Little Owl Turns 7!

Seven years ago, with long braids in my hair, J by my side, and our dear midwife cheering me on, I gave birth to this beautiful boy.  He was such a gorgeous baby.  He has had those dark lashes, you know, the ones you notice first thing when you met him, since he was born.  They placed him on my chest and I was in love.  I remember he immediately started scooting (all 23 inches of him!) towards my breast.  He was determined from birth!

Now...he is still the most beautiful little boy.  His determination is of the quiet sort.  He has big feelings.  If he shares them with you, I hope you realize how special that is, because he chooses these things carefully.  He has a truly soft heart and is quite clever.  (his smarts are tucked away too....so it's not the first thing you notice)  He reminds me so much of J.  His personality.  Yet, people who knew me as a girl say he is the spitting image of me.

 Little Owl, we love you just the way you are!  You are so special to us!  And I'm so glad we get to be on this adventure with you.  I'm so glad you share your heart with me. 

 His thoughtful look.....

 His "smile for the camera" smile.....

 He was so excited for his birthday!  I actually got a photo with his true smile for a change! Voila!

 Owl is such an awesome brother.  He is fun to be around.  He is loyal.  Spunky.  Funny.  He lets Hen wrestle him.  He loves to build with his big brothers.  He loves one on one time with J or me, which he spends chatting to us about anything and everything.  He loves little A, and I think, is really quite fond of being a big brother to a little girl.  She adores him, so it makes it easier!

 His cake request this year...."Mom, I want a zebra cake!" Um...okay!  This one was made out of a giant sheet cake pan which was cut in half and stacked to make a chocolate layer cake with raspberry filling.  (well...if you're going to make cake....you might as well make it worth the effort, right?)

 Happy Birthday my boy!  We love you ever so much!

Our Baby is 9

And so it happened...our eldest boy turned nine.

Oh, my son.  What words can I write for you that properly express all that I hope for you?  You amaze me!  You always have, since the day you were born.  We are proud of who you are and of the man you are becoming.  We love you so much, and are so thankful to be your parents.

You are our little sportman!

 A wonderful big brother!

 My sweet and helpful boy!  I love your ideas, your love for reading, your gentle teaching to your brothers, how you want to include me in your day.  I love baking with you, reading with you, playing with you, going for walks with you, working in the garden with you, making art with you.  May God continue to bless you as you grow.

And as always...here are a few pictures of the cake.  What a good idea you had Badger for a scarecrow cake!

Owl's 5th birthday

 I can't believe he is five.

 Our sweet Owl.  So happy.  So talkative.  So snuggly.  So interested in knowing more, patiently asking me questions all the day.  I could not be prouder of you, my boy. 

 Owl requested a buffalo cake.  It was really fun to make!

 Chocolate Buffalo Birthday Cake.

 Blowing out the candles!

 The day after his party, his actual birthday, we all headed to the zoo!  Before we went we had star wars pancakes.  Of course.

 Visiting the buffalo.  Or bison.  I never have understood the difference.

 Little Hen walked the entire zoo.  J and I felt free, yet strange, going there without a stroller or backpack or sling.  Our brood is really growing up!

Owl strolling.  It is really amazing having your own personal Christopher Robin.

Birthday Cake Parade

 Redwall Abbey Cake (from Brian Jacques' book series "Redwall")

 Banana muffins with homemade animal cracker tops for a 1st birthday

 Snake Cake (a timber rattler)

 The Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake 

 Giraffe Cake (with toasted coconut)

 Garbage Truck Cake

Castle with graham cracker fortress walls

R2D2

Dump Truck (modeled after a favorite Matchbox Car)

Firetruck

Not shown....the ladybug cupcakes, the pumpkin cupcakes, and this one strange cake that was supposed

to be a car but ended up looking like a bug.  

                 ......Bob the Builder, which was funny, i know, but it was such a hit with the boy!

                 ......a bull's eye cake with arrows & a Buzz Lightyear cake (both of which can be found in the archives of this blog)

                  ......the Scuba Diver Cake, which I apparently only took video of.  Who does that? :)

                 .....and the Millenium Falcon, which is my personal favorite because it looked so real.  If you are one of the grandma persons that attended that party and you have a picture of the Millenium Falcon (which would've been Nov. 2008) would you please make me a copy?  Pretty please with sugar on top?

Alright.  Now you know about my obsession with birthday cakes.  I hope you still like me.  Let me know, by leaving me a comment and telling me which one you like the best and feel free to leave a link to some pictures of any cool cakes that you've made.  And don't forget to go back and look at the previous blog post to see Hen's Train Cake from his party this weekend!

