Tag Archives: birthday

Faith’s birthday

Faith turned eight years old on November 1.  Like every child, she was very excited to be another year older (I think that feeling stops at age 21).  We were going to have her birthday party at the new house, but a week before her birthday I had the realization that there was no way that we could have her party at the new house.  Thankfully, I was able to book her party at the roller skating rink, Kate Skate.  Faith loves to roller skate and I was hoping that her friends would enjoy it as well.  Most of them did.   Roller rinks have not changed much in the last thirty years.  They are exactly the same as you remember them – dark corners, old carpeting, wood floors, video games, and top 40 music.  The perfect place for an eight year old birthday party.

The birthday party guests were a mixture of new Metrolina friends, friends she misses from CDS and church friends.  Left to right: Jesse Youngs, Mia Watson, Kallie, Hadley and Campbell Homan, Kelsey Nelson, and Faith.

Faith really misses her old friends from CDS.  It was nice that some of them could be at her party.  Kelsey and Faith really miss each other….

Grandmama was the first guest to arrive and one of the last to leave.  She and Faith have a sweet relationship.  Grandmama loves to watch Faith interact with her friends and have fun. (Faith is into making funny faces now, if you can’t tell.)  

For me, the best part of the party was spending time with Faith.  Even during her birthday party, with her friends around her, she still sought out my attention.  She wanted me to skate with her and to hold my hand.  I loved it!  She and I would hold hands while slinging each other forward so that we could go faster.  We even did the Hokie-Pokie together (although not my favorite dance song).
  

There has been a lot going on in our lives over the last three months.  Faith needed a special day with her friends.  She needed to do something fun and something that made her feel important and loved.  This birthday party was just what she needed.

Faith is such a sweet and caring little girl.  She is quick to console a friend that is sad or needs help.   She loves to play school and play with her dolls.  I know that switching schools has been difficult for her, but it has made her more self-assured and more confident.  She knows who she is and what she enjoys in life.  I admire her imagination and her enthusiasm for life.  My oldest baby is growing up and I am very proud of who she is and who she will be.

Wilson’s birthday

Wilson turned six on October 12.  My little wilson is six. I guess he isn’t so little anymore, but he is still super sweet, loves to cuddle, loves to sword fight, loves school, and loves to watch TV.  I tried to talk him out of having a birthday party, and I thought that I had thoroughly convinced him, until five days before his birthday he told me that he wanted a party.  How was I supposed to throw him a party when I didn’t know any of his new friends from school and it was already a Thursday?!?  

Being the super mom that I am, I scoured old emails and the MCA school directory for the six kids that he wanted to invite to his party.  I was able to get in touch with two preschool friends and three families from his new school, including the triplets – six kids. Perfect!  From now on I will be planning all parties five days in advance because it significantly reduces the number of attendees and pressure to entertain them.  

Because our house is such a disaster from packing and moving my mom graciously offered up her house again this year to hold the party. We had a small bounce house, a trampoline, a swing set and some chickens to entertain the kids. They loved it!  The party was a success!! 

Wilson and my mom baked the cake that morning….

 My dad helped bounce the kids….   Wilson and his new best friend, Allison…

 In the middle of the party wilson came to find me so that I could play his new favorite toy, Rockem Sockem Robots, with him. I was flattered that he wanted to play with me during his birthday party. I was so touched that I got a picture of it…. Wilson is truly a blessing to have in our family. He has really grown up over the last few years and I am very proud of him. His smile is contagious and I am so thankful that he is mine. 

42!

I do not like to grow older every year. I dread the coming of another birthday because with it comes more wrinkles and the admission that I am not spring chicken anymore. It also reminds that time keeps flying by, no matter how badly I want to slow it down. This is why I instituted the ritual of throwing a Christmas/birthday party at our house every year. My philosophy is this:  getting older is a lot more fun when I have a party to go to.  This year was no exception!

