Wednesday, January 25, 2012

6th Birthdays.............the untold stories


The thing I think I enjoy the most about birthdays around our house is seeing how excited each of the kids gets for the others birthday.  It really warms my heart.

I mean- 362 other days of the year I hear about how awful it is to share a room, how someone took somebody elses something or other, how someones feet are on their arm rest, how someone lost my whatever it was, fight bicker bicker fight.
 But on a birthday?  Happiness.  This year about a week before Sam's birthday emily had some cold hard cash and was planning to spend every drop of it at Target.  She had already made her selections when we went to peruse the Christmas clearance.  All at once she began taking her selections out of the cart and asking me if I had enough 'extra' money to cover tax on something she wanted to buy.  What she wanted to buy was a nutcracker for her brothers birthday.  I could have melted right there in the store.
 Sam has a thing about nutcrackers- he LOVES them.  Always has.  I have no idea why, but I think it might have to do with most of them carrying a weapon of some sort- but I could be wrong. And Emily knows her brother.  She came right home, wrapped it in tissue paper, poked it into a box and covered it with candy corn wrapping paper.  And for over a week she had a glow about her in anticipation of presenting her perfectly selected treasure.  And she was right- he loved it.
 Just a day or two before his big day, Allyson disappeared to her room for several hours.  I would have assumed she was back there being angry that I wouldn't let her have friends over/go to a friends house.  But what she was really doing was carefully sketching out and coloring with oil pastels what would become her gift for Sam.
 Here he is after unwrapping it.  He was such a blessed young man to have received such a beautiful piece of art from the biggest sister he'll ever have.
 The morning of his birthday we surprised him with balloons all over his floor.  Dan and Emily hid in my bedroom the night before and carefully inflated two laundry baskets full of them and after everyone was asleep, I snuck in and spread them out.
 And early the next morning we were awoken to pounding on the floor and an occasional *POP* as Rosie discovered the delicate balance that is necessitated when one tries to play with a balloon.
Honestly it was adorable.  And Sam, Emily and Allyson had so much fun watching Rosie play with the balloons that they didn't even care when she popped them all.

Most days this life I am living feels like we're stuck in a tornado.  Chaos, work, activities, school, homework, church stuff............we are just a flurry of scrambling around.  But I am grateful for the fun days that come along the way.  Sam's big day was certainly one of them.

1 comment:

Dan said...

it was a great day and Sam is blessed to have you for his mommy to make his day so special