My Messy Birthday

For my birthday this year I decided I'd had way to much cake (I don't even really like cake) and donuts so I decided to go with strawberry shortcake instead. I love strawberries and when you put them in a yummy sauce inside a cake with whipped cream on top, well, it's just delicious. Not only was the food good, but daddy decided to have fun with the whipped cream and it made it a birthday to remember. 

Kenny asked the kids who wanted whipped cream on top. They all said they did so he put whipped cream on their tops. I'm so glad I have a husband who is willing to do silly things with our kids and in true Kenny fashion, it only got sillier.

Putting whipped cream on top.

Hannah with her whipped cream on top.

Kenny asked Sarah if she wanted more because her's fell off her head.
Of course she said yes. She acted so shocked, but she was loving it.

Ben wanted a mustache and so that's exactly what Kenny gave him.

Hannah one upped Ben and got a beard.

Dan wanted to be like the others, but when it came down to it he just
wasn't brave enough so daddy just put it in his mouth instead.

Gracie grew her nose a little and thought it was soooo funny.

Adam was a little braver than Dan and got some just above his mouth.

After we were pretty much done, Dan decided to be brave and let Daddy
put some on his chin. He was soooo proud of himself.

Me with my delicious strawberry shortcake.

After I started putting the little boys in the bath tub Kenny asked if I was planning on washing Hannah. I told him yes and a few minutes later Hannah came into the bathroom looking like this. . .

She told me she was an old man. What a cute old man.

My husband and kids are the coolest and I'm the luckiest mom I know. Oh and Kenny bathed the kids so that was an extra bonus. 

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was like the past few, nothing special. That's OK. We're busy and poor and there's not much that we can do so just being with my family is good enough for me. Kenny did get me a card and had all the kids sign it. It was an awesome card too. It read (with a picture of a momma bird in her nest with a blanket over her, obviously in bed, and 3 baby birds giving her bowls of food): "Happy Mother's Day! Today WE get to regurgitate breakfast for YOU!" The inside says, "Only the best for you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!" What a goofball. It totally made my day.

We went to church and then enjoyed some time at home. Kenny was in town and we loved having him home for the weekend. Ben and Sarah did make me some Mother's Day gifts in school and church. I love getting gifts from my kids and the homemade ones are the greatest.

For Activity Days a few weeks before Mothers Day, the girls were asked to bring in a picture of them with their mom. After looking through pictures for at least half and hour I finally determined that I didn't have a picture of just Sarah and I that was even close to recent. So, out to the old truck we went on Sarah's request. In less than 10 minutes we had a great shot of the two of us (see above) and we sent it off to Walgreen's to be printed. It was a hit at Activity Days and my friend, who is one of Sarah's leaders, was amazed that we had just shot the picture less than an hour before. It's amazing what you can do with a great photographer as a husband and modern technology.

I didn't know what the picture was for until the Tuesday before Mothers Day. Sarah had a very special Mother's Day Activity Day's. I had such a fun time with her. We played games and had a nice cinnamon roll and yogurt treat. At the end we were giving this fun paper:

Love it. If you notice on the side there's a checklist of all the things I am Awesome, Brilliant, Sweet and Funny to name a few. Apparently, according to Sarah, I'm not Brave or Energetic. HaHa! Maybe I should work on those. The bottom reads (with her words in red) When asked about this honor, her child had this response: "my mom rocks! She is very considerate. When she tells jokes, it makes me so happy. I love doing things with her, especially fun things. She is so good at making me laugh. She really is the best!" How sweet! Thanks Sarah!

Ben made me a card at school. I love when he makes me things at school because he can never last until Mother's Day to give it to me. This year he lasted maybe 20 minutes before he was in his backpack getting it out for me. What a cutie. This is it and I still have it hanging on my fridge:

Outside

Inside

Another Year Older

My birthday came and went and I'm another year older and hopefully wiser. Being the mother of 6 it's only fitting that my birthday was centered around the kids. We took the kids swimming in the morning. There's not much better than spending a few hours in the pool. Kenny did lessons with the 4 oldest and I just played around with those who weren't in lessons. It was a lot of fun and we tired the kids out, which was a nice bonus. After the swimming, we came home, made a quick lunch, and then EVERYONE napped. Now that's what a mom of 6 small kids really wants. After naps we dreamed of heading to Jackson to get out of IF, but we knew better than that and instead we decided to head to the park by the zoo to let the kids play.