Saturday night we had 24 of our closest friends come over to our house to celebrate and have a good time together.  Thankfully, I know how to throw a low maintenance party and that has plenty of snacks, alcohol and friends. The food table was full of hummus, veggies, cheese and crackers, olives, mixed nuts, and pigs in a blanket (the latest food addition that was a huge success).  I typically buy only 6 bottles of wine because I know that nearly everyone that walks in the door will bringing a bottle of wine with them.  It is almost guaranteed that I will have more wine left over than I started with….not a bad thing to have happen.  :)

It has also become a ritual to play the charades game that we played last year.  It is a hilarious game that involves everyone at the party, and you have to pay attention in order to do well.  Sidney is the designated game master.  Here is Megan acting out one of the names she drew out of the hat….

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Last year I forgot to take pictures so this time I took some early in the night before I forgot.

This is Damian and Mandy DiFilippo and Josh and Kristee Bostick.  Mandy finally made it to a party.  Kristee was thoughtful enough to bring a bottle of the party’s favorite vodka (another tradition).

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Mandy, Me and Kristee ….

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Stephanie, Mackenzie, Sidney and me…

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Me, Patty and Kristee have been friends for over ten years.  They were some the first girls that I met in Charlotte.  (We got photo-bombed by Jerry but I cut him out.  haha)

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Michelle and Joe McCready.  I am lucky that they even showed up….she is over due with baby number one.

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I felt very loved and joyful Saturday night.  I had fun and celebrated with my friends from many different circles: church, neighborhood, school, and the gym.  Sidney’s comment was, “Wow, you guys know a lot of people.”  We do, and I love everyone one of them and am so glad that they took the time to come and enjoy the night with us.   Until next year….

Miller’s birthday

My baby turned three on Saturday!  His birthday is actually this Friday the 21st, but Tom is going to be out of town and I am tired of thinking of, and planning for, birthdays.  I was ready for it to be Miller’s birthday and so was he.  For the last two weeks he has been talking about how he is going to go to the ice cream shop and is going to have a Thomas the Train cake.  I took him to Michael’s a few weeks ago and let him pick out his own cake pan.  In hindsight, I should have suggested a football cake, but instead let him pick out something difficult like a Thomas cake.  I am no Martha Stewart, but I tried anyway.  Of course, I used my favorite cake mix and icing from the health food store.  This cake is always delicious and the icing is awesome!

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Faith and I had some Mommy-daughter time on Saturday icing the cake together.  She was a good little helper.  We had fun laughing about how silly our Thomas looked and trying to make him look as close to the real thing  as possible.  I had a Thomas book to guide me.  A few neighborhood kids even came in to help me put on the sprinkles.  It was a group effort.

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As goofy as I thought the cake looked, Miller loved it.  He kept taking the stool over to the kitchen counter to look at it and admire it.  I was glad that I could give him what he really wanted for his birthday – a Thomas the Train cake.  He didn’t ask for any gifts or even expect any.   That is just how Miller is.  My mom bought him two football shirts – one of which he put on immediately and is wearing in the picture.

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The party was a small one, just my parents and Grandmama Pat were invited.  We ate hamburgers and hotdogs, per Miller’s requests, and had cake.  A very simple and enjoyable evening.  It seems the parties have gotten less extravagant with each child.  Faith had a big party every year, but Miller has yet to have one.  I have realized over the years that the kids don’t care about having a big party – I just thought that they were supposed to….wrong!  I have remedied that with Miller.  He is happy just being with us.

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As for Miller’s gift from us, I bought him that cute little suitcase/backpack from Costco.  He needed a suitcase for his sleepovers at Grandma’s house.  He loves it!  He rolls it around the house constantly.   Here he is with Grandmama Pat, his new football jersey, and his new suitcase…..

