way back when Mason turned 7.

I haven't been the best blogger lately.  Usually I'm satisfied with just having the kids' birthdays documented, and a few other major holidays.  But even that hasn't happened.  I don't give up easily though.  So I'm going all the way back to February for Mason's tie-dye party. 

And there's not much to tell you except there was a lot of tie-dye.

For the cake we followed these directions.

It was such a fun cake!  And those aren't my hairy arms.  I had some pretty awesome help after throwing up the entire night before and begging Mason to postpone the party to the next day or let us move it to the bowling alley or something where Dad could manage alone.

But he was so sad at the thought of it.  And every hour, I got a little better.

We made a dual purpose hippy van for a table decoration and photo prop. 

We kept it if any friends ever want to borrow it.  It was way too cool to get rid of.

 

  

Somehow I got no pictures of tie-dying t-shirts.  Quite possibly because my hands were covered in dye.  But they were gnarly, I promise. 

Peace out. 

And next time I'll try not to be 4 months late.

 

the start of mason's birthday celebrations

February 28 we celebrated our new 7 year old. 

Before the weekend, we got to celebrate at school.  

To see him get called to the front and listen as his teacher prays over him is something that will forever be etched in my heart. It wasn't new to me.  The same thing was done with Taylor.  But it doesn't keep my eyes from tearing up each time as if it was the first. 

He loves that sweet teacher of his.  And we do too.  So glad we won't be done with her YET.

 

 And then Saturday was his actual birthday, and the first indoor soccer game of the season.

Soccer games, a friend party and cupcakes all in one day...the best.

So the only thing that wasn't the best about this day was that I threw up the entire night before.  It started in the Walmart parking lot the night before (sorry to the person who pulled into that parking spot after us) and continued into the wee morning hours.

Yeah, not good.  An excited boy, cupcakes to still be made, a party to still be decorated for.  

I begged him to let us call the bowling alley and maybe we could throw something together there and Dad could supervise.  I begged him to move it to the next day and we'd just do our friend and family party back to back.  But the sadness on his face was too much to handle. 

7 year olds are SO not okay with a cancelled birthday party.  And I don't blame him.

Dave kept telling him he could handle it all.  And I know he could.  But like my normal self, I had left a lot to be finished up at the last minute.  And how awful to be stuck in a bedroom while his friend party continued without me.  I prayed hard.

Every hour that passed I felt better and better.  And with a few extra hands to help, we pulled it off.

Tie Dye Party up next!!

Happy Birthday Gavin! {Thomas the Train party}

Our baby turned 3 the day after Thanksgiving. 

He came up with an easier way to show 3 on his fingers, all on his own.

This was him before bedtime the night of his actual birthday.  Turning 3 is hard work, and it wasn't even party day.

 I kind of knew how he felt.  It was a whirlwind of a weekend. 

Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Birthday party baking, cleaning and decorating on Friday.

Dave and I were gone all day Saturday for the K-State game.

Sunday off to church and home for an afternoon party.

Whew!

Gavin talked about a Thomas party for months. 

And after I got it all decorated, he stood and looked around and said 

"I no like Thomas anymore...I like Percy"

Seriously this child cracks me up!

I'm pretty sure he was just trying to see what I'd do.  Where do they learn these things!?

Good thing mom was on top of things and made sure Percy was a part of the party too (in just a few places).

We got him a birthday shirt to go with his engineer hat from Silver Dollar City.

 The shirt was a little big so he wanted it tucked in, with a belt.  Just like big brother has to do for school everyday.

I hope I never ever forget how funny Gavin is at this age.  Maybe he'll always be that way.

He makes us laugh daily.  He cracks jokes, has the funniest faces and can be quite the little ham.

He's Mr. Independent.  Most days he has 2-3 shirts on because Daddy wears 2-3 shirts to work to stay warm.  They are 100% of the time on backwards.  To the point that I do not understand HOW he is so consistent at getting them backwards, you'd think that at least SOMETIMES he would get it on the right way.  But no, never. And typically you'll find him wearing a belt that is either only through 1-2 loops or on backwards with the buckle in the back.  I still don't even know how he gets it buckled that way.  Oh yeah, and he has some Mickey Mouse slippers that he loves and insists on wearing them grocery shopping most of the time.

