Our little Matey is FOUR YEARS OLD today! At this time four years ago, Gavin was 5 days overdue and we were at the hospital inducing labor. Our doctor had just broken my water and we were monitoring my contractions. We were in for a long day, that I would happily live through over and over and over again to have this special boy in our lives.
We had a small celebration yesterday for his birthday (small for my family!). He had his grandparents over, a few of his cousins, and just a couple of friends. It was the perfect day for a short and sweet birthday celebration.
Cliff put together a treasure hunt out in our yard for the kids and they all made their way through the hunt together, finding a new clue at each stop in the yard. The last clue led them to an old treasure chest (trunk) hidden out in the woods. The treasure chest was filled with treat bags for each of the kids that included pirate stickers, a bag of Craisins, a bag of gold coins, and a pirate's eye patch. The older kids helped guide the little ones along and they all had fun running around outside and burning off some energy!
I love the picture above of Gavin with a couple of his best friends. He's a little ladies' man!
Gavin and I sat on the kitchen floor one night last week cutting little black flags out of cardstock and making skulls and crossbones on them with a white-out pen and sticking them on skewers for cupcake toppers. The pirates came in a 12-pack for about $5 on Amazon.com and I had initially intended to put them on top of the cake, but when I decided on cupcakes instead of cake, they made great little additions all over the plates. The few we stood up on the cupcakes ended up tipping over anyway, so I was glad we hadn't tried decorating a cake with them.
The party yesterday was fun and it was a special day to spend with some of Gavin's favorite people, but today is the day I will always remember the day he was born. I love this little boy more than anything. He is loving, witty, smart, and most importantly, he's our little gift from God. I struggle each day to be the best parent I can be to him, knowing God has entrusted me with his care and has blessed me as his Momma. I know that most days I am not the best Mom I can be, but he is such a good reminder of the wonder of a child and how precious they are (even when they're refusing to share their new toys at their birthday party and heading into a time out). It's good that we celebrate the birthdays and special times because it's a great time to remember just how special we each are and concentrate on all of the good and wonderful things! Love this guy!!!
2 comments:
I can't believe how perfect you always make things seem. It looks like the party was a great hit! I finally got your link again from Mom so I could catch up! You are looking great and you have such a positive attitude about everything!
Clearly I need to divulge more details because it was not and is not perfect! The party was good and I think Gavin had fun overall, but we definitely had some issues with sharing and also had to keep reminding the kids to work TOGETHER on the treasure hunt! The cupcakes (that were actually muffins) were dry and over-baked. I made them on Friday and kept missing hearing the timer, so they were overdone and not very good. I spent at least an hour of Saturday in tears because I felt overwhelmed and frustrated and was mostly just tired. So... perfect? nope. Normal? yep!
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