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I have been so blessed to have Miller as my little boy.  He is so sweet and funny.  He rarely gets in trouble and when he does it is hard to be mad at him.  He has started to torment Wilson a little bit, but he has also started playing with him as well.  It is fun to see the two boys playing and becoming friends.  Miller is also reaching the age when he switches from being a Mommy’s boy to now being a Daddy’s boy.  This is always a bitter-sweet time for me.  I finally get a reprieve and can use both of my hands to do things, but it is also a sad time because he doesn’t want to be with me as much as he used to.  I know that my baby is growing up and will need me less and less as time goes by.   This is a fact of life, but one that I don’t look forward to happening.  I know that I have talked about this numerous times, but it still doesn’t make it any easier.  My babies are all growing up and having three birthdays within six weeks may be more than one Mommy can handle!  I love my little Miller and am so proud of who he is: sweet, funny, smart, silly, and increasingly independent.  Happy Birthday Miller!!

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Faith is 7!

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The birthdays just keep coming. Two down and two to go!  Faith turned seven-years-old this past week. I always said that I could envision her as old as six, but now we have surpassed that – she is seven.  I asked her a few weeks ago where she wanted to have her party and she said that she wanted to have it at home.  She had quite an extensive list of friends that she wanted to invite, 25 in all.  In hopes that not everyone would be able to attend, I waited until about 1.5 weeks before the party to send out the emails inviting her friends.  In the end, about 16 of her closest friends from school and church were able to come to the party.  We had planned to have games out in the yard, but the weather turned nasty, and it was rainy and only 45 degrees.  Not a perfect day to have everyone outside.  We still had the party at our house and hoped for the best.   I decided to have the kids paint a craft when they arrived, play indoor games and then have cake.  Of course, I also scheduled the party to last only one and a half hours, which is a much more reasonable amount of time to entertain children at our house.  The party was a lot of fun!

The kids painted their picture frame or birdhouse when they first arrived.  Then everyone came into the living room to play “hot potato” and “freeze dance”.  I had no idea that those two games would be so much fun!  The kids loved them and asked to play them again and again.  It was so cute to see sixteen 4-7 year olds dancing around the living room and having the best time together.  They were laughing and showing their best moves.  The kids were so happy to be together having fun.  After the games, the kids decorated cookies, danced some more, had cake, and watched Faith open her gifts.  Then the party was over.  Of course, it was much louder after everyone had cookies and ice cream cake….much louder.

I knew that I would be tired after the party, so I had bought only four tickets for Tom and the kids to go see The Little Mermaid play at Faith’s school that afternoon.  I needed peace and quiet…and a nap.  I was so tired that I fell asleep on the couch for 1.5 hours while everyone was at the play.  I was exhausted!   Tom was a good Daddy and took them to the play while I slept.  I then met them at the Tony’s pizza for an early dinner.  (Tom got his nap later).  :)

It was a great day.  Faith loved her party and so did her friends.  Faith has grown up so much over the last year.  She is still as sweet and kind as ever.  She is a great big sister to Wilson, and especially to Miller.  She still likes to sleep in Miller’s room with him on occasion.  I am just so proud of who she is and how she conducts herself most of the time.  She is kind to her friends and wants everyone to be happy.  She sees only the good in people.  In school, she is a wonderful student and loves to be there.  Every penny that we have spent for her to attend Covenant Day has been worth it.  Faith has been taking gymnastics for a month now, and by the third week they had already moved her up into the next level of classes.   She loves it and works hard at practice each week.  I truly cannot say enough wonderful things about Faith.  She is my “sweet girl” and I am so thankful and blessed that she is mine!  Happy birthday Faith!!

Here is the group pictures….

 

 

 

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And the silly shot….

 

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Robin, Faith and Hadley…

 

 

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Faith and her “boyfriend” Stephen Donaldson….

 

 

 

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Tom painted the rock in front of Faith’s school….

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Freeze Dance….

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Hockey Game

On Saturday night it was Wilson’s turn to have his special night with Mom and Dad.  Wilson was so excited.  He had been talking about it all week and could hardly sit still on the way to the Charlotte Checkers hockey game.  It is so touching to see how energized the kids are when they get to spend quality time with us.  It makes me realize how much they need that personal time with Tom and myself.  I am so thankful that this is what we decided to give the kids for their birthdays.  It is a much better gift than the kind that they can unwrap.

