Birthday Boy is 14!

Nathan had a bithday this week (Tuesday) and had a nice couple of days celebrating. 

We opened presents and went to dinner on Monday but had cake on Tuesday.  We had to divide the fun because Chad had some appointments at the church on Nathan's day. 

Nathan got a few presents that will keep him occupied for a while in addition to a backpacking backpack that he wanted.

He's looking forward to being ordained a Teacher this Sunday.  He's getting older and we're counting on some growth spurts to help him look his age!

Happy 14th Birthday, Nathan!

There's a 12-year-old in the house (again)! -and- TIMBER!

Yes, it's true.  Leah is 12!  She has been looking forward to this day for several weeks now.  She's ready to move on from Primary, though she's a little nervous about joining the Young Women.  She's going to have a great time, once she gets started!

Another bonus to turning 12 in our family is being old enough to ride in the front seat of the van.  This may be the biggest reason she's been looking forward to her birthday lately.  The boys aren't thrilled.  Now they have to add her into the monthly rotation for turns to ride shotgun.  Life is hard.

With all of the treats and snacking that have been going on the last two months (and daughters that like to make cake), I wasn't looking forward to another cake so soon.  So I was glad when pumpkin pie (using the last pumpkin from Idaho) became an option.

She blew out all of the candles in one breath.  We'll have to give her more next year.

Next came the gifts.  She was looking forward to that a little bit.

This is where she realizes what this small gift is leading up to.

This is where she stares in disbelief that she actually owns a guitar of her own.

And this is where she tries it out!

Turning twelve also means a birthday party with friends.  (With a family this size, I decided to limit the parties to 8, 12, and 16 - all significant ages in our church.)  So her 2nd ever birthday party is coming up next Saturday!

Of course, Leah's birthday wasn't the only thing memorable to happen around here today.  We took to cutting down a large tree in our yard.  The septic tank is nearby and we were counseled a year ago to get rid of the tree to preserve the tank.  Hopefully, the roots didn't grow that much more during the year and damage the buried septic system.  To be fair, we've been waiting for some decent temps to get to work.  It has been brutal around here!

The kids had a blast playing in the huge instant fort the tops of the tree created when they fell.

This is going to be some nice firewood in a year or so!

 We're going to miss the shade that tree provided.  We're already talking about planting some fruit trees out there.  I'm not too worried about their roots causing damage while we still live here (let the next homeowners take care of that).  But do I want to eat fruit fertilized by waste that I helped create?  Uh...

I feel fortunate that these large branches came down without any injury to living creatures (other than the tree).  The fence was not as fortunate, but the house is OK!  :)

Nathan had a birthday!

Nathan waited all year for this day (or so it seemed)! He was so looking forward to taking treats to school and then a scout activity (his first one as a Webelos) after school. The day dawned and he was sick! So he had to stay home. :(

But as you should already know, we are used to such birthday illnesses and made some adaptations. We postponed going out to dinner, but we carried on with presents and cake! (We are quite stalwart, I know.)

Here is the newly turned ten-year-old, surrounded by eager siblings. What was Nathan going to get?!?

Among his presents were his scout book and Webelos colors. He also got a real CTR ring (meaning it won't turn his finger green and cost a few pennies) and socks. I spared you the pictures of that!

Chad and I were excited to give him this present. It's a series of pieces that snap together to form electrical circuits and includes things like magnets, motors, light bulbs, etc. It's call Snaptricity. Learn more about it here.


But even that gift was upstaged by the pocket knife/key chain that Daniel passed on to him. Boys!


Don't forget the cake! I wanted to make a cake that would be something interesting to Nathan. I decided to make him a Hexbug cake, but was dismayed to not find any examples on the internet. What? I can't have that original of an idea. My first thought was to cut out the hexes and tracks from the cake but decided that would be too difficult and resorted to "drawing" everything on. The actual Hexbugs still vexed me and I took another easy road...I used real ones!


It's not to scale, but it still tasted good.

Nathan blew out the candles and served up the cake.

The girls liked it. (Sarah is always climbing on the table...it drives me nuts!)
The boys liked it, too. I did learn an interesting lesson about serving sizes. This was just one cake mix, baked in a 1/2 sheet pan. We got skinny, but wide pieces of cake and tricked ourselves into eating only half the cake. In past experiences, we have polished of the entire thing! It's a small stroke of genius...that I'll probably not do again just for the sake of eating less.


After cake, the kids "helped" Nathan assemble some circuits. The kit comes with a booklet that gives a diagram and instructions and explains what is happening. The kids were really just intrigued by the fan that they could make fly straight up into the air. Boys!

Happy Birthday, Nathan! We hope you know how much we love you!

Sarah has been practicing her smile. It's getting better (less "bull dog")!

Leah turned 8!

It was a much anticipated day, but it finally arrived and Leah celebrated her 8th birthday!

