Our 4 year old's Birthday Celebrations

Posted by My Heart Song

9/27/2019



This little man turned 4 this week. 


Here are some pictures of us celebrating him!


He received a new Mr. Potato Head as a gift. 
An oldie but goodie! 


We had a time of celebration on the evening of his birthday, which of course included the birthday song, cupcakes, blowing out a birthday candle, opening gifts received from all of us, and words of affirmation about all we love about this birthday boy. 


Grandma K in Wisconsin sent a gift for him to open. We do this while skyping with her so she can see the actual gift opening. He received a construction play mat with some construction trucks/diggers. Very fun! 


And of course the other siblings wanted to share the new toy fun with the birthday boy.


We went to Build-A-Bear, so he could build his own bear. He chose a birthday shirt for his bear and a guitar as an accessory. This boy loves all things music related so that was very appropriate.


The bear - named Boose. His shirt looks pink but is red. Oh, and he smells like cotton candy! They have a scent you can insert inside with the fluff, so he constantly smells sweet like cotton candy. 


A fun shot of the birthday boy with his older brother, on the night before his birthday. Matching flag shirts. 


We took some pictures and video of him on his last day as a 3 year old. That little voice. The utter cuteness. I know we'll look back and smile someday.

In this picture you can see his favorite duckie blanket and his favorite stuffed animal - Eddie the elephant. Must have items for bedtime. 


Happy birthday, again, little mister! 
We love celebrating you!

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Birthday Boy - Turning 4

Posted by My Heart Song

9/25/2019


This little boy is turning 4!

What a great year he has had! 

One big area of growth has been his self control. A year or so ago, he was a screamer. Whenever he was angry or didn't get what he wanted, he would let out the shrillest of screams. I have some hearing loss thanks to this boy! But as we've worked on self control, on using words to express how we're feeling, he has grown. 

He has also overcome a lot of fear. Watching him face swimming lessons after having a near-drowning incident last winter, he went from full of fear to full of courage. 

I love this boy's heart for music and worship. I love his smile that comes easy. I love his creative side, seen as he builds towns and farms and train tracks. He is the one of my children who always wants to hold my hand. Yes, son, as long as you want to, you can hold my hand! 

Happy birthday, my boy! 

Thank you, God, for sending this boy to our family!


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Getting to the Heart

Posted by My Heart Song

8/15/2019 

A quick, but deep, thought about motives and the heart. 


When I see this picture, I see each individual child and their uniqueness. The one who struggles with fear, the one obsessed with outward beauty, the one who hates hypocrisy with a passion, etc. But I am only human and my parenting is imperfect, especially at figuring out what is happening in their hearts, at the root of choices they make. 

We were recently discussing Hebrews 4:12 about the Word of God being able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Oh, how thankful I am that God is able and His Word is able to discern motives and thoughts! It's not my job. It doesn't rest on me! I don't have to be perfect at it. Because God is! What a gift His Word is, if only we'd treasure it and allow it to transform us!

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Swim Lessons

Posted by My Heart Song

8/6/2019


The last few weeks, two of my kids participated in swim lessons at a nearby gym. I am highly satisfied with the results!


My 5 year old girl takes to the water like a fish. She has been asking to take swim lessons for months and months. She loved the lessons, smiling the entire time. She had no concerns dunking her head, blowing bubbles under the water, etc. She did great and is begging for more swim time and more lessons. 


My 3 year old son is a different story. Last December he had a near drowning incident at a hotel pool. He remembers this vividly, though not in a terribly negative sense. He talks about it calmly, but nonetheless connects all water with "that one time I went in the deep water and couldn't see anybody and threw up all over Dad's shoulder." 


So it was understandable that he was hesitant about swim lessons. He cried. He repeatedly told me that he didn't want to go. He pouted. For the first few days, anytime we made eye contact, he would pout and give me a big thumbs-down sign to show me how much he was not enjoying lessons. 


However, by day 4 (halfway through the 8 days of lessons), things had changed. He started to smile a little bit during lessons. He wasn't as fearful. He was enjoying himself a little bit. And by days 7 and 8, he was laughing and joking with his instructors. He would smile at me when I looked his way. He gave me a big thumbs-up sign. 

