A Super hero birthday party for Daniel!

Happy Birthday Daniel!  I can't believe that you are 10 already!  I am delighted by your curiosity, creativity and desire to learn.  I am thankful that you ask questions and are engaged with the world around you.  I am learning more because of the questions that you ask!  I am so thankful for you and love being your mom!  You are an answer to prayer.  I love you and look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you!  Love, Mom

 He was very excited that Christopher was able to be home on his birthday since it fell on a Saturday.  First up, was a huge breakfast.  One of our birthday traditions is for the birthday person to choose the food for the day.  Daniel chose bacon, cinnamon rolls, chocolate milk, orange juice and eggs.  Some foods that we don't have too frequently.  :)

 His brothers staged a surprise scenario in order to receive his gift.  This has been something that they have enjoyed creating for several years.  This one is a super hero scene and here is the bad guy waiting.

Spiderman and his accomplice running to meet him.

The fight is on.

I love how they go all out in designing the scene, setting the stage and getting into their roles.  They really make this a fun part of his birthday!

Such a fun theme and Rebecca and Hanna got into the fun of dressing up too.  :)

 We saw so many great ideas for a super hero cake - most of them were way out of my talent and experience league!  Rebecca looked at some though and decided that she could make them!  And she did!  She used the templates here and copied the design onto wax paper using melted colored chocolates.  We then put these on top of the cupcakes.  Her sweet friend Hanna helped make them too.  Don't they look awesome?!

 Another fun picture.

 We played a variety of games from guess how many super heroes in the  jar (Lego ones) to Super Hero Who Am I?  Each person had a symbol on their forehead and had to ask questions to try to figure out who they were.  You can get the printables for these here as well as other great super hero printables.

 We made a huge spider web.  I tied a piece of candy on each end so that each person had a starting place and knew when they were at the end.

 It was trickier than it looked and was fun to watch them get into the web.

 Most of them finished it, but few just gave up without getting to the candy at the end.  It took some work to set up - and for them to go through - but it was fun and worth doing!

 We played a charade game where a super power was acted out and the others had to guess.  Some that we used included the following:
   *sees through walls
   *fly
   *super strength
   *speed
   *healing/regeneration
   *ability to remove senses (like inflicting blindness)
   *agility/reflexes
   *immortality
   *time travel
   *magnetic forces
   *elasticity
   *invisibility
We found that it really helped to have two people acting things out.  This was fun and went pretty quickly.

 We gathered for cake and then opening gifts.

 Now it was time for another spider game.  I had planned more outside games, but it was forecasted to rain so then we moved plans inside.  It ended up being beautiful though.  This was a game with people in teams and each team tried to get more silly string on the other team.

 The "rules" were loose and a little vague, but that didn't stop the fun at all!

 Silly string is always a hit!

 The last game was a spider race.  Each team/pair had to link arms with their backs facing each other.  Then move from the beginning line forward to a second line and then back again.  Its harder than it looks because one person is always backwards.

 We enjoyed a taco bar for dinner and then watched the Lego movie on the "big screen" (projector onto a sheet).

It was a fun party and what a great theme to work with!  I highly recommend this theme if you have a child that would enjoy it.  Lots of fun!

Delightful day with family and friends celebrating 10 years of life for Daniel!

Blessings
Leslie

Happy Birthday sweet Eliana!

My girls have birthdays exactly 3 weeks apart.  Can't believe my baby is 7 already!  Just doesn't seem possible.  Probably in part too because she doesn't seem like she is 7 years old either.  :)  We start the morning with a special chair at the table and a breakfast of your choice!  Roger made waffles which are her favorite and his specialty on the week-ends.  She also asked for chocolate milk.

 We played and ran some errands of her choosing.  She is always asking to go to Target.  Not really sure why, but we went.

 We also went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  She likes the fries there and they are gluten free!

 She spent some time in the play area and loved it.

 Lots of gifts to open as each sibling wanted to get something different for her.

 Before dinner, we headed to Defy Gravity.  She LOVES this place.  Its filled with trampolines.  It was a "family night" special too which worked out great so that all of us jumped for a much lower price.  My pictures aren't great, but here are a few.  Eliana loves the foam pit and jumping into it wildly!

 In the midst of a game of tag, she is  happy and jumping.  It wasn't crowded at all which was nice.

 More presents for our sweet princess.  :-)

 Dinner was tacos - one of her favorites.  We all love mexican food here which is nice since almost all of it is gluten free.

The red plate comes out again for a special occasion.

 We took many photos trying to get a good one of her smiling.

 Oh, the pressure!  LOL

 She enjoyed her cake and ice cream too.

 This was one of her gifts - kinetic sand.  It is really, really neat!  I highly recommend this for a wide range of ages.  My kids love playing in it.  It is fluid somehow and not as messy or dry as regular sand.  Its also gluten free (as per the box label).

 Sweet Eliana.  How you have changed our world!  You have opened our eyes to so many things.  I think with you in our lives we have learned to laugh more, forgive more quickly and love more easily.  You continue to teach all of us through your example.  We are all better people for having known and loved and been loved by you.

Eliana is just what our family needed and I'm glad that God knew that.  Love spending time with my wild, spunky, loving, expressive daughter.  Looking forward to many more years together.

Love
Leslie

Happy 18th Birthday Rebecca!

Wow!  18 years old.  We all knew it was coming but it still doesn't seem right - even to Rebecca.  I'm so thankful for this amazing daughter of mine.