Hen's Train Cake

Two 9 inch chocolate cakes, cut in half and made into hills with track.  I used the "Perfectly Chocolate Cake" recipe from the back of the Hershey's cocoa can, except I used organic ingredients, sucanat instead of sugar, and coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.

 The train is made up of sugar cookies sandwiched together to make a front and back to the train.  The boys helped me decorate the train cars by lending me a book and instructing me on cattle cars, and boxcars and tenders and the like. (phew!)  It was really fun to make!

Happy 2nd Birthday Little Hen!  We love you!

Two!

Our littlest mancub turned two this week!

 He's had a splendid time this week playing outside.  All winter he wanted to play outside with the bigger boys, but then when it actually came down to it, he would get frustrated about walking in the snow and downright mad about falling into the snow, which is inevitable when you are two.  This winter was a winter of cold, icy, hard-to-walk-in snow.   And now the snow is almost gone and the season of mud has arrived!  A boy's favorite season!

We are celebrating Hen's special day this weekend with family, but couldn't pass up the chance to make chocolate cupcakes on the actual day.  The littlest boys and I made these, while the older two were at homeschool co-op.  It was fun, but I'll admit Owl and Hen were not very into helping make them, but were very into helping to eat them.  Ah, well...

He licked the chocolate buttercream off the top and tried to grab a second one, because isn't that what you are supposed to do?  The cupcake must just be something to put the frosting on for ease of holding and licking!

Today we walked to the local bookstore and when we walked into the children's section Hen spotted Arnold Lobel's "Owl at Home".  He pointed to it, and promptly said, "Owl at Home! Owl at Home!" The bookstore owner knows us and has been the supplier of books to our oldest boy (voracious reader) since he was 3.  When he heard Hen's response to seeing the familiar book he said, "Another one? How old is he?"  "Two", I said sheepishly.  And yes, we've got another one, whatever that means.  Having  children like this (bright, gifted, amazing?  i don't know what to call it?) seems "normal" to me now, and it's funny to be reminded how not "normal" it is for a just turned two year old to be talking in sentences and starting to sound out words in a book.

What a crazy journey we are on.  Parenting.  Loving.  Living.  I'm so thankful for this time I have with these Little Men.  Someone I know says, "Normal is just a setting on your dishwasher" and I am finding that is so true.

To J, On Your 35th Birthday

As I write this, our fourth son, the boy who is my little "you", is in my lap proudly saying "Mama! Papa!" as he looks at these pictures of us.  His hands, little miniatures of yours, pointing at the screen.  

Today as I rocked this little feverish man, holding him all day, I thought of you.  I thought of our beginning, and our "I do", and how far we have journeyed together.

 J & I our first year together

 At music school together

I thought about how crazy our coming together was.  Me yelling "I have a crush on you" across campus that moonlit night.  How the next time I saw you, you squeezed my hand.  How you picked me those little purple flowers that spring and I pressed them in my book of Tennyson, because I knew that I wanted to keep them forever.  

I was so young and foolish then.  A whirlwind that caught you up in the beauty of things.  And....you rooted me.  I felt planted when I was with you.  I still do.

 J in Venice (a few days before we were engaged)  

This trip was so surreal.  Touring, singing, and being so sick with colds.  Seeing all the beautiful things with you.  Feeling like we belonged in the world.  

Life with you has been so good.  Better than I could've imagined.  It isn't a whirlwind of romance anymore.  But it's so much more than that.  So much better than I even knew could be.  You have taught me what real love is and I'm so glad for your patient heart.   

Thank you for working so hard for our family.  For going to work every day for us.  Thank you for giving me these beautiful boys.  Thank you for loving them, and cultivating them with so much care.  Thank you for listening to me even when you're tired and for loving me even when I am a porcupine.

 I always am at my best when I'm at your side.

I love you.

Happy 35th Birthday.

xoxo,

reba

Frost

This weekend we celebrated my birthday. :) We had a very nice day at home together, which is my idea of a great time. When J asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said, "I just want you to be in the same room with me all day." And maybe that's strange, but for us, in this season of life that we are in....we find that we have to be purposeful in how we spend our time....and I wanted nothing more than to spend time with my favorite person in a purposeful way. We are together quite often, yes....but mostly just working or parenting or working....or parenting. You get the idea. It was nice to take some time to just be.

We went for a walk together as a family yesterday in the first snow of the year! And this morning we woke up to the most beautiful frost. Here's what I saw when I went out to take care of the hens this morning.

Such beauty all around us....makes it easier to be thankful in everything....

We are having the Thanksgiving Feast at our house this year. I'm looking for some new traditions to start with our family that help to cultivate thankfulness. Do you have any ideas for me? What do you do in your family for Thanksgiving?