Elijah's Party

If you've been around for a while you know that five times a year I lose my mind.  Five birthday bashes that have to blow my children away.  It puts me into a frenzy.  First figuring out what to do, then how to do it within reasonable limits (ie. no pony rides in the backyard and NO, I'm not hiring entertainment).

This year, we had no plan for Elijah.  Poor guy, he suffers since his birthday is just a week after Christmas.   We barely recover from the holidays before we remember that his birthday is...well, tomorrow.  The two big boys got a CSI science set from my parents for Christmas.  It got me thinking about parties and science.  Two words that shouldn't be used together in a sentence, but I am a nerdy science lover.  We chatted it up a bit and decided to investigate CSI parties.  Unfortunately, I kept finding non-murder mystery parties for kids.  Those sounded uber cool to me--see previous nerdy remark as explanation.  That literary, character based fodder falls into Everett's realm.  Elijah would be frozen in terror if we gave him a script and told him to 'act like this character' with a group of friends.  Probably not a good idea for his birthday party.

I happened upon this little gem.  A download for $19.  Most of the work done, but still requiring hours of detail planning.  I loved that the kids were working things out to solve the crime.  I was nervous about the gruesome factor. I took it a little farther by sending id badges along with invitations.  We made up funny names like "Rob Bersnatcher" and "Bea A. Heerow".  I did speak to every mom before the party, explaining that my husband was going to be 'dead' and they would investigate his murder.  They had six different stations to visit trying to decipher hidden messages, match DNA evidence, footprints, and fingerprints.  They had a blast, competing on teams of detectives trying to be the ones to solve the crime and win the prize.

My mom and her team working on morgue information.  Too bad they discovered that she was actually the murderer!

I'm naturally worried and overly sensitive to exposing kids to things that are scary.  This party put me on edge.  I didn't have anything to worry about but my own child!  Josiah took one look at Seth (whom I had "bludgeoned" as he was at an art easel in the basement) and touched his head, then pointed at him and said, "Is he, the blood, is he..."  I guess the red paint and fake wound were a little much for him to see on his own father.  He did refuse to visit the 'morgue' and check out the morgue photos (I had to bludgeon Seth the night before and take morgue shots for the party).  That said, view the next photo with caution.

Notice his hand covering his mouth, he knew he would smile or laugh as the kids chatted about the crime scene.

Elijah is Nine

Every birthday a child celebrates brings the "I can't believe time is passing so quickly" thought. It seems like we were just rushing to the hospital. I waddled across the parking lot telling Seth to leave the bag (and camera) in the car since it would be a while before we needed them. By the time we made our way into a room I was certain that baby was about to make his appearance. He did, much to the surprise of the doctor, nurses, and us. He's been in a hurry about everything since the day he came.

We always celebrate as a family with a dinner chosen by the birthday child and cake. Later, we have a party--Eli has always (except for his first) shared a party with his cousin. This year the festivities took place at the professional baseball stadium turned snow festival. Cake, pizza, and gifts took place at our house. This was probably the easiest party ever and the cake I made was probably my most successful (also easy) cake making venture ever.

Happy Birthdays, boys!

Sally is Seven!

Sally's seventh birthday party will go down in history as the most wild party our family has ever thrown.

Hopefully.

It all started when she asked for a surprise party. I don't know what it is with these kids requesting a surprise party. The moment they ask for a surprise, it ceases to be a surprise party. Nevertheless, I proceeded to embrace the circus that we call life and embellish each one of the talents we have working around the circus idea. Jojo the strong man, Daddio the juggler, Everett the Great Magician, Elijah the lion tamer, and grandparents painting faces. My mom and sister made an appearance as clowns. My mom, infamous for taking things to the next level, wasn't satisfied with just making balloon animals. They made a last minute trip to wal-mart for clown clothes (dress shirts my dad is probably wearing to work now), face paint, and balloons. Then they watched youtube late into the night learning how to twist balloons into animals.

Sally was indeed surprised, as we enlisted her grandparents to take her shopping while we prepped for the party and all of her friends arrived.

All of the kids were having a blast, we were just finishing up with the circus show when thunder rumbled. We raced inside and Sally began opening gifts when my father-in-law said something I never thought I'd hear. "Apryl, the police are in your driveway."

Then the power went out.

We immediately lit the candles and the party never slowed down. Who knew that the police and a power outage wouldn't even be noticed by 20 children as long as cake is available?

Happy NINTH Birthday, Ella!

How can this be possible? Seems like just yesterday Ella was celebrating her first birthday with us. I think I say that every birthday. "Weren't you two, like, yesterday?"

When Ella was blowing her candles out, she ran out of breath. She looked up, smiled, giggled, and said, "I love cake." Then blew the rest out. Her audience was slightly stunned having never seen someone stop to make such a comment during candle extinguishing. Rara managed to snap a photo just after the cake lover's comment. Smirky face and candles half done. I think you missed your wish coming true this year sweetie, unless, that is, all you wanted was to eat a piece of cake. We were certainly delighted to see that you didn't blow slobber all over the cake as has happened to us in recent times (that kid born in October comes to mind...).
Happy Birthday Ella-rella!

Happy Birthday, Elijah!

For Eli's eighth birthday he requested a surprise party. We usually have a duo party with his cousin, born one year and four days after him. We keep waiting for the two boys to request their 'own' parties, but year after year they cheer for a party together. So, this year, like previous ones, we planned a double party. How to pull off a surprise party when the party kid knows about the party?