We stopped at Walmart to get some Lunchables for a little picnic at the park and by the time we got out of the store the weather had turned windy and cold, not that it was real warm before. That kind of changed our plans so we went home, ate the Lunchables and then decided to take the very disappointed kids to Blast Off. Needless to say, the kids were no longer disappointed and had a blast playing on the indoor playground and jumping in the ball pits.

It may not be what most people think of when they think of a birthday for a 30 something year old, but for me it was perfect. It was so nice to have a nice, happy day with my kids and my husband. I'll take as many of those days as I can get.

The End of Birthday Season

We call the 2 months between January 29th and March 26th 'Birthday Season' at our house. There was a time, back when there was only 5, instead of 7 1/2, of us that all of our birthdays fell within these 2 months. Kenny's starts the season and mine ends it. It's normally a wonderful time filled with lots of cake and celebration, but I'll admit this year was a little less wonderful. It was nice, don't get me wrong, but I'm actually kind of glad it's over now. With the stresses of our life, my exhaustion, and trying to be happy in the mist of sickness and other things, I must admit this was the least of my favorite birthday seasons. Next year will be better. :)

As I said our birthday season ends with my birthday and so as March 26th approached I was anxious to see it come and go. We didn't do much, just took the kids to Walmart, but that was just fine with me. Kenny got me a framed picture of the quote, "Enjoy the simple things in life . . ., for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." It's my favorite quote and it now sits on top of our bookcase next to our most recent family picture. I look at it everyday and I love what it makes me think of and how it reminds me to not miss a moment with my family.

The morning after my birthday we had my birthday donuts. Kenny had had a long night the night before and was sleeping in. I didn't want to wake him, so I went ahead and let the kids decorate their donuts without him. Big mistake. Sorry Kenny! How was I suppose to know he wanted to be a part of it? I felt really bad when he noticed what I had done and when he was very sad that he missed out. Next year I PROMISE to let Kenny do the birthday donuts for me. I'm lucky to be married to someone who would get upset over not being able to decorate silly donuts for my birthday.

Sarah's Donut! It says 'Happy BD (birthday) Mom FS (From Sarah)' We didn't have enough letters. :)

Ben's says 'Ben 31'! Good job bud.

Hannah's donut was a masterpiece of miscellaneous letters and beautiful frosting.

Gracie didn't care to much about decorating. She just wanted to make a mess like we do with the cakes.

Dan got baby food instead. It's OK he enjoyed it.

All in all it was a simple, yet good birthday. 31's not bad and I think I can handle getting older for a few more years. I'm still amazed I'm in my 30's, but I'll always be younger than Kenny and that keeps me happy. :)

My donut. I'm so creative.

Haircuts Again

Apparently this is a great time of year for haircuts in our family. First Ben and Hannah, then Kenny, Sarah Kate, and I. The only one left is Gracie and in order to give her a haircut we'd have to shave her head. Kenny was in dire need of a haircut so yesterday he stopped on his way home from work. He looks much better, but being a guy it's not that cool so I didn't take any pictures.

On to the cool haircuts! Both Sarah Kate and I had a lot of split ends so I asked her if she wanted her haircut. She's never gotten a real haircut before (I trimmed it once about 2 years ago) and wanted to try it out. So, we decided to make it a fun Mommy/Sarah evening and we headed to the mall after dinner. When we got there, Sarah Kate asked if I could go first, she was a little nervous. I got a ton cut off. I was amazed at just how long my hair had gotten. I guess that happens when you don't cut it in almost 2 years. I asked for a few small layers in the back and she gave me many big layers everywhere. Oh well! It still turned out fairly cute and I'll get used to it.

Horrible picture of me, but it shows my haircut.

