this one time i learned to recognize a miracle when it was given to me

oh, march! why dost thou try me so? why is my memory so fuzzy?

at the beginning of the month, the entire 5th grade at reagan's school went bowling and apparently reagan had the highest score and won a trophy. i feel like further investigation should have been required while they were tallying because according to one eye witness(thomas), reagan insisted on using the lane bumpers and that resulted in an inflated score. perhaps the trophy is to recognize student who could best work the system? the student who best seized opportunity?

the majority of the rest of this month has been consumed with reagan talking about his birthday and his party and scheduling and his very long guest list and his food choices. 

birthday morning gift opening in the dark. we wrapped up a bulk package of macaroni and cheese from the girls because that never seems to get old for him.

and a green bow tie from grandma sandy because bow ties are just that important to our family. grandpa doug loved bow ties and he shares a birthday with reagan. i'm grateful i get to reflect on my dad's life on my son's birthday. the ciiiiiiircle of liiiiiiiiiife!

also, i can never go wrong on adding to reagan's three stripe adidas sweatpants collection from costco. he has not worn jeans once to school this year. he's only worn jeans once in recent memory and that was to his christmas piano recital. that was his level of dressing up that day. 

the insisted upon birthday dinner menu, frozen hash browns, kraft macaroni and cheese and gnocchi with alfredo sauce. it's the reverse atkins diet.

reagan's party was planned for saturday, march 18th. we woke to rain despite my earnest prayers and pleadings. rain on my other kids birthdays is no big deal to me. we will deal with it. but throw me a bone on reagan's birthday! we need the social interaction! we had a TON of kids invited and i needed some good circumstances to facilitate this backyard bounce house party. we had mostly kids from church coming, but i had a special surprise too. i secretly invited reagan's best friend, jeremy, from his class last year, to his party. they hadn't seen each other since last may but they've kept in touch via letters through reagan's tutor, who also works at jeremy's school. it's an old fashioned pencil and paper bromance. 

so that rainy saturday, i ate my weight in veggie straws, trying to keep my nerves intact. i knew things would work out despite the rain. i pray for parties. God cares about reagan's party. things would work out. the party was from 2-4 and around 11, the rain stopped. it was still a muddy mess but we were able to get most of the water off the bounce house and the yard dried up a little. but EVERYONE CAME and EVERYONE had a great time. 

here's the miracle breakdown analysis:
for weeks i prayed that it would not rain on reagan's party day. i felt more than a little let down when i woke up to rain. we had almost all guests RSVP in the affirmative, but many guests had caveats, "we'll be late because of this prior outside activity" or "our evening sport starts right then so we'll have to leave early." because of the rain, almost every outdoor activity was cancelled and nearly everyone was able to come and stay the whole time. the miracle could have been no rain, but then lots of kids wouldn't have been able to come. because of the miracle rain, all the kids were able to come and stay the whole time. the Lord delivers. always. He usually has a much better plan than i've thought up.

here's the score: the Lord 9818181
heidi- 0
but i'm totally fine with that.

more excellent photography. 

we did the usual costco cake. reagan was begging for a my little pony fluttershy cake. i compromised by allowing fluttershy to make and appearance on the cake along with a queen lyric. 

reagan and his surprise guest jeremy. jeremy's 3 brothers came and it was the more the merrier.

this is someone else's plate that hersch confiscated.

the party ended on a high note, thomas, and my dear friend heidi, debating the importance of the usage of the oxford comma. they both pored over a thick grammar text and they both think they won the debate. there was something for everyone at this party. i'm pro oxford comma, for the record. thomas is against.

also, with 20+ kids there, i was even able to show off a little and use my well honed toilet plunging skills. thank you to whoever left me that present. happy birthday indeed.

reagan in his birthsuit! punny! never gets old!

and then saturday i took the girls to see beauty and the beast. i threatened another mother in the theater and i feel okay about it.