Miriam turns 5 years old

Saturday our sweet Miriam turned five years old.  It's hard to believe how much she's grown!

3/13/05, 4 pounds 1/2 ounce

meeting Grandma Sharon

2 weeks old

hanging out in the NICU

Leaving Miriam behind when I left the hospital was the hardest thing I've ever done.  I cried so much in the days following her birth.  We should have known she was a fighter when she made it out of the NICU in only 10 days.   The only times Miriam could be held was when she was being tube fed.  Because of my C-Section, I couldn't be at the hospital as much as I wanted.  It meant so much to me to have our family there to hold her in "kangaroo care" when I could not. She definately began her life on earth surrounded by people who love her.

Five years have gone by and she is spunky as ever.  She was definately the birthday queen on her special day.  Several times throughout the day, when she was told "no", she said, "but it's my birthday!"  No Dora lunchbox from Haggen?  "But it's my birthday"  No ice cream as a main dish for lunch?  "But it's my birthday"  For breakfast, Miriam and Dode walked over to Haggen for donuts and gummy candy selected from the bulk bins.  We let her open a gift after breakfast, a Melissa & Doug ice cream play set for her kitchen.  Then, she and her dad road bikes around outside.  After lunch, she got to open the rest of her gifts,

a BBQ set for her play kitchen,

 

a booster seat with built in lights, and her 1st pair of roller skates.  For dinner, she wanted pancakes and strawberry cake.  She ate one crumb of cake.

After dinner, we went to a night orienteering event.  It was a bit cold, but as long as we were moving we stayed warm.  If you don't know what orienteering is, it's a geeky sport where you are given a topographical map of an area. There are locations marked on the map.  Your job is to find each location, in the order they are marked on the map. When you get there, you find a white and orange orienteering flag.  There is an electronic gadget at the flag that you stick a special electronic "punch" in to prove you were there.  They stagger the start and the person with the fastest time wins.  The competitive orienteerers run through the course.  We've never been competitive.  The added challenge of a night "O" is that you're trying to find your way around in the dark.  Running around in the dark with flashlights in the woods?  Sounds like fun to me.  It took us an hour and 1/2 to complete the course and at various times the children were thrilled, discouraged, fighting, sick/needing to use the restroom, excited, scared.  Typical family outing!

At the produce co-op this week, we received:  Braeburn Apples. Bananas, Kiwi, Navel Oranges, Anjou Pears, Pineapple, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Red Leaf Lettuce, Red Bell Peppers, Yukon Gold Spuds.

Another reason to love the co-op... tasty lunches.  I've been eating variations on this for a few days.  A Yukon Gold potato, diced and cooked in the microwave for 7 minutes, topped with a generous scoop of my eggplant dip, asparagus steamed in the microwave for 5 minutes, 1/2 a red bell peper to dip in a small cup of hummus from Costco.  Easy, nutritious, delicious.

It was a unique weekend in that twice there were two Dorrels in the same location.  Now, how often does that happen?  Friday Mark Anglin, Dorrel Quinton's son-in-law, was baptised and Sunday night Dorrel's daughter Cori and her two sons were baptised.  We've known Cori and Mark for years and have enjoyed their family.  We were so excited for them.  I wish I could have captured a photo of the Dorrels together.

Sunday we celebrated Miriam's birthday with my mom, Greg, Matthew, Millie and Gabe.  Boma's gift to Miriam was a new Jeep.  Dode and the kids assembled it when Miriam was gone.

And we had the big reveal on Sunday.

We've had Isaac's jeep for years and years and it has seen a lot of miles (and a lot of replacement batteries). 

 

June 2000, giving Jacob a ride

July 2000, took it along with us when we went camping at Baker Lake

 

Isaac was three years old when he received his jeep. 

He doesn't fit so well anymore in this photo taken in 2008.