Sarah Kate was next and she was very excited. She also cut quite a bit off and asked for some layers just like Mommy. Her hair turned out darling. That girl is so cute! I know she's mine, but you can't deny just how cute she is. She loves her new haircut and was so pleased today when her teacher and Aunt Sarah noticed it.

This pictures shows how long her hair was on the first day of school.

With her new haircut. She insisted on wearing it down to school so everyone could see it.

From the back! She really did cut a lot off.

After our haircuts we went to Old Navy to see if we could find her some pants (another strike out, I just can't find that girl any pants) and then we stopped at the ice cream place in the mall. It was delicious and Sarah Kate really enjoyed all the special attention. Kenny and I have started having special days or evenings with Ben and Sarah and it's been such a great thing for them. They're getting old enough that they crave that one on one time and hopefully it will keep us close as they get older.

My (Ben) Birthday

I wasn't going to write anything about my birthday because not much happened, but I have to write about what a wonderful, caring boy I have. It all started on Tuesday when Ben was trying to figure out what I wanted for my birthday.

Ben: Mommy what do you want for your birthday?
Me: I don't know buddy.
Ben: How about a Star Wars toy?
Me: Do you think I would like a Star Wars toy.
Ben: Yeah! Which one do you want? The Battle Droid? (That's the one Ben currently really really wants.)
Me: I don't know Bud. Daddy got a Star Wars toy for his birthday.
Ben: I know, you want the Battle Droid and when Obi-Won fights Darth Vader. That's what you want Mom.

After a little more discussion it was determined that that was what I really wanted for my birthday and that I would have a lot of fun playing with them. That night there was another discussion. This one involving transformers, but luckily it was determined that Star Wars toys were the way to go.

When Daddy got home at about 8:30 Ben had to tell him what I wanted for my birthday. While Daddy was in Ben and Sarah's room 'talking' to them he gave them the shirt and shorts he had bought for me. He had stopped at REI on his way home and gotten me something. I was shocked and surprisingly it was maybe even a better gift then the Star Wars toys (don't tell Ben though.)

The next day, my actual birthday, Ben remembered first thing when he got up to give me a hug and a kiss and tell me Happy Birthday, just like he said he would. The day was beautiful with the weather in the upper 60's to low 70's. I took the three little kids to the park to play with some friends while Sarah Kate was in school. In the car on the way home I told Ben we needed to go home to eat lunch. This led to a talk about where we were going for my birthday dinner. You guessed it, Chuck E Cheese's. What Mom doesn't want to go there for her birthday. There was also the issue of my cake.

Ben: Mom what kind of a cake are you going to make for yourself?
Me: I was thinking of making an apple cobbler instead of a cake.
Ben: No Mom! You want a cake. Guess which cake you want.
Me: A princess cake?
Ben: Nope.
Me: A Teddy bear cake, a Dora cake, a firefighter cake?
Ben: Nope, Nope, Nope.
Me: A Diego cake?
Ben: Yeah! That's it!

So my birthday was all mapped out. I was getting the Battle Droid and when Obi-Won fights Darth Vader. I was eating dinner at Chuck E Cheese's and I was making myself a Diego cake. Ben was so excited and he really thought that would be perfect for me. He was so cute planning my whole day and getting all excited about how much fun I would have. Even though they were all Ben's favorite things he was sure I would enjoy them also. I felt kind of bad when nothing happened.

That evening when we came in from playing at 7:30 and Ben said, "Mom, we have two problems. We didn't have any presents for you birthday or any wrapping presents or any cake." (Actually that's three problems, but when you're 4 the presents thing is one problem.) I replied by saying, "I know buddy. Daddy has another late night at work. We'll have to do it another day." This made him content for the time.

When we woke up this morning he came and got in bed with me. When Kenny got out of the shower Ben said, "Daddy, are you home today? We have two problems. We didn't have any presents or any wrapping of presents or any cake for Mom. We need to do it today." He's obviously very concerned for me. One day he'll understand that Mommy's and Daddy's don't have birthday's like kids do. In the mean time it has reminded me just how caring my little boy is and he sure maybe me feel special. What a lucky Mom I am.