Catching up on the week: Wednesday at Deep Creek

I really want to try and record the whole week, so bear with me as I temporarily skip right over Harry Potter and keep blogging about our reunion.

Today began with pancakes for breakfast, courtesy of Mom and a birthday crown for Tim, courtesy of me. You can see how excited he is about being singled out like this for being the birthday boy. I think his quote was, "I'll wear it just so you can think that I actually appreciate you making it for me." Bless him.


The rest of Wednesday passed in relative unstructured peace, with people hanging out, going to Wal-mart, kayaking, heading back over the the Fun Zone, and relaxing.

One of the fun things that happened was the completely impromptu way the sisters came up with of celebrating all the boys birthdays: Tim, Aaron, Ryan and Johnathan. We announced after dinner that the party would start at 7:30 and each family would draw the name of a birthday boy out of a bowl. They would then have one hour and any usable resource in the house or on the grounds to make a gift for that person. We provided glue, tape, Popsicle sticks, and post-it notes and sent everyone off. It was fabulous. These may look like run-of-the mill items, but only to the unschooled eye, for they are actually masterpieces of last-minute creativity and wit that will make me smile for years to come. Each craft demonstrated love for the recipient, familiarity with their personality and stage of life, and, best of all, great humor and fun. It was one of my favorite moments. In spite of the drama of a fallen gift on the way to presentation, the lesson learned that fifteen-cents-a-bottle glue from Wal-mart is not a bargain and neither is cheap tape, everyone rose to the occasion and made it a real celebration. Here is the gallery of the making and the gifts themselves:

Aaron and Amy crafting the perfect date for Johnathan:


The Adamoviches out on the porch making a Mexican Memory for Tim


Here is Sam taking Popsicle stick art to a royal level-this is the scepter he created for Tim:


Alex and Luc create while Phil contributes by keeping Olivia occupied elsewhere:


Meanwhile, Grandma and Ryan cook up something amazing out on the deck.


Here is the Elliott's clever (and delicious-looking) family tree for Aaron:


As well as the finished "Road to Oaxaca" diarama for Tim. Way cool:


Alex handcrafted a family portrait for Ryan that included him there on the far left. This was such a fun idea.


Mom and Pop's personalized rock for Johnathan:


The Nuss attempt to say how we feel about Tim: (BTW, if you can't read popsiclese, it says "Tim Rocks.")


Ryan and Grandma's superlative prophetic sculpture of Aaron at an advanced age, still going strong, sort of:


And last but not least, I am still compiling photos of some of the last creations, but Mandi and Tim made Ryan a very useful Girlfriend Decision Maker with petals of Popsicle sticks that are removable to help Ryan know whether or not "She loves me" or "She loves me not."
Ethan made Aaron an awesome airplane, Eric put together clever exploding Popsicle stick Frisbees, and Johnathan's perfect date was indeed perfect: beautiful, modest, and made of sugar and spice and everything nice.

The night culminated with Mandi's delish spice cake and about a hundred candles. The boys' combined age is 97 if I'm adding it up right. It was quite a cakey conflagration, but all the candles did get blown out and the party was over in time to get the little ones to bed.

After that, some headed back to the Fun Zone, and some of us thought about watching a movie but didn't , and most of us went to bed.