He's not able to swim on his own yet. But he is able to replace his entirely negative water experience with a positive pool memory now. I'm well satisfied with the swim lesson experience and the instructors who didn't give up on my boy, though he was definitely the toughest kid in the class. 


We celebrated with ice cream after this big turnaround!


One of the great things about this particular gym/aquatics center is that they allow parents and younger children not taking lessons to play in the rest of the pool, children's swim area and lazy river. So I was hanging out with my 2 year old son in the water the entire time lessons were taking place. He, of course, loved this. 

Big thumbs-up for swim lessons!

PS: I know the pictures in this post are not great. Oh well. They are the best we could do at the time.

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Happy Birthday, Bright Eyes

Posted by My Heart Song

8/5/2019


This girl has turned 16! 

Sixteen feels like a big birthday on the road to adulthood. 
Last week we opened up a checking account for her. 
She'll be getting her driver's permit this week. 
And she's on the look-out for her first job. 

So we celebrate her! 
For her birthday menu, she chose: 
fried potatoes for breakfast, pancakes for lunch, watermelon and Pringles for a snack, Hardee's for supper and ice cream cake for dessert. 

We took time to share, each one in our family, some of the things we love about the birthday girl. She says that words of affirmation is her love language, so she should be filled up after hearing all of us share things we love and appreciate about her. The little ones also shared some favorite memories and activities they enjoy with big sister.

She received some gifts from her siblings, including silly string, an Emoji cup, a coloring book, gum, a homemade slime kit and a keychain. For bigger gifts, she received an art easel (for her canvas painting, which she is really into these days) and a keyboard stand (to hold the full-size piano keyboard she got a few months ago). 

A few weeks ago Grandma K visited from Wisconsin and gave her some gifts at that time, including blank painting canvases and some blank canvas shoes. She pondered how to decorate the shoes and came up with this design. Very pretty and colorful!




Just for fun, here are some pictures through the years. 


2 months old 


9 months old and full of smiles 


flower girl at age 3 


welcoming baby brother at age 4


age 9 or so... starting to look more grown up


age 15 - last year's "school picture"

Happy Birthday, Bright Eyes! 
We love you and are so thankful 
that God placed you in our family!

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Birthday Traditions

Posted by My Heart Song

7/5/2019

We celebrated our littlest boy turning 2 last weekend. He is the first in our family to celebrate a birthday in 2019. The rest of us all have birthdays between now and Christmas. 


We are making an intentional shift in our birthday traditions this year. Here's the reason why. Bear with me as it will seem that I'm shifting gears here, from birthdays to Christmas traditions.

 We have seen a disturbing pattern in our family over the last few years related to Christmas. What is generally considered to be a season of giving has turned inward, with the focus on getting/receiving. Our kids, like so many others who live in abundance and privilege, make lists of what they want and have high hopes of what they will receive. In essence, Christmas was all about them and what they would get, thus turning it into a functional 2nd birthday that happens each year. More gifts for them. 

 Now we know that we are somewhat to blame for this confusion. We have not historically made a really big deal about birthdays, but Christmas is a big deal. We have spent more money on our kids at Christmas than at birthdays. We have perpetuated the emphasis on gifts for everyone at Christmastime. We have bought into the consumer-driven culture and let the focus drift from the real meaning of Christmas. 

BUT GOD used some friends recently to present a way to shift our focus, as this couple simply described their birthday traditions. They make a REALLY BIG deal out of birthdays. They go all out. They buy big gifts. They decorate, a lot... with streamers and balloons. They include elements of praising God for the uniqueness of the birthday boy or girl. 

And by making birthdays a really big deal, they can then make Jesus' birthday a really big deal too... and the focus stays on Jesus!

 If a birthday is a time to celebrate the birthday celebrant... with decorations, with special desserts, with gifts for that person, with special poems/speeches/pictures we created with that birthday person in mind... then all of this can easily carry over to Christmas as Jesus' birthday and keep the focus on Him, where it belongs! 

