The above picture is Sweet Pea in a nutshell…..crazy, spunky, wild, super fun! In this picture, she is wearing our traditional birthday hat and the large birthday pin at her party. And yes,….she is loving every minute of it! It seems just like yesterday she was still so little. In my mind, she will always look like this:
4 yr old Shayla…..
This Spring, we celebrated Sweet Pea’s 9th birthday!!! It’s hard to believe she is already nine!!! I wanted to share with you some of our family birthday traditions that we LOVE. Each child looks forward to their birthday and all the activities and decisions that revolve around their special day.
Tradition #1: Decorated birthday door.
The children look forward to getting their door decorated with signs from their favorite characters. It must have flowing streamers and at least three signs.
Sweet Pea with her birthday door.
Tradition #2: A birthday pancake in the shape of their age.
Thanks to my mom who bought me a special bottle to create numbers this task has gotten a lot easier. Depending on the birthday kid, this pancake could be covered in syrup or whipped cream and be plain or full of chocolate chips.
She’s nine!!!
Tradition#3: Use of the Birthday wine goblet.
I mean…I guess my kids see a lot of wine glasses being “used” in this house so…what kid wouldn’t want to use a cool wine glass with Happy Birthday in multiple colors splashed all around it!????!!!!!! This birthday wine goblet is usually filled at breakfast with orange juice or chocolate milk. I found it at the local Dollar Tree and it was a huge hit!
Tradition #4: Birthday Lunch
So usually our birthday boy/girl gets their pick for the lunch menu. However, this time, Daddy decided to take Sweet Pea out to a restaurant for lunch. Here she is ready to go…. (I was told that she ordered the broiled seafood platter and a house salad. Yep…I was super jealous. =)
Sweet Pea ready for her date
Tradition #5 Birthday Dinner of their choice
Each child gets to pick their own choice of dinner. This can get scary depending on the kid. Dirty Dog D is always good for a “breakfast dinner”. He wants sausage, pancakes, cheesy eggs, home fries, orange juice…the works. The fashionista and Mini me are obsessed with chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. Sweet Pea eats like her mom..and I love it. So dinner that night was:
* Marinated ribeye steak
* mashed potatoes
*roasted cauliflower
* roasted asparagus
* Grands biscuits
Sweet Pea is the kinda kid that will eat off the adult menu when you go out. She will order the salmon and vegetables or the shrimp alfredo. She refers to it as her “gourmet palate”. =)
Tradition #6 Ice Cream cake for dessert
Our family is obsessed with ice cream cake!!! It’s the light, fluffy whipped topping combined with those crunchy cookie yumminess inside and ICE CREAM!!!!!. I’ve been known to FIND reasons to celebrate with an ice cream cake. It’s always a fight over who gets a second piece…haha.
Blowing out her candles
How cute is that little colorful birthday cake mosaic that the Fashionista made for Sweet Pea? I absolutely LOVE when my kids are so thoughtful in regards to each other. The fashionista thought it was “way cooler” than making a homemade card.
Tradition #7 -Family Honoring
As we are eating our ice cream cake, we take the time to go around and share some of our favorite things about the birthday boy/girl. It’s an opportunity for them to really get to hear how everyone feels about them. Each child is really probed to describe what they love about the birthday boy/girl.
Tradition #8- Two big presents
Since our children only receive presents for Christmas and their birthdays, we get them two big presents for their big day. They usually receive one big present from the hubby and I and one from their siblings. This year Sweet Pea got a kindle from us to further her love for learning. She was so excited to use her money to buy more books for her kindle. From her siblings, she got an outfit picked out by the fashionista which included a bathing suit, cover-up, goggles, and matching flip flops.
Tradition #9- Birthday Blessing from Dad
My beautiful friend Susan over at Sole Searching Mama does this with her boys and when I read about it in her blog…I just fell in love with it. My husband takes the birthday child aside and prays over them for their physical, emotional, and spiritual growth in this new birthday year. It’s such a beautiful present for each of my children to see their father tenderly embrace them in prayer.
Tradition #10 Birthday party with their friends
Who doesn’t love a party with their close friends? Each child gets to choose under 16 friends to have over for a themed party of their choice. I say “under 16″ because my son invited 16 boys over to his last party in January……I guess there must be SOME perks to being the only boy. =)Here are some of the parties we have done: (Maybe I will blog separately about each of these so I eventually will have links to them)
* The Hungry Caterpillar party
* Princess tea party
* Pirate and princess party
*Ariel, under the sea party
*Lego Ninjago party
* football party
* salon/makeover party
So this year, Sweet Pea decided to have a smaller cake decorating party with just 8 little girls and It was fabulous! I enjoyed watching every minute of it. I will save the party details for my next blog.
With five children, birthdays are a way for my husband and I to honor our children and caterer to their specific personalities and desires. Its a day for them to feel special and remembered. I pray that my children always know how unique and special they are.
