On Wednesday night we celebrated my older sister’s 51st birthday. It was her first birthday since she went to heaven. My momma, brother, and all of our families gathered in the front yard and had a “socially distanced” gathering with 🎈,🍕 and 🎂 as we talked about our Melinda. It’s really hard to lose a sibling. We talked about this with our families that night. Your sister/ whom you’ve known and loved your entire life. Your family. Your first best friend. Your biggest fan. Your everything. Your comedic relief. Your demanding sidekick. Your love. It’s hard. We know she’s happy and she’s with so many loved ones. I never met another soul who would tell you they wanted to go to heaven more than Melinda. She had some of her favorite people go before her. I sometimes wonder about the effects of losing my dad 11 months before she died. They were so close. And her grief was deep. It took her a long time to admit that my dad had gone to heaven. But, she finally did and I know she wanted to go and be with him. On Valentine’s Day, after having a stroke, Melinda went to heaven 💗💗 she was literally surrounded by some of the people on earth that she loved most 💗💗 And, she went to be with Jesus. It was Incredibly peaceful. We know know know that she is in a better place. BUT, it sure is hard to be without her here.
Tag: birthday
Why I buy myself flowers
Summer Week 5 Theme Week- performance week
Our youngest turned 3 this summer. One month before his birthday he asked (completely unprompted) for a Willy Wonka birthday party. It was a perfect idea, so we got to work. We asked our family to join us for the fun and even dress as characters from the book…anyone, but Willy Wonka. Leeland, our birthday boy, would be the only Willy Wonka.
Last year the Els had a performance week and did a song from Aladdin at a family Disney night at our church. This year, the kids picked out their characters and we spent the week rehearsing and preparing for them to perform a few songs from the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie.
Pajamas, velvet jacket and top hat…normal for rehearsals!
Practicing for the big performance. Our stage.
Tickets…I purchased a set of Willy Wonka graphics from Etsy. Everything was customized.
The party table. Cake, candy, chocolate and more candy. We’ve never served so much sugar at a party!
Our handsome birthday boy. We found the vest material online. It is the same fabric print as the Gene Wilder vest. Our little Leeland, Willy Wonka was so very happy!
How to plan an (easy) Kid Birthday Party in the Park
Our oldest son is turning eight tomorrow. He wanted to celebrate with his entire class. I don’t know about you, but birthday parties can get really expensive. And, with at least four parties a year for our children’s birthdays (one each!) that can get pricey really fast. Birthdays are important. My family always made our birthdays special growing up and my husband and I both feel it’s really important for our children to have this special day each year. Does it have to break the bank? No.
Let’s look at options.
- We have tons of kid friendly birthday themed places to choose from in our city- Houston. But, again, price is an issue. Most places charge per child and inviting an entire class full of kids is a lot. We also like to include siblings, mainly because our kids have so many siblings and it’s always nice (but not necessary) when they are included too.
- How about a party at home? They are fun and the kids always really have a great time. I opted “no” on this option this time, because it is a lot of work for me personally and I kind of have a lot already on my plate at the moment.
- So, we thought about the park down the street from our house and our son’s school. We could have a party right after school on a Friday afternoon. We went for this option.
Here are the details:
Invite all of the class via evite.com or other web service
Our class list is posted for our class only on our own website run by our classroom mom
I just retrieved the emails from there and pasted them into the evite
Party time: immediately after school on a Friday for 1.5 hours
Serve Pizza (kid choices and parent options) – I ordered locally and asked that it be delivered to the park 15 minutes after the party start time
Pick up cupcakes (we purchased ours from Sam’s Club 30 total -15 vanilla and 15 chocolate)
What to bring:
- paper towels (in case it is windy, napkins will fly)
- one cooler filled with ice, water bottles & juice bags/boxes
- lighter
- birthday candle
- pizza cutter to make the pieces smaller if necessary
- wipes
- sanitizer
- trash bags (I had these, but they weren’t necessary)
It’s Fall…here’s our EL Update
Happy First Birthday to our son, Leeland Thaddeus! We hit a grand slam with you, kid!
Last week our youngest El turned 1. It was a really exciting time for all of us. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had baseball themed parties for our other boys when they turned one. But, this was the first time we had a birthday during baseball season. We decided that we would celebrate with immediate family-only, that’s 28 people, with 24 that live in town and 4 that live out of town. So, we had a small party for 24 people! WHEW! It was tons of fun. Here are pictures from our afternoon/evening. We served hotdogs, chili dogs (I found a really great chili recipe online for chili dogs, which I normally don’t eat. But, I ate 2 cause they were delicious!) chips, fruit and fresh homemade lemonade. After dinner, we sang to the birthday boy. Notice how he covered his ears when we sang to him! It was hilarious. I think it was just too loud, but he never stopped smiling. Then, we had cake and headed over to the Ballpark to watch the Astros play. After the game, they have a fireworks show on Friday nights. So, we stayed and watched that. It was a Queen inspired show and it was probably the best fireworks show we have seen there. It was really impressive and ended with Bohemian Rhapsody. Awesomeness.