 So this shift in how we celebrate birthdays all year long will affect how we celebrate Christmas this year. There will not be gifts for our individual children from us. There will be a focus of what we can give to Jesus for His birthday, which will lead to some great discussions of what Jesus really wants for His birthday (things like our hearts, our love and obedience, our sacrificing for others and thinking of others instead of ourselves, etc). All of the decorations, the special foods, the time and energy that goes in to preparing for Christmas as Jesus' birthday will all reinforce the idea that birthdays are super special time to celebrate the birthday person. 

So we have the rest of our family birthdays to celebrate yet this year, all between now and Christmas. I'm excited about this! I'm excited because it is encouraging to hear family members recognize one another's contributions to the rest of the family and to voice them (or draw them). I'm excited to help cultivate a sense of generosity in the kids as they think about buying a gift for their sibling's birthday. I love their excitement over helping decorate or helping pick out the perfect balloon for their sibling. I love walking down memory lane together, sharing memorable moments with one another as we flip through pictures of the last year. 

 Traditions.
I think I've undervalued traditions. 
I am looking ahead with great intentionality. 

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Happy Birthday, America!

Posted by My Heart Song

7/4/2019 


Happy Birthday, America! 

I value my freedom and thank those who purchased it for me!

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Baby Boy's Birthday Party

Posted by My Heart Song

7/3/2019


We celebrated our littlest boy's 2nd birthday last weekend. What a fun time to just celebrate his life together as a family!


Each of his siblings had purchased a gift for him. He received a flashlight toy, Mr Potato Head, a racecar and a rubber ducky. Mom and Dad gave him a battery-operated bubble blower - that makes for a very slippery kitchen floor but is great fun outside :-) - and a set of bowling pins and balls and finally a t-shirt that says I'M 2! Daddy also made him a special crown to wear for his birthday. 

Each family member also created something for him. Some wrote down some special memories of this past year. Some drew a picture, made a card, wrote an acrostic with his name or wrote out a prayer for him. 


We also made a trip to the nearest Build-a-Bear Workshop. I recently learned of their "Buy Your Age" birthday bear. So we were able to buy a bear for only $2. We spent a few more dollars on minimal accessories and birthday boy now has his own stuffed bear.



The birthday boy got to choose what food to eat on his birthday. We enjoyed cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Morning snack was popcorn and pretzels. Lunch was pizza. Afternoon snack was birthday cupcakes. Supper was Burger King fries and chicken nuggets. 


We also Skyped with Grandma K in Wisconsin, so she could watch birthday boy open the gifts she had mailed here.

A very fun birthday celebration, as we thank God for the gift of this little boy. Families are a blessing.
"God sets the lonely in families" (Psalm 68:6) We're thankful for the fun, the challenges, the uniqueness that this little boy brings into our lives. 

Happy 2nd Birthday, my son!

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Baby Boy Turns 2

Posted by My Heart Song

6/28/2019

This daring little boy is turning 2! 


He's a climber, that's for sure. He can often be found standing up on stools, chairs, tables, and desks and reaching as high as he is able, to seek out some treasure (like a pen, off-limit toys, etc).


He adores his siblings. Anything the older ones are doing, he is following closely in their footsteps.


Drumming with the others and getting instructions from Mr. Music, 3-year-old brother.


Following big brothers around at the playground.


Most of the time the big brothers don't really like this little shadow. And yet there is the occasional moment when they do play together nicely. Here they were playing spaceship - each having their own bunk-bed in the spaceship while on the way to the moon. Creative!


Being dressed up by big sisters... it's all part of that youngest child role! :-)


Piggy back rides from Daddy are his favorite way to go to upstairs or on walks in the neighborhood.


This remains one of my favorite pictures of this baby boy. 
So sweet!

We're all looking forward to celebrating this weekend!

Happy birthday, Mystery! 

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Trips to the Zoo

Posted by My Heart Song

6/25/2019


We have been to the zoo a few times this spring. We are well acquainted with our local zoo and know where our favorite animals are located and how to avoid the most popular/busy spots for a more relaxed walk through the zoo.


While these zoo trips are old-hat for my older kids, the younger ones really enjoy all there is to see. 


The zoo train and the carousel are always highlights. 

We're thankful for our local zoo!

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