can call when you're going to be late picking up your kids from school or your car dies or when you just need a friend to eat lunch with.  Good folks.

And here's Greg and Griffin Trifilo, friends you've seen a lot of on our blog, who just adopted Griffin from China.  It's been a beautiful process to watch.  We're all pretty grateful to be a part of the whole process.

Charlotte and Luca Crandall.  Another part of our Italian "Famici".  They leave in December, a little earlier than us and we'll be sad to see them go. But not before they add a baby already named Jessica (after their sister in law who just died of cancer) to the family.  We can't wait to meet her!

A beautiful sight to see:  Gorgeous Georges, a bouquet of flowers from a friend and mmmmm, gelato....

Georgie got some triple stacked chocolate nut butter, whipped cream cone concoction.  She couldn't even finish it.  And that's saying a lot;)  I think her "human trash can" Dad polished it off.
See that little blue necklace she's wearing.  Isaac made it for her at school for her birthday in his pottery class and a twin one for him.  They decorated it with black dots, like dice for their ages in 2015, 5 for our family and 3 for the number of kids in the family.
 Be still my mother loving heart.  

Some more of our people (the Joneses)

Happy Birthday Georgie!

Georgie's Theatrical Debut

I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited about Georgie's performance on opening night of her school play. I was bursting inside with pride for her accomplishment and so excited to see it again on Friday and Saturday.

Whereas Isaac is into classic rock and playing the guitar, Georgie is into musicals and theater. She loves Phantom, Wicked, Les Mis, etc. and was so excited to try out for the play.

The play is "Winnie the Pooh" and the cast is from the elementary school. The majority of the main characters are in the 3rd grade: Georgie is Rabbit, with the second-most lines (48 - Pooh has 68). Pooh is Georgie's best friend from Altus and Aviano classmate, Samantha Jones. Tigger is another boy from her class. Owl and Christopher Robin are fellow 3rd graders. Eeyore and Kanga are older girls, and Piglet and Roo are adorable younger kids. Plus there is a supporting cast of various narrators and other animals.

Georgie front and center while the gang is trapped in a hole, one of the major plot points. She is so expressive and dramatic, perfect for a grade school play where the default is often flat and monotone.

The final act, where the confusion is cleared up and Rabbit pins the blame on Owl. All of the kids did really well and there were no major mistakes. Georgie's platinum curls escaped from her rabbit ear hat during the show, and with her make up and costume she looked stunning. One of my friends from work commented on how lovely she was.

This is her friend Sage congratulating her afterwards. You can see on Georgie's face just how happy she is and how much she loves theater.

Lana and Destiny, her American friends from Italian school, came with their mom and sister.

Tigger did a great job, but I thought he was a girl at first because of the make up! What a champ to wear make up at that age. Samantha was excellent as Pooh and really carried the show well.

Owl was likewise excellent and is the most poised and professional of all the actors. There is great comedic interplay between her and Georgie.

Georgie was very confident and looked out at the audience very well. In true Merback fashion, I had to give her one piece of constructive criticism because, also in true Merback fashion, she delivered her lines a little too quickly. I remember my parents telling me to "slow down" many times when practicing for a talk or performance.

Kudos to Ashley for making the costume and Georgie for sticking it out through all of the practices. I can't wait to see it again. Unfortunately there was a fire in the school cafeteria today, so the performances for tonight and tomorrow are cancelled! We are all heartbroken. Hopefully they will reschedule for next week. Congratulations to Georgie, our resident thespian!