So, everything was great. We had a wonderful time. And, Leeland managed to stay awake and didn’t go to bed until 1130 that evening. Waking at nearly noon the next day. He’s pretty cool.
So, we want to say happy birthday to our little Leeland, lovebug, little boy. You are amazing. We are so proud of you. We love you, we love being your parents and we love watching you grow. You rock, kid!
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Me with my 1 year old son, Leeland. LOVE! |
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Grandmother giving him cereal before the party |
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LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Cutie on his new ride |
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New present from Grandmother and Grandfather |
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Birthday boy with El Momma |
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The food was delicious if I do say so myself. |
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Happy boy with his Jiddy |
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with my Jiddy |
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Playing cars with my cousin |
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Look at my two teeth! |
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the crowd gathers for the birthday song |
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almost ready to sing |
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the song begins |
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covering his ears |
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covering his ears for the birthday song |
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the crowd waits |
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ready to blow out the candles |
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Big boy! |
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Cake! |
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Grandma love |
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You’re one! |
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bitter cake? |
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Princess T and the birthday boy ready for the game! |
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daddy’s little boy |
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the party at Minute Maid Park |
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our view |
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can you say “cotton candy?” |
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pretty |
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Fireworks with Momma |
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Ready for Birthday Fireworks! |
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Rockin out with Christian to Queen during the fireworks show! |
Leeland’s Birthday Painting, the Third Painting in the series
When I began painting the first of what would eventually be three paintings, I had no idea that I would be painting variations of the same painting more than once. The first painting was for our first son, Bakri, when he turned one. We planned a baseball themed birthday party. I made him a cake shaped like a baseball and decorated like a baseball and I painted a baseball jersey on canvas for his wall in his room. I used the painting as part of the decoration for the party and I made a cake that matched the jersey. That was all for the first birthday of the first child. Little did I know, God would bless us with 2 more little boys with first birthdays! So, this week, I began the fun job of painting Leeland’s first birthday painting to go with the paintings for Bakri and Maddux. Here’s how it went:
Happiest of Birthdays to our six year old, Bakri!
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Bakri! |
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With Leeland and Momma and Daddy at Leeland’s Baptism |
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Bakri, loving his baby brother, Leeland |
In the full swing of Advent and the Christmas Season with the ELs
Our First Baby Turns FIVE
Our Bakri turned five last month. He loves Mickey Mouse, so he had a Mickey Mouse party at our house with a MM jumpy house, MM cake, lots of friends and family AND an appearance by Mickey Mouse himself. It was a great day and a great way to celebrate our Bakri.
He is a very special and loving boy. When teachers describe Bakri (from his school now and church activities) the first thing they say is how sweet and loving Bakri is. And, it’s true. He has so much love to give and flourishes in environments where that love is returned.
Before Bakri’s fourth birthday, we withdrew him from the school he was attending at the time. It was absolutely the best decision for Bakri and our family. We spent the entire Summer together. Bakri also did a couple of camps- including a Warrior Prince Camp and Vacation Bible School. We spent a lot of days at the pool and enjoyed the Summer. In the Fall he started at the preschool where he is now. It has been a world of difference from our experience at the previous school. Bakri is doing so well. He loves his teachers and they love him. He does well in circle time, art class, music class and chapel and loves playing outside with his classmates. He seemed to really mature over Christmas time and has had a wonderful Spring semester.
Bakri is fun. He loves Mickey Mouse, Goofy, telling stories, Buzz lightyear, playing pretend, being with his siblings- especially his brother, tussling with his brother, reading books, counting, reciting facts, puzzles, watching home videos, spending the night with both sets of grandparents, his cousins, talking about camping, sharing a room with his brother, riding his bicycle to the park and back, running the bases, hitting the baseball, being a part of his tee-ball team, and his family. I’m sure there are numerous other things that Bakri loves, but if I wait to post this until I think of them all, I never will.
We love our Bakri and our so proud of the five year old boy that he is. I never want to forget this age. I hope I won’t, because like all of the other times in our children’s lives, they will only be this age once.
HAPPY FIFTH BIRTHDAY, BAKRI BOY! WE LOVE YOU!!!!