Obviously, have all of the kids hide behind furniture with Nerf guns and pummel him when he arrives at his cousin's house for the party. He knew when, he knew where, but he was surprised by the what. We were unorthodox in planning this party, because as a general life rule of motherhood, you shouldn't serve cake and ice cream to children at 9:30 am. We did. Then we loaded up four vehicles and drove through a blizzard to play laser tag. Load up the kids with sugar and laser guns then set them loose on each other in the dark. Seems like the ultimate party--Surprise, Eli!!

They loved it. Minus the long drive.

The adults? Well, the ones who played laser tag loved it. I managed to bring us safely to the venue through the snow in the slippery van with 8 young boys from 6 different families. The odds against us making it there were slim. The
juvenile delinquentparty goer sitting behind me kept kicking my seat griping about my snail's pace and, "I could run faster than you drive!" I shouldn't begrudge him his right to practice road rage, but from inside the vehicle? One boy was ready to have an accident in the van. With all of the pressures, I stayed strong and kept the speedometer safely at 25 mph. A little slow for the interstate, but the weather...the treacherous weather. And all of those families' boys! Sheesh, I could have had an emotional breakdown. The responsibility was crushing. I would make a terrible bus driver.

Overall, the birthday was a wild success. We surprised Eli. We arrived alive. We didn't lose any children. A birthday party sensation.

Happy Surprise Birthday, Elijah!

Josiah's Birthday!

Terrible Twos, Goodbye! Could the pithy saying be Terrific Threes? Dare I beg for this year to be a bit easier than the past?

Too smart for his own good, too cute to get in real trouble, and too rotten to care about any of it...here's hoping for obedience and maturity in the coming year. We are off to a grand start!
Yes, he did spit on half of the cake. Happy Birthday, dear sweet (salivating) boy!

Happy Birthday Sally!

A far cry from the little girl who, two years ago, was not interested in opening presents or eating cake. "Looks nice, but tastes so...unfamiliar." We have ruined our Ethiopian beauty! She turned six and had a list of friends, party activities, and desired presents. I think she hoped for a more 'Strawberry Shortcake' cake than the big strawberrish shaped cake I produced. It even tasted weird.

Squirt guns, water slides, presents, and cake...overall the birthday diva had a blast.

Everett's SEVEN!

Happy Birthday to Everett! I think I may blink and find him heading off to college! It seems like it was just yesterday when he and I were living the carefree life-- me and a chubby baby lazing our days away. How things change!

Most people have heard the story of the surprise that Everett was to Seth and I. But I'll tell it again, because it's appropriate (and funny for those of you who haven't heard it). When Seth and I were married neither of us wanted kids...ever. Six months into our marriage we went to our Sunday school Christmas party. We were the only childless couple out of the 15 there. Imagine the noise, the squalling, the chaos. Through the din we embarked on a horrid white elephant exchange (in which Seth received a used calender). We were finally relieved to politely excuse ourselves from the torture. I vividly recall walking to the car in the dark and saying, "I am so thankful that we don't have any kids, that was horrible."

I was already expecting our first baby.

I can only imagine the roaring laughter from heaven when those words came out of my mouth! Isn't God grand? I'm beyond thankful that He saw fit to bless us with a wonderful baby boy (who incidentally slept through the night at 3 weeks). Everett has such a unique character, I'm anxious to see the plans God has for him!

And because I couldn't possibly post about Everett without including a picture:

This picture warrants a little explanation. Everett has been asking for a pocket knife for years. I guess when he first asked, seven sounded a long way off. When his seventh birthday approached he reminded us that two years ago we told him that he could have a pocket knife. Seth (recalling his favorite childhood memories) went to the store and bought survival gear for a seven year old and a handy dandy knapsack. Though I'm sure it's called something else. For two days Everett has wanted to do nothing but carry the bag around and "fiddle" with his knife (we finally told him that you don't "fiddle" you "whittle").

His big birthday request was granted, and birthday bliss culminated in taking a hike with his dad. The rest of us sort of tagged along. Eli stated that we must bring along a ladder so that Everett could cut down a tree with his new knife. I snapped many pictures including this one, titled: Embarassing little sister discovers a spider is in her hair.

Later, when I was looking at the pictures, I found this little gem preceding the "spider in the hair one". Should I title it "Big brother sabotaging Mom's photo shoot by placing spider in sister's hair?"


I never get a straight answer on that one, but the photo looks pretty incriminating! Nevertheless, Happy Birthday Everett!

Birthday Princess

Our Ukrainian Princess is 5 today!

We are blessed to have two pictures of Ella as an infant. When we were in court, I saw that the orphanage director had these photos in her file on Ella. When I asked about them, she kindly gave them to me. What a treasure! We can only guess at her age in the pictures, the second one was the photo that we were shown when we decided to adopt her. She was two and a half at the time, obviously it had been years since the picture was taken. What an adorable baby, I feel my heart break every time I look at the pictures because we missed so much. This marks the day that her time with us equals her time in the orphanage.

We are going into this adoption with experience that we just did not have when we brought Ella home. It did not matter that we read books, spent time with adoptive families, or scoured journals of Ukrainian adoptions. Each child is unique, and each one will come home with a different experience. What we expected was far worse than what we dealt with, but we also thought (albeit very naively) that we would not always be dealing with "issues". Just recently Seth and I came to the conclusion that Ella will probably always need more and be struggling to overcome those first two years of her life. It was a sad thing to think about, and I have to often stop myself from going into the "If only..." She is a remarkable little girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family.