A Birthday in Stages

Sonja's birthday was celebrated in stages this year due to schedules and events that could not be rearranged.  

Just before her birthday, she received an early gift--a second piercing.  Sonja has been asking for a second ear piercing for the last year.  Without a real reason to say no, we decided that it would make a great birthday gift.  One afternoon, just days before her birthday, Nikolas and I got her into the car to "run errands", and took her to get her ear pierced.  Sonja was thrilled.  :-) 

On her birthday proper, she and I spent half of the day serving at a church event--by her choice.  We worked hard and had a good time connecting with our community.  After the event, she and I went out for a wing lunch--so satisfying!  Sonja loves books--especially vintage books--so we went on a short book hunt after lunch.  We didn't find anything good, this time, but it was fun.  On the way home, we visited the boys at work and picked up a birthday milkshake.  :-)

Upon our return home, she took a nap, we grilled out for dinner, and then enjoyed cake and gift opening. 

Charlotte, our MonKitty, was intrigued by the gifts and she tried to help unwrap them.   :-)

 Our celebration spilled over into the next day.  After church we went out to enjoy Sonja's choice birthday activity--roller skating.  The kids took to the rink quite well--Sonja even got fancy!  

John tested his limits on the skating floor and quickly decided that his ankle was not ready for such action.  Nikolas and I chose to be seat warmers as we both already had injuries to nurse and didn't want to take our chances.  

Still, Sonja had a blast and we made good memories,  :-) 

Welcome to 12 Sonja!  We love you!  <3

Celebrating Freedom

 

Independence Day felt a little extra weighty this year seen as cancel culture has stifled so much of the freedoms that America was built on.   We enjoyed a fireworks festival and display in a neighboring town the weekend before the fourth of July.  We ran into plenty of friends and met up with others.  We enjoyed food and games and a great display of pyrotechnics.  

Card games were great for passing time while we waited for the firework display

We enjoyed drinks at our favorite bourbon barrel coffee house--the kids got the drink special of the day--The Firework :-)

Sonja was happy to help out with our friend Austin's dog--dog siting while Austin played games :-) 

On the fourth proper, we started the day with a church service and transitioned into a great time of fellowship with friends.  Not only were we able to enjoy hours of conversation and games, but we had the privilege of introducing them to the hands on fun of fireworks of all kinds.  We had a literal blast!  

The Bartok and Cuneio kids

Hours of fun--Corn Hole, Throw Throw Burrito Extreme, Bocce Ball--to name a few 

Introducing friends to fireworks made fireworks extra fun!

What a great celebration of the freedoms so hard won for our country.  God bless America! 

Family In Town

 As I stated in the previous post, the last time that we saw any of the family, it was three years ago for Jozsef's High School graduation.  It was a treat to have some of the family visit, even if it was for just a couple of days--which we packed and made use of the best we could.  

The first day we took the family to the Chick Fil A that the boys work at to have lunch.  While there, we were introduced to many of the co-workers and a couple of bosses that the boys work with frequently.  All were super friendly and my dad had a great "shop" talk with Drew, the "big" boss of the location (food prep is common grounds for the guys).  After we had our fill of good food and conversation with the staff, we headed over to the bowling alley for bowling and billiards,  Grandpa made it all the more fun by awarding each strike and spare with a $2 bill. 

From the bowling alley we went to Buffalos for dinner and then we returned home for some games before calling it a night. 

The second day was all about graduation topped off by games and conversation while we caught up with each other in life.

The third and final day was a bit of a divide and conquer as we had more things we wanted to do than we actually had time for.  The two older boys and I took my niece out around town and did a senior photos shoot while we toured downtown.  We topped off our time with a trip to Snowmies for tasty snowcones to balance out our heat.  

While we were gone, Sonja helped Grandma make a tamale dinner complete with Spanish  rice and she gave us the recipe so that we can make more another day, which was really good because we all very much enjoyed the dinner.  The last few hours were packed with more talking and games (cribbage matches abounded) before we had to say our good byes since the flight out was set to leave early the next morning.

It was a whirlwind visit--certainly too short after a three gap, but we took what we had and enjoyed all that we could.  We consider ourselves blessed that we could have family to help us celebrate.  If we follow the current trend, we won't see them again until four years from now when Connor graduates High School....We won't dwell there.  Thanks for making the trip out McMahons!  It was good to see you!  <3