Noah's 8th birthday

Noah turned eight on Friday, April 19, 2013 at precisely 12:24pm. Eight seems like such a big number. Appropriate for him though since he is so big. How'd that happen? On one hand I can remember his birth so distinctly and on the other it seems so long ago so as to have never happened. 

The night before Noah and Evie helped me to make a rainbow cake. I didn't have the white box cake I usually use so I found a from scratch recipe online through King Arthur flour. It sounded delicious. However, the cake was pretty heavy and wouldn't mix like usual. I had to sort of pile the colors together in the pan. 

The morning of the 19th began with Noah waking up to mommy and daddy signing the birthday song. Noah was very much looking forward to that. Once the kids came downstairs, they discovered Daddy had got up early to get donuts for the occasion. The kids all were wearing new t-shirts I had got on clearance the day before so they were all excited about that.

 It might have been a mistake to tell Noah the exact time he was born because he wanted to sing with his lighted cake at that exact time. However, we were at Menards having "the worst birthday ever" so we missed the 12:24pm mark. I think I'll never go to Menards with the kids again. He did get Culvers for lunch so that improved the situation a little.

So here's the cake. It looked pretty decent but me and Noah were not a fan of the taste. There was too much almond extract! Noah said the cake was "horrible" and didn't want to eat it. The frosting (which was wonderful) improved it only slightly for me.

Luckily all was redeemed when it came time for presents. He got a new Ballistiks ball/car and a transformer.

But the crowning glory was his new Star Wars Lego thingy. He had said he wanted a different Star Wars Lego model so we bought that one. Then he saw this one and swore that he really wanted this one. So Terry returned it and got this one instead. He was very happy.

Grampa B was in attendance. Snap loves the Grampas.

And my folks were there too. As well as Shari and Grace.

The afternoon was spent putting together all the new toys. It took daddy quite a while to figure out the new Transformer - unfortunately it was very complicated and difficult. Noah took it to church that weekend and was most upset when he couldn't get it to go together right. So daddy spent like 20 minutes working on it in the lobby while visiting with people!

That evening we had pizza and a family movie night. All in all, it turned out to be a pretty good day, despite what Noah said at Menards.

Evie was playing with new Lego guys and Noah put his new Star Wars thing together all by himself!

Samuel's 4th birthday

When we enter into the new year, around here that means birthday season is right around the corner. Samuel is always the first up on February 1st (Evie in March, Noah in April and Ezra in May). But since the Superbowl was on his actual birthday, we thought we'd celebrate on Saturday the 31st. That didn't work out too well for having people over for a party since the weather turned. On the other hand it was all good since Samuel essentially got two parties. 

So the morning of Saturday, January 31st, Samuel was awoken by the rest of us singing Happy Birthday, even though it wasn't his actual birthday. Then we came upstairs where he found a monkey helium balloon and a small pile of presents for later in the day. I made waffles for the little punk and we got started having a relaxing day (er, the kids relaxed - I worked my butt off). 

Evie might have been looking forward to Samuel's birthday the most. Perhaps because she is the most social, I don't know. 

Samuel has been super into Curious George lately. Daddy has been reading it to him nearly every day. And since Noah's teacher told him he needs extra practice reading, he got to read to Samuel that morning. But he practically has it memorized from all the times we read it to him when he was Samuel's age. I thought it was quite adorable.

I was busy cleaning and cooking and baking all day long. Later Samuel got to watch his favorite show, Cars, which was also Noah's favorite at that age. 

Terry's dad stopped by mid-afternoon to hang out until dinner and the party afterwards. However, it started to rain freezing drizzle, the roads became super slippery and it snowed later. We heard on the news that they were closing the interstate and so Jerry decided he better drive home before it was too late. Then my folks and Nathan and Ana backed out as well. Shari and Jesse were going to try to come until they realized that since they live on a steep hill, they probably wouldn't be able to get back up it. And thus, our party went from sixteen to just the six of us.

Samuel was fine with it though - Evie was the one who was bummed. All Samuel wanted was some chocolate cake and presents.  

It's time! It's time! It's time! 

Daddy got the candle ready while Noah recorded with daddy's phone. 

Happy birthday to little Somuel (his nickname, pronounced S-ah-muel)! Four just seems so much bigger than three. He's been saying for weeks "My bird-day's comin!" and all about how he was going to be four. As soon as the day came, however, he said he was eight. 

His first gift was "from" his siblings. They're all obsessed with these little Switch and Go Dinos. So we got him another little one.  

Terry's folks got Samuel this light saber/blaster. It's super cool and Samuel loves it.  

Mommy and Daddy got Samuel some easy to transform Transformers. They've been watching the cartoons on Netflix and Samuel has been carting around Noah's more advanced Transformer toys. He sure loves these ones, especially Bumblebee - "Bum-bug-bee." He's his favorite. 

And then it was time for that glorious cake. That frosting is my favorite so I'm happy that Samuel at least prefers chocolate to rainbow cake.

Look how Samuel's entire face is stretching to get that bite in. HA!

Noah loved the Transformers so much he forgot to eat his cake. 

Evie and Ezra were ramming the Dinos together. 

 Because of the icy roads church had been cancelled that night. In the morning it was calm and beautiful, but perhaps a little slippery and dangerous under that dusting of snow. I love the view out our backyard. That's National Guard land so nobody is ever back there, except National Guardsmen. And they're fun to watch.

After being sang to again, Samuel came up ready to play with his new toys.  

