happy birthday evelyn

Evelyn Joy and me...



Evelyn is 15 years old today. When she was born,

Emily was 14
Abigail was 12
Benjamin was 10
Mirielle was 9
Joseph was 8
Aaron was 6
Mali Rose was 5
Samuel was 4
Margaret was 2
Kathryn was 17 months

Evelyn is my eleventh child, Evelyn -Eleven, ha. (poor Ben, he was only ten years old and the oldest of nine kids). Anyway. Evelyn was born a few weeks after Ben's terrible boat accident, where he fell off and met up with the boat's motor. She was one of my only overdue babies, and it was a hot summer. It was also the summer we took all the kids to a symphony concert in a park, and Margaret dawdled on the way from the playground, stubbornly refusing to come with Daddy...it was about 6 weeks before I had Evelyn...anyway, a sudden summer storm came upon us, cracking and lighting up the sky, wind blowing....as we tried to herd the children towards the parking lot, we somehow lost Margaret, our two year old. I thought she was right there, she was JUST right there. No, she was not there. We looked and looked, and total strangers helped us look. It was pouring rain, and it was dark, and we simply could not find her. I was getting pretty terrified, Paul was out in the rain looking, I left the other kids with the symphony members, and was out looking too. It turned out that a well-meaning stranger had scooped her up when it started to rain, and brought her to the check-in booth at the park, where the police were informed, and it took a while to put two and two together, and realize we were looking for her. Oh, the days before cell phones. Anyway, it was tremendously terrifying, and I was not appreciative of that stranger at all. I still have my suspicions, I mean, who in the heck scoops up someone's child and brings them somewhere? rrrr. Anyway.

Evelyn was born into a big crazy family, and she was a fusser. She never ever was put down without fussing about it. She had to be held just so, rocked in a specific way, and she had a temper. She was a beautiful baby though.

She is still a force to be reckoned with, my Evelyn. She is extremely capable, and is full of bluster. She has no tolerance for incompetence, and if she's in charge, watch out. But it WILL get done. She seems years beyond 15. She is a book-a-holic. She is probably the library's number one fan. She is always giving me good books to read, but I cannot keep up with her. She loves Suri, our black lab, with all of her heart. She snuggles and mauls that dog!

She made her own ice cream cakes for her birthday. I already gave her some gifts. I bought her two really nice baskets that go with her room, a wood hurricane candle holder thingy, a diffuser that matches her room, some peppermint tea, a nice long skirt that is maternity which I accidentally bought off the clearance rack in Target without looking at it enough which we shall return and get her something else which she is rather happy about, a blue pitcher and four matching canning jar/glasses with lids and straws. Plus, at the thrift store yesterday she found some cool retro jeans, a big floppy sweater, and lace up ankle boots. And, a really nice picture for her room.

Anyway. It isn't much of a birthday, with some of the older kids working at the baseball game, and the three youngest at their friends' house (I have to go pick them up soon). I haven't started dinner because....

Today I took Evelyn and Suzanne and Sonja and cousin Olivia for a little outing...to the small store in town, where they got to pick out some candy and nail polish...then out for ice cream.

It is dark and rainy and nice out, very cozy in here. It is too quiet.

I haven't worked out today, and am bound and determined to. So bye for now....