I knew I was having a daughter when I was pregnant with her.  I just knew.  At one point, the thought crossed my mind that I could be wrong and I was shocked for a short time, but then just went back to what I knew.  Even at her birth when my mom brought in beautiful handmade pink things, I asked her where the blue things were.  She laughed and said that I was so sure that she hadn't made anything blue.

Where do I even start.  This can be a hard post to write - not because I don't know what to say, but because there is just too much to say.  My amazing, beautiful, smart, talented daughter ... is such a delightful young woman!  I love having her in my life and our family.

She wasn't sure how she wanted to celebrate and so we didn't plan a lot on that day.  That worked out well since Eliana was glutened and very sick that morning.  We still found ways to celebrate including shopping and lunch out and by the afternoon, Eliana felt well enough to join us.

One of the surprises we had for Rebecca was this.

Some of the gifts were small things like her favorite candies.  Others included a necklace, a new scarf and yarn for a future one.

Her siblings all enjoy giving her gifts as well.  (And yes, they were part of the total gift count.)

New dvds of old (but great) musicals to watch.  She loves musicals!

There were 2 big surprises in her gift bags - one was a trip to NYC to see a play and the other was a special box filled with letters.  Letters from family and friends to encourage her, share memories with her, to make her laugh and to let her know that she is loved!  My sweet girl loves words and I knew that this gift would be a sweet blessing to her now and also in the future.  (Thank you for the many of you that helped with this!)

Banana pudding ice cream "cake" - her choice.

We had a special night out a few nights later when Eliana felt better and Christopher could join us.  A delicious meal of Japanese food.  A rare treat for our family to enjoy a meal out.  It was yummy!

Those of you that know Rebecca know that she is sweet, caring and sometimes quiet.  She is also intelligent, inquisitive and has an amazing memory!  And in spite of being reserved at times, she is strong in her convictions and willing to stand up for what she believes.

She is talented and creative and has enjoyed making things for many years.  She made this beautiful dress from start to finish!  It is really beautiful and I am proud of the work she put into making it.  I wouldn't have even tried as it just looked to hard to me, but she was determined - and she did it!

Rebecca loves theatre and hopes to perform a lot in college.  (A possible major depending on the school of choice.)  It has been a treat to learn more about the stage and various plays along with her.

She is compassionate and loves caring for children.  She is regularly working or helping to care for children and if there is a baby nearby, she is quick to step in for a chance to snuggle them.

I love that she has a strong faith and is always asking questions and seeking to learn more.  She is curious and loves to read.  She has introduced me to many great books!

Rebecca is independent and willing to be who she is - and I love that!

Rebecca,
I love you and am so thankful to be your mom.  I love seeing the gifts and talents that God has given you being put to good use in your life.  Stand strong in your convictions and keep trusting God to guide you.  He has great plans for you now and also in the future.  I look forward to seeing what your future holds.

I pray for you often precious daughter!

Love
Mom

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.   Colossians 3:16-17

Isaiah's Birthday ... 12 years old!

My two middle boys have birthdays just 6 days apart.  2 years and 6 days.  For many years they have had joint parties and that worked well.  This year though, we just let them choose what they wanted to do for their birthday and this was fun too!

We have done this in the past for Isaiah - and he really enjoyed it.  It wasn't a surprise then though (I wanted a photo).  This year was!  What fun to wake up and find something you didn't expect - and really enjoy!

I loved being able to start off his day in this fun way!  And green is his favorite color.  :-)

Food is always the choice of the birthday person.  Isaiah wanted pancakes with blueberry syrup and sausage cheese balls.  Oh, and chocolate milk.  Yum!

One of the first activities was a treasure hunt.  I have a great book from Klutz with already designed hunts that I use often.  It is a great resource with some hunts good for pre-readers and other more challenging ones for older children.  I love that it tells you where to hide each clue on the back of the clue!  Super easy and I highly recommend The Treasure Hunt Book.

One of his gifts was a fishing box filled with all sorts of things and a new pole.  He had asked to go fishing on his birthday and this seemed an appropriate gift for him.

It was a gorgeous day and we headed out to Harris Lake County Park to go fishing.

Ready to fish!

They first tried fishing on the pier.

Eliana became quickly tired of it all and we took a walk.

There is a great playground here and we headed over there.

Love seeing the sweet smiles!

After no luck on the pier, they headed out to fish near the woods.  Only one person caught a fish ... the birthday boy!  I was so glad it was him.  :-)

Christopher met us for lunch.  Isaiah picked take-out Chinese.

More gifts.  Slim jims are a huge hit.

And a fun movie too!

For dinner, Isaiah wanted to have a cooking contest.  We gathered ingredients for nachos and then split into 3 teams.  Each team had time to make their food and prepare something to say about the food.

Some of the presentations were very creative.

Both the words.

The gestures.

And the food.  (Can you tell that this one is an I?  For the one judge - Isaiah!)

The foods were judged on appearance, presentation and taste.  A few had secret ingredients (such as bacon and ranch dressing).

After sampling all of them and learning who the winning team was (the all girl team), everyone took time to make their own plate of nachos to their liking.  It was a lot of fun and yummy too!

Happy 12th birthday Isaiah!  You are a delight to our whole family!  We love your creativity, wit and humor.  I'm thankful for your willingness to serve and help others.  I love that you are a hugger and am so very thankful you are my son!  I love you so very much!

Blessings
Leslie