Light saber. Oh yeah!

Two birthdays isn't so bad. We all got more waffles! Here's my big fuzzy headed four year old! 

After breakfast all the kids except Ezra went outside to shovel/sweep snow. Samuel looks so puffed up here in his coat that it's funny. "I'm here to pump...you up."

The boy is going to work. 

Sweep that snow son! 

My folks came over after lunch, gave Samuel his gift and we all had some more cake. Can you tell he's excited?

Oh yeah, he was very excited. They got him both Planes movies. He loves those movies because they're just like Cars. Happy birthday Samuel! We love you!

And for posterity, here's what I posted on facebook for his birthday: 

This morning at 4:58am Samuel officially turned 4 (though he keeps insisting he's 8). Our little caveman Somual (as we like to call him - S-ah-muel) is tall, skinny and loud, and is getting better at talking and sharing. He's athletic and can throw a ball pretty hard and accurate. He loves Cars, Planes, Transformers and Star Wars. So hard to believe he's 4, it seems so big! We love you Samuel!

Evie's 5th birthday

Our sweet little Evangeline turned a big five years old on the last day of March, the 31st. It seems unreal that she is five now. In my mind, she'll always be two or three for some reason. We sure love this little girl and are so thankful that we have at least one daughter! We couldn't ask for a better one either. She is sweet and friendly and sociable, a little mommy to her little brother Samuel, and attempting to boss her big brother Noah too. There's more push back from him though. Samuel is perfectly happy imitating her however.

I took Evie on a trip to Target a week or so before her birthday to get an Easter/birthday dress since both fell on her birthday this year. After we found out we were having another boy, I realized I had to enjoy this girl thing to it's maximum potential. Enjoying her freedom of choice, she picked the girliest dress possible... She received very many compliments at church that morning.

I love this photo of her amongst her fluff.

After an Easter lunch with both sets of grandparents, we had cake and ice creak once Samuel was up from his nap (which took forever for the poor birthday girl). She "helped" me the day before to make her choice of rainbow cake.

I first made this cake last year and it's probably all she and Noah are ever going to want. All that food coloring is okay once or twice a year right?

Terry's folks bought all three kids a combined birthday gift this year, as they are wont to do, similar to birthday time two years ago.

 Evie also received a crocheted "denim" jacket from my mom. She is way more talented than me. My sister got those same creative genes, where as I received my dad's ability to sit and read. 

Mommy and daddy gave her a baby to care for since she will soon have another baby brother. I figured since she was already babying her stuffed animals, perhaps she'd like a proper baby doll with a feeding apparatus. However, since Gramma gave her a new Easter bunny toy, she said baby "Jessica" is dead. Yeah. Had to laugh at that one. And be a little disturbed as well.

After gifts, we had an Easter egg hunt, pizza and a family movie night. Talk about a busy day. With the perfect spinning dress.

Evie's 4th birthday

Evie was ready for her birthday after her fresh pretty haircut. We tried to make her day special and give her her way. First thing, she put on her sunshiny dress to go with the gorgeous 90 degree day we had and we went to get donuts. She got the last chocolate one.

We also had a moving garage sale so that was pretty fun for everyone.

After naps, Evie put on her crown and opened her gifts.

Her requested rainbow cake turned out wonderful. I combined ideas/recipes from here and here.

We were both so pleased.

Afterwards we hung out and watched a movie together for family movie night/birthday girl wish. She requested Bolt.

Then we had pizza. We weren't that hungry due to all the cake though.

As soon as the pizza was in our over-full bellies we went to the youth building for an appreciation/birthday party for our family since we're moving away from this church. We were given more food to eat, a emotional video to watch and more gifts for Evie. She was so pleased to have another song and more gifts. I'd say her birthday was a big success!

Evie's 6th birthday

I don't remember exactly why, but the day before Evie's birthday was quite busy. For one thing, Terry preached. That evening I made Evie's rainbow birthday cake which made it the third year in a row I've made it (four and five birthday links). I tried to talk her out of it. What a great mommy I am but at least I did it for her. The cake isn't actually all that difficult, it just uses a ton of dishes. So here are the cakes ready to go in the oven.

We had braced for the possibility of not being able to go to the ranch like we had planned due to an  impending "blizzard." The district cancelled school but it turned out to be much less severe than they predicted. Terry still managed to make it to the store for some birthday donuts. How happy she was to receive pink and purple sprinkles for breakfast!

I had her model the cake along with her choice of a birthday dress (a Christmas one because it was princessy) in front of the back door to show the terrible blizzard. I guess it was quite windy and the interstate was dangerous though.  

We had planned to celebrate at the ranch for half of the day but since that fell through, Terry let her choose a couple movies to keep them busy. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Frozen. Poor girl had higher hopes but that's life! There had been a snow storm in Nebraska on the day she was born as well. I guess half of her birthdays just might have snow involved.

That evening she did have a little party though. My folks and Nathan, Ana, Shari, Jesse, Grace and Sarah were all able to come over to celebrate Evie.

She loved that cake. Terry and I were not a fan of the hard sprinkles. She was though!

She got some pretty pink sparkly shoes... 

a couple My Little Ponies which she adores... 

a bike helmet....and.... 

a big girl bike! We had been planning on getting her a boy bike to pass on to the brothers. We turned soft at Scheels though and opted for the girl bike. We're glad we did and so was she. Happy 6th birthday Evie! You add so much joy and fun to our lives and we love you!