Seven!

Seven! Can you believe it? G is SEVEN today. After my asthma boy had a rough two weeks of being sick, he felt *just* better enough for his birthday overnight at a local hotel this weekend. We went swimming, sat in the hot tub, watched a movie in bed, and went out to dinner. We came back last night and were home today for his birthday. While he is still on the mend, he had a fun birthday full of family and lots of love.




Seven years have flown. G is such a gentle, creative and yet funny guy. I think it can be challenging to be A's younger brother - but G has such a fierce and protective spirit and takes good care of his brother when he is having a rough time. Everything he does involves his big brother, and yet he is still intensely independent and a very unique kid. Every moment of life is big and exciting and fun to him.




I love him more than anything and look forward to the next seven years (14?!?!?!). Happy Birthday sweet boy.

eight!

EIGHT!!!!




Words cannot really describe him. He is one of a kind, bigger than life, and we love him with all our hearts. I cannot imagine life without him.


Happy Birthday, sweet boy.



"Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time. "
~Jean Paul Richter

.

six!

Can you believe it? Six! Somehow, six just doesn't seem to be a big enough number for all that is G. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. He is such a force, that to count to six is over too soon!


I feel like with G his age would be best counted in breaths. So high would I go, adding all of those counted during the hours I have sat beside him, watching the second hand as he struggled to breathe, so close to being too many, so relieved when it wasn't. Higher and higher I would count, until I had a number as big as him.


Being a younger brother can come down in many ways, and with G he is so ... much. He is a best friend and a good brother, a firm believer in himself, and while endlessly patient also quick to stand his ground.


He has always been nimble and graceful and wows us with his tricks ... dance, gymnastics, performance. So much agility in a skinny body. He loves to explore and be with his family.


He insists on being heard, on playing fair, on managing what is right. He sings loudly, runs fast, and laughs until he cries. He is so shy with strangers, but gives 200% to those he knows and trusts.


He is so good with his brother and is fiercely protective of him. He hates being away from him for even a minute, and counts the seconds even if they are apart for only a short karate class.


He loves color, music, patterns, puzzles, and soft fuzzy animals. He has a wicked sense of humor, and loves to bake. He can do e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. all by himself. Ahem.


He is my heart, and I cannot imagine the world without him.


Six is such a small number, but I don't say that hoping to speed time along, because I plan to savor every moment.


Just like he does.


Happy birthday sweet boy.

.

happy, happy birthday!

A is seven! To celebrate his special day, he and his brother wanted to visit a water park. While we just spent just one night at the resort they picked, we packed a LOT into the time we had.

The boys went down water slides (a LOT of water slides!), surfed in wave pools, sat in a special kids 'warm tub'.


In the arcade they played games, rode speed bikes, and played a lot black light air hockey. They stayed up late in our room watching movies, eating birthday treats, and putting together birthday gifts.


They waved magic wands, completed a magical Quest, and slid down 2-4 story high slides. They played and ran and swam. Happy and exhausted boys.


A had a fantastic time and a great birthday. We were so happy to spend it with him, having fun together as a family.


Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Five!

G is five! My boys have been changing so much - I see so much more in them every day, and am in awe at how amazing they are. G has been so excited about turning 5. And it really is a great age - going from a little guy to a young boy.


G has always been the graceful creative boy. He loves movement, rhythm, performance, creativity, color. He is the one who loves to smile, laugh, tell jokes, be silly, dance, try new things, and for the past several months I rarely can get a photo without him crossing his eyes, winking, or making a crazy face.


He is an amazing boy and as we say in this house, I love him .


We had a lovely two days celebrating with him. Happy Birthday my sweet G.

sheep & birthdays.

Last weekend we headed to the Sheep & Wool Festival. The boys were so excited to see the animals! We first wandered the animal buildings, checking out the amazing diverse breeds of sheep. So much variety. When we sat down for the sheep shearing demonstration we got lucky and sat next to a little boy (above) whose family owned most of the sheep being shorn. He chatted with my boys for a long time, telling them about his farm, his animals, lambing, and of course shearing. The shearer doing the demonstration shears pretty much all of the sheep for that farm. The man was a whiz - lightning fast - and the boys watched in awe as he gently and expertly removed their wool one after the other.


The boy then took A & G over to the other side of the building to show them the lambs. He climbed the fence and expertly grabbed one lamb at a time - holding it up for everyone to see (he had drawn quite a crowd by then), telling the boys all about them.


After a stop for a snow-cone (hot day!) we wandered the vendor buildings together - with a looooong stop by the angora rabbits. The boys pet them, asked questions and looked them over. From there we split up so I could wander and shop while the guys had lunch. While I am allergic to the lanolin in sheep wool, I am just fine with alpaca and angora, and I found so many yummy yarns that I couldn't even choose. I ended up with a little of this, a little of that.


I think there is a theme with this fall and winter, though. I managed to pick all warm browns. Raw alpaca, alpaca roving, alpaca yarn, and a few ounces of angora fur to see how I do spinning it into yarn. And of course a lighter spindle for the more delicate fur.

At the end I accidentally found out that A & G had bought me a *very* special birthday gift while I was off shopping. An angora rabbit (yep, the rabbit!)!


She is a gorgeous and fluffy girl and will come home with us in a few weeks when we have her home setup. We plan to use her lovely fur to spin yarn, and of course the boys are super excited to take care of her. What a great birthday gift! And a fun day. :)

SIX!!!!!!!!

A turned six yesterday. Wow! Six years. SIX years old! Each year seems like such a jump in development when they are little, but from 5 to 6 they change so much not only on the outside, but inside as well.


It is amazing to see what he is interested in and what he thinks about, how he interacts with the world, and how much love, thought, enthusiasm, intensity and emotion he brings to each and every thing he does. He is an amazing person and I have loved the six years we have been together as a family so far, and look forward to a lifetime more.


Happy Birthday sweet boy!

G is four!

Oh, my sweet little boy. G is four! It doesn't seem like it is possible that four years have passed, yet at the same time we are so different now, such a family.

G is such a force - full of so much love and enthusiasm and intense energy. While his brother is exacting and interested in details, assembly, minutiae and facts, G loves rhythm, flow, music, color, texture, scenes, and storyline. It is so interesting to see his unique personality flower as he gets older. Every day he is full of surprises and we love him so much!


After going so long taking care of sick little guys, I finally got sick too. Really sick. The day before Thanksgiving, of course, when we had invited family to a Thanksgiving Day party at our house. Ahem. Needless to say, we had to cancel the Thanksgiving Day/Birthday party. But we of course still had to have a birthday bash for G - but with just us.

I couldn't MOVE - but I hadn't finished all of the party prep nor did I have the cake baked yet, so my husband zipped out and found a bakery that had an extra plain white sheet cake - YAY! He also picked up some balloons and streamers so we could decorate. And some tube icing so we could personalize the blank cake. We already had his gifts. And of course we had tons of love and excitement.


So, while we had a big change of plans and a much (much!) smaller party, we had a lovely time and he had a fun birthday - full of excitement, joy, fun, love, a very proud big brother, and cake! Happy Birthday, sweet boy.