He is still a Daddy's boy, as he's always been.  Lately he talks about how he's going to go to work with Daddy the next day.  Which has still yet to happen.  Poor thing.

He would be happy if he could throw a football or wrestle with Mason and Daddy all day, every day.

And he's be far our most social and outgoing child, also the one who wanders the furthest, experiments the most, and holds his own in any fight. It's a little disturbing to me to see how well he's picked up how to fight and go into attack mode. But I guess when you're the baby sometimes you just have to learn that to survive.

Yesterday in the checkout line at Walmart he was singing his Sunday School song "jingle, jingle, happy bells", so loud that I'm pretty sure 2-3 lines of people could hear him.  I didn't realize it was that loud until I looked up and saw people on all sides of me smiling, pointing and listening to him. 

 

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!"

Thank you Buddy the Elf.  Gavin is helping you out with that one.

It sure is fun being the baby of all the cousins. He gets spoiled and they are all so sweet to him.

When you have a child who needs NOTHING, and I can't even come up with ideas. 

Then a Thomas overload it is. 

Thomas books, puzzle, toys, flashlight, water bottle, bathrobe, pillow case and I'm sure there was more I can't remember.  And I'm guessing maybe even more coming for Christmas!

But the superhero cape was quite possibly the hit.

3 year old birthday parties are the best!  It seems like it's the first time they actually know what's going on.  But I'm super sad thinking about how it's probably the last 3 year old party I'll ever throw.

 I remember how I felt between ages 3 and 4 with my other kids.  And I'm kind of dreading it again. There is a lot of growing up that happens.  They move from toddlers to preschoolers and a lot of the "little kid" talk, and cute things they do go away.  I tried my hardest to hang on to my bigger kids as hard as I could and slow down this growing up process.  But it didn't work.

Hopefully I can figure out how to make it work this time around. 

she's 8 today.

Well hello there.  I promise I'm still here.  My plate just seems to be quite full lately.  You know, the to-do list that is never-ending. It's challenging enough to survive each day hoping I get the necessities done.  I love blogging, and I miss it.  But it never makes it to the top of the list.  And as it approaches the top of the list as I get closer to catching up with life, then it quickly moves back down.  

But I made some time today to record another big day in our house.

Today our sweet girl is 8.  

 We had a big weekend of celebrating!  

It was the first party for us without a theme.  She couldn't think of one, so we decided we didn't need one.  I have loved putting parties together for my kids...decorations, party favors, cakes, every last detail.  They love it and I love it.  But let's be honest here, it's a lot of work.  And for a mama who tends to do things at the last minute, there's usually some stress involved too.  Although each year gets easier, I've figured out when I need to start, how much time cakes tend to take, etc.  But this year was a nice treat.  Just simple balloon and streamer decorations, no party table.  Just a cake.  And I know that she felt just as special as always!  I told them I would make them a cake for as long as they want!  That can definitely keep being "our thing".  With no theme, we were out to find just a cute girly cake.  I found the rosette cake, watched a tutorial and was pretty confident I could pull it off.  

We had some friends and family join us for the party.  It definitely felt like much more of a "big kid" party than ever before.  

She has saved her money up to buy her 2nd American Girl doll.  She had almost enough so we finished the rest for her and ordered it to surprise her.  She thought she was going to have to wait to get more birthday money and order it after her birthday.  She wanted the doll that you can pick all the details to look like her.  When I saw the option at the end to add pierced ears to the doll I knew that was the perfect way to surprise her and tell her we were FINALLY letting her get her ears pierced, after asking for nearly 2 years.   She noticed right away the ears on her doll were pierced.  We acted like it was a mistake and that we either needed to send it back to get the one that was just like her without pierced ears....OR we would just have to get her ears pierced!  She knew right away what that meant!

A friend owns the salon I go to, and she offered to come in over the weekend to pierce her ears so Taylor could go to school today, her actual birthday with pierced ears!  So we got up early and met her before church.  It was quick and easy!  Taylor didn't even flinch, she did it like a pro.

 She absolutely loves them and can't stop talking about them. 

 

And today we celebrated at school.  We all went to eat lunch with her (we left Gavin with grandma), and then celebrated with her class! 

After a whole weekend of celebrating... at 11:22am this morning she was finally officially 8.

She's a gift.  One that brings joy to our lives every single day.