Tony’s wife, Kristin, planned a surprise birthday party for him this year. We gathered a week earlier than his actual birthday and filled their townhouse with 11 adults, 8 kids, and 1 dog. The kids had a blast decorating the place and practicing using their noise makers before Kristin’s brother brought Tony to the party. We had homemade soup, an assortment of breads and fruit, and cake, cupcakes and ice cream for dessert. It was a fun excuse to get the entire family together to celebrate my favorite brother!
Little #4 had no problem with her birthday cake. In fact, looking at photos from her siblings’ first birthdays, she was clearly the cleanest after she was done. The boys were probably at a disadvantage since their frosting was chocolate…
She took handfuls of cake with such skill and intention, she has clearly been watching her older siblings over the last 12 months. We had a ton of fun with family and friends who were able to join us for cupcakes and ice cream.
My sweet girl, you have brought so much excitement and joy to our house since you arrived a year ago. Even after witnessing it happen four times now, I cannot believe how much growth and development takes place during the first year. Your grin of 8 teeth always brings a smile to my face and your now trademark scowl never fails to make me giggle.
Music brings out your grooving side – you bounce up and down if you’re sitting and you shake side-to-side if you’re standing next to something. You’re not quite interested in walking or running, but that’s ok with me – I’m not ready for you to be doing that quite yet either! You have become quite skilled at crawling up the stairs though, so we definitely have to keep an eye on you – you’re fast!
Your siblings are both a source of entertainment for you as well as playmates and protectors. They love you so much and would do anything to help you, keep you safe, and make you smile. As your mom, I pray that the four of you will always remain close. The bonds you already have at such a young age are incredibly precious.
Daddy and I love you very much and are extremely grateful that God chose us to be your parents. May He bless you with many more happy birthdays!
The Littles got up filled with excitement this morning! They went downstairs and quickly found their stockings filled with an assortment of stocking stuffers and new pj’s. Once Jake and I came downstairs they started handing out gifts – finding the ones they picked out for me and begging me to open them. My heart melted. They didn’t want to open THEIR gifts, they wanted me to open mine. (I told them I was excited to see what they picked out for me, but did convince them to open some of their gifts first.) When I finally opened my presents, I found that once again, they each picked out something that was extremely thoughtful. Little #1 knows I love elephants, so he chose an elephant calendar for my office wall. Little #2 overheard that my hand mixer had seen better days, so he selected an amazing replacement one for me. (I opened his present a day early because (1) he couldn’t contain his excitement and (2) he wanted me to use it for mixing up the batter for the cookies we made on Christmas Eve morning. Little #3 apparently made a bee-line for the nail polish at Target when she went shopping with her dad and selected two nail polishes. (She’s big in to having me paint her nails and then wants to paint mine.) Little #4’s gift was a set of four mini-spatulas, which I have been secretly hoping would show up in my kitchen. Four wonderful, thoughtful presents from my four Littles.
The gifts the Littles received were theme based this year. I had heard about the idea of giving kids something they need, something they want, something to read, and we added giving them something to share among the four of them. I wrapped each theme in similar paper and the kids took turns opening their themed gift. I thought it worked quite well and would like to use the same idea next year.
After quiet/naptime, we loaded up the truck and headed for Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Everyone was home for the afternoon/evening. We had dinner as a family and then took a few group photos before opening presents.
It started with two:
Two became seven:
Add six more:
And it gets crazy!
The kids of course, thoroughly enjoyed opening their gifts. Little #4 was delighted to play with the paper and boxes.
Today was the start of our Christmas celebrations. My parents went to Christmas Eve mass with us and then came over to the house for dinner. They left just before we put he Shecklets to bed so the house could get prepped for Christmas morning.
Nana and Papa are coming over tonight after we all go to mass. The Shecklets are baking Papa’s favorite gumdrop cookies for dessert. (Great Grandma Fran’s recipe.)
The kids got a good laugh out of seeing themselves as Lego figurines tonight.
My first attempt at Lego-izing us had Little #4 symbolized as a pink stroller, but I like my second attempt below, better. In reality, she hates wearing hats, but it’s winter (absolutely freezing right now!) and she has very little hair – so a hat it is!
We did a little birthday shopping for me this afternoon and worked up an appetite. While we were waiting for our lunch to be served, Little #3 broke out the crayons and drew the members of her family. (Jake added the initials above the heads so we knew who was who.) Reminds me of the family portrait that Little #2 drew earlier in the year.
The 3 older Littles love playing with the dress up clothes/costumes in our basement. It’s not surprising then, that the idea of collecting candy just for dressing up is sheer brilliance in their minds. I’m pretty sure that the level of excitement doesn’t stem from the possibility of eating everything they bring home. They purely enjoy dressing up, greeting the neighbors, collecting, combining, and then sorting what they were so generously given.
This year, our Littles went as a mummy, baby dragon, cowgirl and a gnome. It was so much fun seeing Little #2 wear the mummy costume that Uncle Tony wore as a kid. Little #4, the dragon, was the third Shecklet to don the warm, fuzzy, green outfit. (Little #3 was too little her first Halloween and too big her second.) We put a pink bow on her head to make her a “girl dragon.” Our cowgirl was a superhero with her pink mask, and our garden gnome was grinning from ear to ear, but you couldn’t quite see it through his long, white beard.
Trick-or-treating began after school when we stopped by “the loft” to visit Papa, Mr. Eric and Uncle Tony. Auntie Kristin also came by and brought the kids a treat. From there, we went to Nana & Papa’s house to run up the front sidewalk and ring the doorbell. After a few group photos and adding non-edible treats to their buckets/bags, we loaded back up and drove home to get ready for round three in our neighborhood.
Two of our friends joined us for the fun. The guys walked the kids door-to-door and the ladies took turns holding Little #4. Little #3 joined us back home after making it around most of our block. From what I was told, the boys made mad dashes between houses as they went around the rest of the neighborhood. It was cool and slightly misty out tonight, so I’m sure running helped keep them at least a little warm.
Upon their return, Little #1 & Little #2 dumped their candy into one pile. Little #3 didn’t want to be left out, so she added hers to the mix. Then, being the organizers that they are, they set to work on sorting the candy by type. Who knew that Halloween could double as math exercise?
We ended our nightly prayers by praying for the people who handed out candy tonight. It was a great way to talk to the Littles about what generosity means and how we can in turn be generous to others – and not just when it comes to candy. I love to see their little hearts so open to such a concept.
We have four kids. That means we “had” to buy four pumpkins. Based on previous years’ experiences, I had a feeling there would be much excitement prior to carving pumpkins, but not as much when it came to actually cleaning out the pumpkin guts. I was correct…times four. *Sigh*
But like any committed mom, I took the silver serving spoon and scraped the pumpkin insides bare and dumped out the orange seedy contents onto the baking sheet on the table…times four.
Then I attempted to follow the drawn on lines of the pumpkin faces…times four.
After just over an hour, we had jack-o-lanterns for the Littles…times four.
And they couldn’t be happier…times four.
P.S. you’ll see Little #4’s pumpkin has two bottom teeth just like her 🙂
