Light {8th birthday}

The birthday book we read ever birthday eve for all of my children. Birthday by Heather Jarman K's card for L per L's request - Tum Tum wrapped in a playsilk
This little light of mine's birthday was last week. 8! Can you believe it? I sure can't! All he wanted for his birthday were his two front teeth...oh and one another tooth on the bottom. This dear boy of mine takes after his oldest sister when it comes to teeth. She didn't loose her first teeth until she was 7 and the same went for him. Now they are falling out like crazy!

In true L style, he didn't decide what kind of birthday he wanted until the week of his big day. After thoughtful consideration he decided on a transformers/construction truck party. Where this transformers obsession came from, I don't really know. I did my best to tie the two together. He was happy and that is all that matters.

He opened presents as soon as he woke up (our family tradition) but as I am sure you can see - one family member was not too happy about it. Baby F thought he was celebrating his own birthday again. L saw how sad his baby brother was and invited him to help open presents. He loves his brother so and is such a great big brother to him.

We spent the day playing with his new gifts and then went bowling...well, I *though* it was bowling but it ended up being mini-bowling. The kids all still had a blast and I think Baby F appreciated the mini balls he could actually grip to throw. L was nothing but smiles the whole time. We ended the day with dinner at Panera (his birthday meal request) and one last gift waiting for him at our door when we came home.

My prayer for this special boy of mine is that he will always let his light shine for all the world to see and never allow the darkness to smother it.

Light {8th birthday}

Wild and Three

*singing along to his birthday song* C made these sweet Baby F and fox beeswax figures!
My sweet, spitfire baby boy is three!!  How does time fly by so? It feels like forever since I was last pregnant yet I can still remember it so well. I can still remember all his little kicks and hiccups and then I can remember when they stopped. I can remember going into labor and having that gut feeling something was wrong. I can remember my midwife's words of how he wouldn't have made it if we waited even a moment longer to get to her and the weight of my very tiny 5 pound baby in my arms. Oh my sweet baby boy. He was an answered prayer and his life is truly a miracle. I am forever blessed for knowing him and love him more than I could ever put into words.

He is the most demanding, energetic and strong willed of all my children, but I feel like that is because he had to be such a strong fighter at the beginning of his life. He wants the world to know he is here and not someone to be forgotten. I love his strength and tenacity. All of these traits that might be challenging at times to parent will serve him well as he grows into an adult. Especially when you couple them with his enormous compassionate heart, his ability to love in any situation and his little gentlemanly manners. Not to mention his love for cuddling and giving hugs and kisses every moment of the day. Goodness, I am the lucky one!

I apologize for the rather horrible photos. It was so dark the morning of his birthday. We stayed home and kept it low key because we just really needed some down time as a family. Of course, everything was fox related. It reminded me a lot of his first birthday. I honestly don't remember much of his second birthday, as sad as that sounds. I think I have tried to erase most of that year in Oregon from my mind.  He even wore the same pants I made for him on his first birthday. Would you believe I made them so big that he can still fit into them at age three?!

He mostly received clothes from us. I couldn't really think of anything fun and exciting to give him. I guess that is what happens when one's birthday is exactly one month after Christmas. His Nana and Grandpa made up for it though with a new book and a John Deere toy to play with on his farm mat I made him. Oh let's not even talk about the 10 year in the making farm mat. I shed a few tears after I took it out of the washing machine (purposely felting it as per the pattern) and it came out super felted and literally half the size it was. All the beautiful detail is now gone but you know what? He still loved it and that is all that matters. C made him a sweet set of beeswax figures seen above (goodness how I love them) and Kevin's Dad (!!) sent him some tinker toys that he and L instantly built things with. Lastly (and perhaps the most uncommon gift to give a three year) he got his own peace lily plant. Our church is filled with peace lilies and every Sunday Baby F is always admiring them. It seemed like the perfect gift for him and he loved it. He tells everyone all about "my plant". He might be a crazy plant boy in the making - like mother like son I suppose? 😂

Wild and Three

The Christmas Season

Why do I always take crooked photos? Always in motion One of the best gifts ever from Wiwiurka! I'll share more photos of it later when the sun comers out again.
Christmas just ended for us with the celebration of Epiphany. L found the bean in our corn bread for the first time (at least according to him it was the first time.) and got to wear the king's crown. I didn't take a lot of photos throughout the Christmas season due to a combination of no sun (I thought we left Oregon? 😂), and all my energy being spent on unboxing and trying to make room in our house. That actually explains why I haven't been in this space much either. We have almost unboxed everything now but still can't find our curriculum, homeschool supplies and some of our beloved Ostheimer toys. Know military moving companies, they're probably in some random box together marked garage or something. Oh well. Tomorrow we move forward and start school back up without the things I had hoped we would have.

You may have noticed that I forced myself to get in one of the pictures with my children at the tree farm above. As uncomfortable as I feel in front of the camera, I know they will want to have these memories to look back on when they are older. I am trying to remind myself of that and make it into a habit for this year. I suppose that is a New Years resolution of sorts.What about you? Did you make any?

The Christmas Season