The Baby Turns 10

My youngest is now a 10 year old!  No more single-digits in this house.  And because turning 10 is such a huge milestone, we go big in celebrations.

With her birthday being mixed in with all the holidays, we decided to schedule her big birthday party early so that holiday gatherings didn't affect her party.

Little A is my little spy.  We planned a spy-themed party, which was harder than I thought it would be!  The party began with a slumber party.  A few of her friends came and spent the night.  They played games, watched movies, ate popcorn, and just had slumber party fun.  I ran out the next morning to pick up donuts and balloons before the rest of the girls came.  We cleaned up the living room and prepared for all of Little A's spy friends to come.

Soon, a total of 11 girls filled the house wearing mustaches, hats, and sunglasses.  Then, a mysterious letter flew into the bunch.  The spies had to decipher a code.  They worked together as they figured out what the letter said.  There were 2 traitors from their agency who were giving away all of their secret information.  Their job was to find them and capture them before they gave too much away.

(And, I used the wrong "trader" and was informed by one of the young spies.  THAT was embarrassing. LOL)

The spies then had to make their way through the laser maze.  Once clear of the lasers, another letter flew into their presence.  Now, they had to follow the clues.  They ran around the house finding one clue after another, and at the end it was discovered that their gifts they brought were all GONE!  The spies had to find the traitors' hideout and there they found the gifts, but the traitors were nowhere to be seen.  The spies spread out on a search after they returned the gifts to the living room.

It was a wild chase!  The traitors (J and K) had escaped outside and the spies ran after them, up and down the sidewalk and through the front yard.  The traitors were armed with Nerf guns, making capturing them difficult.  But the spies finally won out.  They captured the traitors and they were arrested.

The spies enjoyed a lunch of chicken patties on buns with carrots.  Little spy opened her gifts and they all had fun playing with the new toys.  Then we had cake and ice cream.  The cake was shaped like a pair of spy goggles.  Everyone had a fun time.

When Little A's actual birthday came around, she didn't have any special requests.  We ended up celebrating a little bit the day before her birthday.  Her favorite birthday "cake" is Oreo pudding pie.  Once she had opened all of her gifts and we enjoyed pie, ice cream, and meals of her choice, we all piled into the car to go to Iowa.  She received a few more birthday gifts while there.

I think we all had fun celebrating the big 10 with Little A!

Harrington family 2016

Hello to all!

I realize this is already February, but better late than never, right?

January was just spent getting back into routine.

K was chosen to play in the all-city orchestra with several other students in the Wichita schools.  She plays the violin.  She was also chosen to sing in the all-city choir.  Both of these kept us pretty busy.  At the end of February, both J and K competed in the Student Technology Leadership competition.  J's group got 6th place in the PSA category and K's group got 4th place in Graphic Design.  They both went to Topeka for the state competition.

March kept us busy with the solo and ensemble festival.  K played the violin in a stringed ensemble, which I think received a II.  She also sang a solo and got I.  For spring break, we headed to Branson to visit our friends and have some fun.  We stayed in a nice condo with our own kitchen, living room, master bathroom, and 2 bedrooms!  We watched the musical Moses at the Sight and Sound Theater and we tried out several rides at Silver Dollar City.  We enjoyed spending time with our friends, and, of course, had breakfast at Grandma Ruth's every morning.  Track season started for both J and K.

April brought more concerts for K, and more track meets for J and K.  Seth was involved in a car accident while he was driving his work truck.  He injured his back, which still is giving him problems.  He's been dealing with doctors and lawyers ever since.  Laura and the girls got to enjoy a girly weekend with some friends while the guys had a campout.  Although, it started with Laura getting bit by the dog who lived where we stayed the night, it ended up being a fun time.  J was chosen to receive an award for his skills and leadership in the JROTC program.  He also competed on the Leadership Academics Team.  This year, they actually made it passed the first round!  K still got to take harp lessons and had her final harp recital in April.

May, as the school year drew to a close, we enjoyed spring orchestra and choir concerts with K, and J received an award for Excellence in Behavior at their school's Academy Awards.  Laura's parents came to visit and were able to watch one of K's concerts as well as J graduating from 8th grade.  At the end of May, J headed to Kansas Bible Camp for leadership training as he prepared to work on staff.

