Ben's 4th birthday party

Shortly after his 4th birthday, Bennett decided he wanted a pirate birthday.  Given so much time to brainstorm and prepare for the part, I still chose to wait until the last minute.  It's just how I do things.

Here are a few of the party highlights.

Most importantly, the birthday boy, complete in his pirate Halloween costume:

 

Dessert table:

 

 

The "grub" . . . we served hot dogs, beans and typical picnic fare.

 

The decorations:

 

  The games:

 

Claire's first birthday

Sadly, Claire is closer to 2 years old than she is to her first birthday, and I'm just now posting photos from her party.

I didn't post much about Christmas last year, but, well . . . it wasn't great thanks to a nasty little stomach bug.  Claire's original party was postponed, and by the time we celebrated, most of the treats I had ready were stale or too old to serve.  It was still cute on the 30th when we made up for it, and let's face it . . . she didn't really know the difference. 

Here are the two photos from her REAL birthday that we celebrated at home.  She was the only one who didn't get sick, so I think she's probably the only one that really enjoyed her birthday cake.

And here are a few from her belated birthday party:

 

Bennett turns (er, turned) three!

 

Bennett turned three in September and we had a firefighter birthday party for him!  It was a lot of fun and Brian brought over a fire engine from the local fire department.  The kids really enjoyed seeing that.  SEEING it.  The sirens, however?  Not so much.  Let's just say that there were tears.

We served chili and let everyone roast their own hot dogs. 

 

 

 

Along with Maria's cupcakes, I made a little cake with a firefighter's bad on it.  It was lopsided.  It tasted okay, but it looked like Ben made it.  In retrospect, I should have just told everyone that he did.  It was not good.  Thank goodness we had lots of other sweet treats to make up for it!

I think, of all of the birthday parties I've thrown, this was the most fun and the one that I was most on top of.  There really wasn't anything stressful about it and it kind of all fell into place.

 

As usual, Ben wanted no part of having his picture taken, so this was the best one I could get of my sweet little three-year-old.

 

The Batmobile

Jack got this batmobile pool for his birthday and was thrilled when we had a chance to take it out this morning.  I told the boys to get in and strike their best "superhero post."

I guess I should have been more specific with Ben . . .

Five years

I've been flipping through pictures of the day Jack was born . . . five years ago today.  I felt a lot of things as I was looking through them, but the biggest realization to wash over me was "we had no idea what we were doing."

We really didn't.

I had read dozens of books.  I trawled websites and asked questions.  Still, on June 2, 2007, we were in totally over our heads.  I was looking at a photo of Jack laying in his crib for the first time on the day we brought him home.  I remember that moment.  I remember looking at him there and thinking, "What have we gotten ourselves into." 

But, thanks to Jesus and google, we've kept him alive and happy for five whole years.  We've officially been married with kids longer than we were married without kids. Our house is louder and messier, and I haven't had free time since . . . well, I can't even remember.  But I wouldn't have it any other way.



I love this picture.  It's not the best picture of the two of us, but it was at that very moment that my capacity to love was stretched beyond what I knew was possible.  I had already been his mother for 41 weeks already, but at that point, I actually felt like his mom.

Happy birthday, Jackson William!  I'm so grateful for you!