happy birthday to our sweet H...

 

 

he turned five...

Since the youngest member of our family has a birthday at the end of this week, I thought I would look back at the other 2 birthdays that I didn't blog about this summer.  First up W's birthday on June 20!

Five is an age milestone.  Five is the age where you turn into a big kid because you are able to go to school.  Five is a hard age for a momma to see her children turn because it means they are growing up too fast!  And here we are, another baby of mine turning five.

 

W was born during our church's annual week for VBS, so his birthday fell right after that this year and right before we were going to make a trip to the farm  So we didn't plan anything big for the day.  But that in no way mans it wasn't special!  And G in particular made sure of that.  She made him a birthday crown, a happy birthday banner to hang in the dining room, and decorations for his cake, all in a sports theme.  We also had cousins over in the afternoon to play and share cupcakes, our traditional birthday meal out to Noodles, and the neighbors over in the evening for cake.  And then of course there were gifts just right for our big boy - bases for the back yard, Twins shirt, a planets mobile for his room, and a book by his favorite author, Mo Willems.  (W claims that Mo wrote the Elephant and Piggie books just for him! =)

running the bases in the front room

can you tell what part of "OOOOOO, AAAAAAAAHHH!" they are on?

he requested a chocolate cake with chocolate and vanilla frosting - so the cupcakes have a mix, and the cake has vanilla frosting with mini chocolate chips between the layers and chocolate frosting on the outside!

make a wish!

kids with the neighbors

Happy 5th (gulp!) Birthday to our sweet W!  

We love you very much and can't wait to see what this next year has in store for you!

feeling a little lighter...

My lovely sister-in-law C has long beautiful thick wavy brown hair, which I have always admired.  When her 10 yr old daughter K was little, C cut off her hair and donated it to the organization Locks of Love which helps provide beautiful wigs to children suffering from long-term medical hair loss.  I had never heard of this organization before then, and I admired C even more for donating her beautiful hair!  I always thought that I might do that one day too.

Fast forward to after G was born.  My hair had gotten very long and in thinking of what to do with it, there wasn't a question that I wanted to donate it to Locks of Love.  Now I knew my little bald headed baby would eventually grow hair (hopefully!), but if she didn't, I knew that I would be grateful for people like C who donated their hair to help out children in need.  So I decided that I would try to make a donation to Locks of Love for every child that I had.

My first donation after G was born (C's hair was long enough to donate again too!)

My donation after W was born

No this is not me, but it is my baby!
Baby C was born only 18 months after W was born and my hair was not long enough.  C's happened to be and she decided to make her 3rd donation.  SO I claim hers for C which is only fitting since she was the one that delivered him!

When I found out I was pregnant with H, my hair was not short, but I started growing it out.  And I have endured the beastly hot summer with it and also the baby who LOVES to pull hair (basically it has not been out of a bun or ponytail for almost a year!) until it was long enough (you need to be able to cut off 10 inches to send in).

Yesterday I made my 3rd donation to Locks of Love in honor of H.  I walked out of the salon feeling a little lighter, both heartwise and headwise.  (and completely ready to get rid of the ponytail holders for a while!  although I will have to find some cute scarves to keep my neck warm...)

If you have never heard of Locks of Love, please click and read more about them and if your hair is long and you are looking for a change, consider maybe holding out until you have that 10 inches and donating it!

thursday with e & a...

 Everyone woke up healthy!  yay!  And ready to don Vikings gear. skol!

We are very thankful that A and little E came to visit us even though M wasn't able to come with, even though the drive here was very long, even though the house wasn't as clean as I would have liked, even though the number of homemade meals cooked were few, and that they stayed even though C got sick.  Costco, IKEA, and Softbums shopping trips were great, cousins playing together outside and in for a week was great, and the chatting and hanging out was great (and the not everyone else getting sick was great too).  It was so fun to get to know little E at this age with the adorable toddler chatter and giggles. 

We love you!  

Come again anytime!

wednesday with e & a...

The day started off with trying to make decision on whether or not A should leave since littel C had gotten sick with a stomach bug the night before.  No one else had gotten sick yet (we quarantined C really fast!), so A decided to stick it out mostly because she didn't want E or her to get sick in the car on the way home.  And we were so glad they stayed!  Nobody else got sick and we had a good day chilling out and enjoying Noodles and talking way too late into the night...

 lots of disinfecting and smartwater and vitaminwater and copying patterns for bibs and a much much needed caribou treat while the recovering C took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon

G reading to E after school: "bubbles bubbles on my..."  "NOHSE!"  

(alternatively captioned needed to read book with my big cousin G?  toothbrush to chew on.  not needed to read book with my big cousin G?  pants.)

love this E face

getting thrown up high by uncle S after he got home from work!

cousin pajama photo!

 we have been having a great time with these two...

tuesday with e & a...

"S told me I needed to restrain you at IKEA yesterday, he said nothing about the Softbums store today!"

We had a great trip to A's and my favorite (and local to me) cloth diaper's store.  Chatted with the owner and great gals that work there and yes, supported them with a few purchases. =)

Sorry no pics of the kids today, being that we started the day off way too early with a big rainstorm and power outage at 6am and ended the day with a stomach bug for C.  They still had a good day playing inside with puzzles and the play kitchen, watching Elmo and Wild Kratts, and "noo-noo's" (noodles) for supper.  Hoping and praying all are healthy tomorrow!

monday with e & a...

"to kee-yah?"

H's first french fry!

A day at IKEA is always a good time!

sunday with e & a....

mmmmmm....waffles

smoothies!!

stories with Auntie A

(and the breadsticks were consumed too fast to get a picture!)

saturday with e & a...

We are so happy Auntie A and cousin E are here for a visit!!!

the little things that keep us sane...

finally finding a good home for our games...

 

 cute little bag on a nail next to the games...

...to hold the little pieces that escape and I find later

(so I don't have to open 3 different game boxes at that moment,

 or be tempted to just throw those silly pieces away!)