In June, K entered her teenage years!  J was still gone at camp, and Little A was also at camp for the first time.  So, we took K out to eat for her birthday since we were a family of 3.  She also enjoyed swimming with friends.  In fact, we spent much of our summer at that pool.  K enjoyed a week at camp, too.  June was also the month of our Vacation Bible School.  This year's theme was the Olympics and Laura worked with the speakers to create skits with each of their messages.  It was different, but still very fun.  We celebrated J's 15th birthday after VBS and right before he headed back to camp.  We had the pleasure of dog-sitting our friend's dog while they went on vacation.  He and Rambo get along fairly well.  The girls and Laura headed to Iowa while J was at camp.  Laura's grandma sold her house to her aunt and uncle on the other side of the family.  They walked through what would be Grandma Lola's house for the last time.

In July, we just enjoyed being home.  We went swimming at our friend's pool, like we did in June.  And when they went out of town, we decided to go swimming in a creek outside of town.  That was a fun change to our swimming routine!

In August, Laura and her co-Sunday school teacher hosted a going-away party for one of their students who was leaving for college half way across the country.  It was a fun evening.  Our family had one last hurrah at a water park as summer was coming to a close.  The summer was a long prayerful road as we didn't know where J would attend high school.  God clearly provided the answer and J headed to the magnet high school here in Wichita in the video game design technology career path.  K began her final year in middle school.  Little A started 4th grade at Binding Word Academy (our homeschool).  J had already begun cross country practice, which is with a different school since his high school does not have a sports program.  The first day of school, however, brought tragedy.  As Laura and Little A were walking Rambo, a large dog escaped its fenced yard and attacked him.  Rambo is just a little 7 pound morkie and was thrown around like a rag doll.  Little A was final able to pull the big dog away from Rambo as Laura picked him up.  We soon discovered how badly injured he was as blood covered Laura's arm.  We called animal control and the vet as we quickly made our way there.  He had a puncture wound in his chest that barely missed 2 major blood vessels.  The vet kept him for the afternoon, not sure if Rambo was going to make it.  When we finally took him home, the vet said he was very lucky, and was probably going to be ok.  We spent the next week and a half taking Rambo to the vet for treatments as he slowly healed and recovered.  Although we filed a report, nothing has happened to reimburse our vet bills.  The dog that attacked Rambo is no longer at that residence.

Labor Day weekend, we all headed to Iowa to celebrate Laura's grandma's birthday.  A couple other cousins came and we all had fun catching up.  When we came back to Wichita, our lives were busy with cross country meets and drill meets with J.  Near the end of September, Laura was taking J to cross country practice when she hit a light pole in the parking lot.  The car was totaled.  Both Laura and Josiah sustained minor injuries, but were ok.  Next, we went on a mad search for a new vehicle.

Early October, Seth, Laura, and Little A took a trip to Oklahoma.  We had already been to several car dealerships in Wichita, but God continued to close door after door.  There, in Oklahoma, was the car God wanted for us.  We came home with a new vehicle just as Seth's parents came into town for a visit.  They were able to watch one of J's cross country meets where he infamously ran the race with only one shoe.  They also watched one of his drill meets.  Later, K had an orchestra concert.  Then, Laura left for Kansas City for a weekend with her mom and sisters.

November is the month when we celebrate our Veterans.  With J's involvement in the JROTC, he was very busy participating in different ceremonies in town.  He marched in the Veteran's Day parade and attended the Marine Corps birthday ball hosted by his school.  Cross country season officially came to a close with the banquet.  We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at home, just the 5 of us.

December began with Little A's 10th birthday party with her friends.  She wanted a spy-themed party, had a few girls come spend the night, and several more girls come the next day for the real party.  There were a total of 11 girls including Little A.  The same weekend, K played the news reporter Charlotte Dennon in her school's production Elf, Jr. the Musical.  It was really good!  A couple weeks later, K sang in their winter choir concert.  Reddi Root'r hosted a family Christmas event at the Botanical Gardens that we all enjoyed.  Our church also put on a Christmas program which Laura wrote and directed.  All 3 kids had speaking parts.  (The full program is on YouTube.  I can send you a link if you wish to watch it.)  We celebrated Christmas here as a family.  Then we celebrated Little A's birthday just before heading to Iowa to spend New Year's with Laura's family and have Christmas there.  While in Iowa, we congratulated Laura's dad on his retirement after many years of teaching high school algebra, coaching sports, and working at the bank.  Thank you for all of your hard work over the last several years!  We love you!

2016 was a trying year, but we see God's blessings throughout.  So far 2017 is starting out well.  No matter the circumstances, God is good all the time and we rest in His care.

With love,
The Harringtons