4 Birthdays in 3 Weeks – A Spring Update
After a busy and exciting March, it’s time for a update on our family! Would you believe I now have a 5, 3 and 1 year old? I’m having trouble believing it myself. All of our kids have March birthdays, with my birthday following the beginning of April, so we celebrate 4 birthdays in 3 weeks in our family. Like I sad, it was a busy and exciting March!
Lily started off the birthday celebrations with her 1st birthday. My Mom flew up from Texas, arriving on Lily’s birthday, just in time for her party! We had our friends / her baptismal sponsors over for dinner with the grandparents. Lily was happy to eat her meatballs and sweet potato fries and roasted cauliflower. Yes, she liked her cake and the frosting too! This past year has gone so quickly. Lily loves to give hugs and kisses. She says “Dada” and “Mama” and tries to say “Nat-on”. She stands and is so close to walking – any day now, I am sure. She has started pointing and jabbering away when she sees something of interest. Of course, she is still our happy baby…even though she really isn’t a baby anymore.
Emma had the next birthday, only 4 days later. We celebrated with a Frozen themed party for our 3 year old little girl who loves all things Anna and Elsa. Her cake was simple but there were purple and blue layers of cake covered with cream cheese frosting. Yum! My sister traveled up with her 5 kids for Emma’s birthday so we had a house fun of cousins to make the day special. We took everyone to the school carnival after the party, where bounce houses were enjoyed by all! Emma is a determined little girl who knows what she wants. Emma is our sleeper who will happily stay in bed until 7 am….rare for our kids! Emma also loves playing with Nathan and Emma, and is a good helper.
The day after Emma’s birthday, we celebrated my Mom’s birthday – which is on St. Patrick’s Day. It has been years since we celebrated with her so we enjoyed the chance to be together. Mom’s birthday cake of choice was our favorite buckeye cake. Always delicious!
After my Mom flew back to Texas, it was time to get ready for Nathan’s 5th birthday! We celebrated his birthday a couple days early before Andy left town to coach in the final basketball tournament of the season. Nathan had been praying for a race track car all month so was very excited to finally have his cake! Nathan loves PreK and is always drawing some sort of picture. He also enjoys building with Legos and listening to stories. He and I have resumed our chapter book sessions, reading together before bed every night, after I tuck the girls into bed. We both enjoy that reading time together.
Nathan’s actual birthday happened to fall on the final day of the National Lutheran Middle School Basketball Tournament. It’s a big tournament in our Lutheran schools, as 32 of the best teams from across the nation gather in Valpo to compete for the National title every year. Our family is tied to the tournament, and not just because my husband coaches and our team has won in the past. All 3 of our babies have been born at Nationals time. In fact, Andy came straight from winning the tournament to meet me at the hospital where Nathan was born the next morning. Emma was born in the middle of Nationals, so I watched games from my hospital room that room. And Lily? Lily arrived a couple days early so we were home with a 1 week old watching the games last year. This year, I made the drive over to Valpo with all 3 kids on Sunday to cheer on our St. Paul’s Bears. Nathan helped me make chocolate chip cookies to share as his birthday treat with all the players and our fans. We were very excited to see them win another National Championship – our 3rd championship in 6 years. Yes, we are still ecstatic and very proud of our boys.
We came home late Sunday night, and left the next morning for a Spring Break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We left on Monday and were home by Friday, driving 1800 miles with our 3 kids for a couple days at the ocean. We don’t normally do big Spring Break trips but Andy had signed us up for a time share presentation that got us 3 free nights at a resort in exchange for listening to their presentation. Of course, we declined to buy their vacation package and enjoyed our time at the beach. The kids loved collecting shells, swimming in the pools, and splashing in the cold ocean water. It was a perfect vacation for them!
We spent my 37th birthday driving 12.5 hours home with the kids. It was a birthday for the books! Ha. Actually, it was a good day. The kids were great travelers and I actually got to read some in the car as Andy drove all those long miles across the mountains. It took me a whole day to unpack and settle us back in. We are ready for our routines and regular days again. Before that? We get to enjoy one more day of Spring Break with Daddy home before the final 2 months of school.
I had a whole bunch of projects planned for March and Spring Break but birthday preparations and travel took precedent. My list of projects will have to carry over into April, even as I gear up for custom book season here on the blog. Did you travel anywhere for Spring Break? How are your projects – last month and this? Sorting through all the girls clothes and finding the next sizes of hand me downs is the next big project on my list. What’s next for you?
Sounds like a lot of great memories. We just got back from our spring break vacation to Florida. We drove 1200+ miles each way. Fun times!
Happy Birthday to all the celebrators!
Thank you! I was just thinking about your family the other day and remembering your Disney tips, as we start thinking ahead to a big Disney trip in a couple of years. I need to go back and reread all your tips and tricks! Glad you all had a good trip to and from Florida as well. Thank goodness for kids that travel well! 🙂
Lots of good time celebrating birthdays and also good memories for the kids. A true blessing to have kids who are good travelers.
Blessings to you and your family!!
Thank you, Nancy! Yes, indeed. We are very thankful that our kids are good travelers. Although, as much as we drive, they really don’t have a choice! Ha.