As required, there was a birthday cake. I worked much of the night before on a cake top, only to ruin it and throw it out. So the next day I scrambled for plan B. Plan B ended up with me buying a new cake pan. It resulted in this horse cake. Leah is a little horse crazy, as you may know.

I used my favorite crafting tool and made a birthday shirt for Leah (and Rebekah and Sarah). Leah is really into "piggie tails" lately.

The highlight of a birthday is the presents. Don't we all know it? Leah got her share. One present came indirectly from Leah's great-grandpa Russell. She received a small metal horse that he had played with as a boy. We're convinced it's a bank, but we've yet to get it open. It has a broken leg, but still stands. We figure the toy is around 90 years old. :)

And while there were other presents...

the other horse was another favorite.

After presents is CAKE! Eight candles? That's going to take a lot of breath to blow them out.

Happy Birthday, Leah! We love you!

Joseph's 4th Birthday

Somehow it happened, I'm still not sure how, that Joseph turned 4 years old on Sunday! I tell you, I sure love that kid. He is so much fun to have in our family. He is Sarah's best friend and is so stinkin' smart! He also talks constantly. (I could use a break from that.)

As his birthday approached, starting in about July, Joseph would want to know if his birthday was before Halloween or after. I have no idea how many times I answered that question!

Thankfully, his birthday finally arrived. He had been looking forward to getting called up to the front in Primary to pick his scripture pencil and bookmark. Chad and I were in there that morning because Leah had a talk, so I got to see the huge smile on his face. He was so excited, that he started inching out of his seat as he anticipated them formally calling him to the front. And then he stood there stoically while we all sang. I loved it.

I had started the cake two nights before when I made the top of the decorations. I baked the cake Saturday night and slapped all the frosting on during a quiet time Sunday afternoon. I don't think it turned out too badly. In fact, it's my best Butter Cream Transfer to date! (I still have room for improvement.)


I bought some Toy Story sugar decorations to put on the cake. I made sure there were exactly 6...for obvious reasons.


I also picked up a game for everyone to play. I am just not a birthday party kind of mom. Daniel had the most parties, Nathan's had one and Leah is looking forward to her first one in January. So we had a party game for our family time. It seemed to work. :)

The kids were sticking on shields or sheriff stars, depending on their height. Here is Joseph, trying to get Buzz Lightyear's shield on his arm.


Sarah's blindfold slipped off, but we didn't force the rules on her. It's a good thing she's such a favorite around here!


Leah did NOT want to do a shield, but she consented to help us keep the peace (Rebekah did not want to do a shield, either). Leah is usually the one that helps us work things out. I am so thankful for her! But does it look like she's cheating??!?


Here is Rebekah putting on the first star. It looks like poor Woody is about to be
gagged.


Nathan's turn was next. He got it a little closer to the target.


Knowing Daniel, I'm pretty sure he felt his way to the right place. I would suspect him of peeking, but it doesn't look like the blindfold was cooperating.


Next it was time to open the presents. There are always a lot of helpful suggestions when it comes to opening birthday presents in this family! Sarah is trying to get Joseph to take the next gift from her before he finishes checking out the one he just opened. (I guess the dining room light was off. I promise there were some lights on somewhere when I took these pictures!)


I made Joseph a shirt with my Silhouette. He wore it the next day. :) The vinyl was fuzzy, so he spent the whole day feeling his shirt.


I think Joseph's favorite present was a backpack full of tools. He still claims that he knew he was getting tools. He didn't but he's so smitten, that he can't stop talking about them. I think that means I chose well.



Daniel and Joseph found some of their things that they could wrap up for Joseph. I love it when the kids made that kind of effort to celebrate each other. Leah didn't have anything to give Joseph, so she decided to give him a hug. It brought the biggest smile to his face!


After presents comes cake. I don't know when we got out of the habit of having ice cream with the cake. It would be delicious, but I guess the extra sugar isn't really needed.

OK. The lights were out for this shot. We wanted to see the candles! Joseph got the candles out in 2 breaths. The first breath got the candle the farthest away and the second got the closest three. Such talent! ;)


As I've said before, the birthday person gets to cut the cake. That often means we get some creative cuts on our plates. Thankfully, Joseph let me cut the rest of the cake once he dished up his own piece.


Leah was our videographer for the cake this night. It seems a little abuse of power was going on here!


It gets quiet around here when the kids start eating something they like.


Sarah really got into her piece of cake! Hmm...it looks like there was a bit of black frosting on her plate.


Joseph's eyes were bigger than his stomach. Once he'd had his fill of cake, he was gone to the living room to play with his tool set. I wish I could walk away from food like that! (Sadly, I found the best, untouched piece of cake from his plate and ate it. I can't stick to my own food!)


Joseph wasn't the only one who wanted to play with his tools some more!

At the end of the celebration, this was what was left. Joseph, Sarah and I had a little for lunch on Monday and then Chad and I finished it off (before it got stale)!


Happy Birthday, Joseph! We hope you felt special on your special day. We sure love you tons!