We arrived at the arena in time to find our seats and buy Wilson his special “treat” for the evening – he chose a pizza and a coke. (Yep, he even got caffeine.)  We had great seats; they were near the goal and about five rows from the glass.  The game started and Wilson was wide-eyed.  There was so much action….and fighting.  I had forgotten how much fighting there was in hockey. There were grown men beating the hell out of each other while the crowd cheered them on.  Of course Wilson loved it, but I had to remind him that the players were being very good sports.  :)  I think he really liked the fact that after each fight the players had to go to “time out” in the penalty box.  For the rest of the game, he knew exactly how many players were in the penalty box.  I guess he could relate…hahahahahaha….

We had such a wonderful time together that night.  Wilson sat on Tom’s lap most of the night while I sat next to them, and we all cuddled under the blanket that we brought.  I started to cry when the game first began because I realized that I don’t do too many special things with just Wilson.  He is such an amazing boy, but when he was two I had just had another baby.  He was squeezed out of his usual place in my lap.  Him being a somewhat difficult child didn’t help either.  At the game, I think I was crying out of guilt and a bit of remorse for the things that I hadn’t done with him over the last few years.  Wilson is an amazing child and I am so thankful that I got to spend that time with him.  I plan to do a better job of spending more quality time with him in the future.

By 9:00pm that night, Wilson was ready to go home.  He made it through the first two periods of the game, but was fading fast.  I know that we will go to another hockey game this season.  The other kids want to go next time as well.  I never thought that hockey games would be a family event, but I guess they will be.

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Wilson is 5

On Sunday my little Wilson turned five-years-old.  He has grown up so much over the last six months to a year.  He is so much more mature and kind to his brother and sister.  He uses bigger words and seems to understand things more logically.  Maybe it is because he is going to school four days a week, but maybe it is just because he is getting older.  Lately, Wilson has begun to build things with his Trio blocks.  He gets a bit upset if the spaceship he built breaks, but then he just builds another one and moves on.  It is so neat to see him mature in so many ways.  Wilson’s favorite thing in life are: play “baby”, sword fight, play spies, watch television and drink milk/juice non-stop.   He also loves his friends from school, and they love him.  He is quite the ladies man.  One parent told Tom that the girls all love Wilson because “he is respectful and makes them laugh.”  What more can you ask for as a parent than that?!?!   Wilson is my little cuddler and I love it when he crawls into bed with me in the morning and snuggles in.  He is a sweet and active little five-year-old.

For his birthday he wanted a Super Hero party with Goldfish, Pirate Booty, and juice boxes.  (I don’t typically buy those food items….you know, GMOs….)  :)  It was his birthday so I let him have whatever food he wanted.  I even bought him a pinata and filled it with lots of yummy candy.  Of course, I offset the candy with my deliciously homemade, all natural, gluten free, GMO free cake. I can’t completely cave, people!!

Mom and Dad offered to have the party at their house so that I wouldn’t have to rent the shelter at the playground.  The kids could jump on the new trampoline and play in the backyard.  We even brought over the bounce house from my Aunt Lisa’s and set it up in the driveway.  It was perfect!!  All of the kids from school that he specifically wanted to invite were there, along with his cousins and some friends from church.  Here is what it looked like….

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Here are all the kids along with John dressed up at Captain America.

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Every normal picture must be followed up by a silly face picture….

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We tied the pinata to the swingset and let the kids hit it with a plastic hammer.  This worked great because each kid could hit is five times and it still didn’t break.  Eventually the pinata fell to the ground and then Tom held it while Wilson beat the crap out of it with a real stick.  There was more than enough candy for everyone.

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Here is Wilson with the pumpkin cake that he wanted (which matched the pumpkin pinata)…

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Wilson and Robin Youngs….great buddies…..

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We always try to get a family picture at the birthday parties.  Unfortunately, Tom was eating a big ole piece of candy……

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Wilson is my sweet little five year old!!  He is such a joy to be around.  He tries my patience like the best of them, but deep down he just wants to make everyone laugh and to have a good time.

Here he is at school with his birthday crown on.  Happy Birthday Wilson!!

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