so, with the arrival of my nephew,
justin,
leah got moved from her own room to a room with
anna and
ellie... this meant combining my 3 worst at going to bed. NOT SO FUN. i am a firm believer in giving rewards (bribing) which i have renamed "giving blessings". we dole out sweet blessings to those who obey.
mainly, the blessings we give are poker chips or "tokens" that the kids can
redeem for treats and stuff... everyone loves tokens, even
leah who doesn't quite grasp the exchange system.
but, somehow
leah got it in her mind that if she stayed in her bed, she would get a BIRTHDAY!!
she has been SO excited. yet, even in her excitement it has taken her a few weeks to earn her coveted birthday. as fate would have it, the night before their trip to grandma's...
leah stayed in bed all night and earned her blessings--- a birthday in June. (her actually birthday is
september).
i bought a few cake mixes, a few containers of icing, some edible cake markers and (my favorite) disposable pot pie cake pans... the kids followed the directions to make and bake the cakes... we all iced and decorated. yes, we NEEDED candles and real, live flames (
despite the objections voiced by the professor)... some singing, some pictures, and lots of WISHES!!
may our nights ever be silent and our days full of CELEBRATION!!
(i thought it would be fun to wrap up toys and stuff that we already had, or to go to the dollar store and buy some fun stuff... but alas, it didn't happen-- oh and BALLOONS... how could i have forgotten balloons?!)
how about you?
just do it? enjoy the birthday magic all year long!! have Santa make a mid-summer visit just to fill stockings-- or pool shoes...
doesn't it sound fun!!?
and, guess what? after all the spoonfuls of frosting they ate while decorating... no one ate much of their cake-- so it wasn't even that unhealthy. just fun.
yeah-- it really is FUN to have a houseful of little ones... i may not have missed them when they were gone, but i do ENJOY having them home. most of the time.
so, with the arrival of my nephew, justin, leah got moved from her own room to a room with anna and ellie... this meant combining my 3 worst at going to bed. NOT SO FUN. i am a firm believer in giving rewards (bribing) which i have renamed "giving blessings". we dole out sweet blessings to those who obey.
mainly, the blessings we give are poker chips or "tokens" that the kids can redeem for treats and stuff... everyone loves tokens, even leah who doesn't quite grasp the exchange system.
but, somehow leah got it in her mind that if she stayed in her bed, she would get a BIRTHDAY!!
she has been SO excited. yet, even in her excitement it has taken her a few weeks to earn her coveted birthday. as fate would have it, the night before their trip to grandma's... leah stayed in bed all night and earned her blessings--- a birthday in June. (her actually birthday is september).
i bought a few cake mixes, a few containers of icing, some edible cake markers and (my favorite) disposable pot pie cake pans... the kids followed the directions to make and bake the cakes... we all iced and decorated. yes, we NEEDED candles and real, live flames (despite the objections voiced by the professor)... some singing, some pictures, and lots of WISHES!!
may our nights ever be silent and our days full of CELEBRATION!!
(i thought it would be fun to wrap up toys and stuff that we already had, or to go to the dollar store and buy some fun stuff... but alas, it didn't happen-- oh and BALLOONS... how could i have forgotten balloons?!)
how about you?
just do it? enjoy the birthday magic all year long!! have Santa make a mid-summer visit just to fill stockings-- or pool shoes...
doesn't it sound fun!!?
and, guess what? after all the spoonfuls of frosting they ate while decorating... no one ate much of their cake-- so it wasn't even that unhealthy. just fun.
yeah-- it really is FUN to have a houseful of little ones... i may not have missed them when they were gone, but i do ENJOY having them home. most of the time.
Fabulous, fabulous... I think this is another idea I will have to pirate. Where do you buy pot pie tins? And how long do you bake the "little" cakes?:-)
ReplyDeletei got my tins at United and baked them at 325 around 30 minutes... i checked after 20, but with 6 little cakes and one bundt cake, my oven was full-- we used 2 cake mixes, white with lots of different color sprinkles mixed in, of course. let me know if you do it and if it's SO FUN!!! and, don't forget balloons. duh. who could forget balloons.
ReplyDeleteWhen Joey was little he used to declare on a random day that he wanted it to be Mommy's Day or Daddy's Day. He'd make signs for us and give us big hugs. How sweet was that? Some people do 1/2 birthdays as well--similar to your Christmas in summer ideas. I don't know how you stay so positive Jen, but it is so nice to read about your journey and to stay in touch, if only electronically! Lots of love...
ReplyDeleteThat is fun--you are fun!
ReplyDeleteWay to make the summer memorable for all those kids.
Little Lily sure is looking blonde!!