One year old

The entire weekend was devoted to the twins and their first birthday. Andrew’s brother Peter and their mother came down from New Jersey to participate in the event. We all had a great time. When Mama and I go to Brittany’s house Friday evening, the girls were only a few minutes away from being put to bed. Brittany had kept them up a little longer than usual waiting on us to arrive because she knew Mama would not rest well until she had seen the babies. Since we had been with them only a week ago, they both dived right into our arms. Sophia into my arms and Zoe into Victoria’s arms. Sophia has a special attraction to me – she always has. Mama got one of them once she was safely settled into a chair in the living room. From that point on, through the remainder of the weekend, every time I entered a room, Sophia would struggle to reach me. The only caveat was that as my whiskers grew, she was none too pleased by my kisses. Sunday morning, after I had shaved, I kissed her cheek. There was only a moment of hesitancy before she leaned into my face for me to kiss her again.

The birthday party was Saturday morning. Brittany had the event scheduled for 10 am. That was a very good move. Two neighbor families came and several friends. It was not a large gathering, but it filled the house with fifteen or so adults and seven or eight children. We had brunch – breakfast casseroles and fruit followed by cupcakes. One of the invited guests was Grandma June. She was an interesting person. She asked me if I would move our vehicle and park it behind hers. She had parked across the street on the main thoroughfare into the neighborhood. She explained to me that any errant driver would now hit my vehicle and spare hers any damage. Never mind that we had to make a 350-mile trip to get home. Her vehicle would escape any damage if mine were hit. Brittany explained that that in not an unusual thought for her. Late that afternoon she offered to swap husbands with Mama. Fortunately, Mama did not accept her very generous offer.

The twins were given smash cakes to celebrate with, but it took them few minutes to figure out the game. Once they did, they made Brittany proud. At one point a guest baby was allowed to help them smash the cakes. She did so with relish. Obviously, she knew a bit more about the process than the Zoe and Sophia. We also played a traditional Korean game of having the babies crawl to the center of the room where a selection of items was placed for them to choose from. A gavel, a stethoscope, a microphone, a football, a Bible, a $20 bill and a roll of yarn. The idea behind the game was that the choice they made of an item from the mix would foretell their later profession in life. Both of the girls chose the shiny microphone at first but then later gravitated to other items. Sophia ended up playing with the stethoscope and Zoe played with the ball. Both abandoned their choices when someone activated the microphone and it began to belt out a song from the movie, Frozen.

I made a soup for lunch – for those of us who wanted something more like an afternoon meal. Later that evening we went to a Korean restaurant for dinner. The food was delicious. The portions were huge. We took home four containers full of leftovers. (Which we ate for lunch on Sunday.) We were late getting the girls to bed and even later getting ourselves to bed. Which made for a rushed morning Sunday morning because we had to be at church at 9 am to attend the early service. Very contemporary. More like participating in a performance and listening to a motivational speaker. Nothing bad, just nothing filling. My expectation is that once Brittany and Andrew get hungry for the things of God, they will find another church. But they are safe for now.

The trip home was uneventful – after we found our way back onto the interstate. This morning, Brittany will be on her own with the twins again. Not a bad thing. Just a little sad.