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

Happy Birthday to Isaiah

Two of our boys have their birthdays really close together ... just six days apart.  They are also close in age (2 years apart) and have often shared a birthday celebration.  Just made since to have one party for both of them.  Since this was Joshua's 13th birthday with its own celebration, we did two separate celebrations - really felt like more as we celebrated their "day" and then another time later too.

On their actual birthday, they are able to pick out the foods for each meal and also the activities for the day.  Isaiah chose biscuits and sausage gravy.  Yum - and gluten free too!  (Notice the red plate and the special chair again.)

 Gift giving happens early as some people are just too excited to wait.  That is fun too!

 It was fun having Christopher home with us too!

 Just love this picture of 3 of my guys!

 This one is sweet too.  Isaiah received a lot of neat things for his birthday.  Including several spy gear things.

 Christopher gave the boys a new archery set for their birthdays.

 Isaiah loves food.  I know we all do, but he seems to appreciate it more than most.  He chose buffalo wings, potato rounds and chili for his lunch menu.

 We all enjoyed his selection.

 New computer games that he has been wanting - and really enjoying and learning a lot from too!

 After lunch, its time for more fun outside - including golf and capture the flag.

 We had planned to go out, but due to the sickness of a friend, we postponed it to another day.  We did still celebrate dinner with pizza and a cake.

One day during Christopher's fall break, we headed over to Adventure Landing in Raleigh.  Isaiah wanted to play laser tag and they had a great deal going on the day we went!

 In addition to playing several games of laser tag, each person was given 10 tokens to spend in the arcade.  Eliana and I went in to watch one of the games of laser tag, but I think it scared her so we left before the game started.  Roger and I took turns playing.  It was my first time and it was a lot of fun!  Our team played against 2 other families during the last round - and lets just say that our competitive spirit really showed in the scores.  LOL

 Everyone enjoyed the games.

 It was a fun place to celebrate our sweet young man.

Isaiah, I love you!  I love your sweet and gentle spirit.  I love how you seek to please others and make them happy.  You have an amazingly generous heart and spirit and love to give to others!  You are smart and creative and curious.  I enjoy hearing about the things you are learning and love exploring the world with you.  Oh, and you give the best hugs!!!

I'm thankful for the ways that you play with your siblings and the peacemaking spirit that I so often see in your actions.  I love your smile and your energy and your heart for Jesus.  I pray that you would grow in wisdom and knowledge and most of all love for our Savior!  I am so thankful to be your Mom and am so glad to have you as my son!

I love you!
Mom

Mother Son Night at ChickFilA

A few weeks ago, I went out to dinner with my 3 youngest boys to Chick-Fil-A.  They were having a Mother-Son Date night.  The tables were nicely set.  We were seated when we entered.  There was entertainment (magic show) while we were there.  Our orders were taken at the table.  It was all really nice.

Of course, the best part was just spending time with my boys.  I think they enjoyed a night out too!  We don't eat out often and these days it seems even less as we are figuring out the gluten free stuff.  It was just a fun night.

I'm thankful for my boys (missed you Christopher) and love hanging out with them!

Still trying to figure out my new computer.  More on that later.

Blessings
Leslie

Happy Birthday Isaiah!

Birthdays.  We have two birthdays in a six day span.  They are just 2 years apart and most years have celebrated with joint activities and/or a party.  This year though, they opted for smaller and individual.  It works that way too.  For many years we had big parties - not necessarily in size - but more in the effort put into them.  I loved having a theme with activities, food and a cake all relating.  It was fun.  A lot of work, but made for great memories.  

I'm learning though that we can also make great memories in doing things more simply.  There isn't a right or best way.  Isn't that true of so many things in life?  

One activity that Isaiah was really interested in doing was something we had done for Christopher.  Now, it was much easier doing this for the person mostly likely to get up LAST.  It was more tricky doing it for the person who usually gets up FIRST.  He also shares a room and I didn't want the surprise to miss him!

I stayed up late and decorated the door with lots of balloons and streamers.  Before doing this though, I made a large sign to hang on the door that told him to STOP and not open the door.  An arrow pointing down indicated my cell  phone with instructions on calling me before he opened the door.  

Shortly after 7am, we heard the phone.  What was funny though was when we asked Isaiah how many times he had called.  He said, "About 20 times".  I laughed.  Then I checked my cell phone.  I scrolled down and down while counting.  I laughed again.  He HAD called 20 times.  (In our defense, the only phone that rings is downstairs and hard to hear.)

Can you see the delight that this surprise brought?  I love being able to give my children things that they want. Especially when it isn't a material good but rather an experience.  Simple.  Fun.  Sweet.

One of our family traditions is that you choose your foods.  My children have started their own traditions of the upholstered chair being the special seat for the birthday person.  (Isn't it a fun thing when they add in their own ideas and start family traditions?!)  Isaiah chose waffles and chocolate milk.  (Other food choices this day were tacos and pizza.)

We headed out to Best Buy in the morning.  Definitely a store for guys!  It was pouring outside and there were very few people inside.

So we made ourselves at home and enjoyed our time there.

The red plate - another family tradition.  I have a red notebook to go with it to record when we use the plate. I haven't been good about using that though.  At least the pictures keep a journal, right?

Two hands full this year!

We also repeated the sign with things we love about him.  When Isaiah looked at it, he wondered why we only listed 10 things we loved about him while Joshua's noted 12 things.  Guess that part of it wasn't so clear. LOL

His special gift from us was a new camera.  He is having fun taking pictures and movies.  I love seeing the world through their eyes too!

The following day, we had a small party.  (This was the day that worked for Christopher to come home and so this is why it was chosen.)  We hosted a nacho contest.  People could choose to work individually or as a team - we had both.  We also had a huge spread to choose from - hamburger (taco meat), sausage, cheese, tomatoes, bacon bits, lettuce, sour cream, hot peppers, olives, refried beans, corn, and salsa.  They went to work creating!

Each team had the opportunity to present their creation to a panel of judges.  They were judged on taste, presentation and creativity.  Isaiah chose to be a judge rather than a contestant.  After sampling these plates, we then went back to create more of our own choosing.  It was a delicious party activity.

Time for the birthday cake!  Can you tell what it is?

Its supposed to be legos.  I used muffins to make the knobs on top.

We then played a game - electronic Monopoly.

It was a fun evening!

Isaiah was also given light sabres and it was fun testing them out with his biggest brother!

We had a great time celebrating!

Isaiah, I love your heart for God and for others.  It blesses me that you enjoy reading your Bible and learning more about God.  I love how you are willing to give things up in order to keep peace.  You have a generous spirit and are willing to give up many things to help or make someone else happy.  

Isaiah is smart, creative and funny.  He has a great sense of humor and is easy to spend time with.  He also gives some of the best hugs ever!  He is hard working and diligent in things large and small.  

Isaiah, I'm so glad you are part of our family!  What a sweet gift you are to us every day!  I pray that God would continue to mold and shape you.  I pray that you will use the gifts He has given you wisely.  I pray that you would always know that you are deeply loved and wonderfully made!

I love you!

Mommy