Sick House and Birthdays

The past week, I have been the not-so-proud owner and manager of my very own sick house. H came down with a fever Friday, and the fun just continued from there with every one of my kids coming down with a fever and cough. My boys also got diarrhea, and H sprained his ankle. One week later, K is back in school, the boys are still a little congested and still coughing, but feeling better, and H still has diarrhea (even in the middle of the night). However, H is also willing to limp around with my help once in a while, and he crawls around most places. This is a huge step forward from not being willing to move around at all and just whimpering when he felt abandoned or wanted me to move him. I carried him around a lot yesterday (read: I didn't get much else done).

It has not all been bad, though. I have definitely enjoyed the extra time with all three kids, even if the circumstances were not ideal. Plus, I had some friends over to celebrate my birthday on Saturday evening. They didn't mind my sick kids, and it was a special time of fellowship for me. This was especially important since my actual birthday dinner consisted of leftover chicken soup and birthday cake. We we supposed to have a date night, but I wasn't going to leave my sick kids with anyone else -- even their Farfar. It didn't seem fair to either side.

I am hoping for a sense of normalcy tomorrow. I know my family and friends have been praying for us. Thanks so much.

K's 6th Birthday

Today, we celebrated my wonderful daughter's 6th birthday. She begged to open a gift before she left for school, so we allowed her to open one gift and one card. I admit I was a little tickled that both the card and gift she chose were from us.



Opening the first present of the day



Genuine joy

 The next portion of her day which involved celebration was cake with her class at school. I brought the cake (and the boys) to her classroom after lunch, and we celebrated together. Her classmates sang to her, and she cut the cake. K wanted the 6, and she gave AJ the 4. The other kids took turns telling her which number they wanted. It was fun to see them enjoying the cake so much, and my birthday girl was thrilled as well.


K and her teacher with the cake



Cutting the cake



The pieces looked like they would be insanely large, but she cut them down to a proper size.

 

The next part of the celebration involved our neighbors coming over for fika. They brought a late gift for AJ and a present for K, of course. I had made chocolate cupcakes with ganache on top, but I wanted to jazz them up a bit. Short on time, I used leftover icing and made some quick flowers on top. I didn't have the time I would have liked to do a really good job, but K was happy with the outcome. (And who am I to argue with the birthday girl?)



The cupcakes for fika



The final piece of the day revolved around the much-anticipated opening of presents.


All three kids were extremely interested in what was in that package.



K with some doll clothes she received.



K with her beautiful butterfly card.

 I would say that K had a wonderful day. We still did not do the family cake, but, after two pieces of cake, K (and her Mommy) was caked-out. Tomorrow, we will probably light the candle on some leftover cake, and she can blow it out then.

K's School Cake



Today I baked K's birthday cake for school tomorrow. She wanted a cell phone cake decorated with her favorite colors: pink and purple. H was a willing helper this morning, turning on the beaters and spreading chocolate cake batter all over the kitchen. While I cleaned that up, he found the butter I had out to soften for the buttercream icing and decided to sample it. I love that kid. He keeps me on my toes. :)



Top view of her cake



Front view

 I know it's not perfect, but it was a fun cake to make.

4th Birthday Boy

AJ's birthday celebration spanned a few days last week, and he enjoyed every minute of it. Timo's dad was in town for a few days, so we celebrated with him before he left.

AJ with the bag containing the gifts from Farfar and Farmor

Showing us 4 fingers

Brio builder set

AJ with his "Woody" outfit

AJ sporting his new hat and expressing himself with his whole body

AJ with his cake

On the actual morning of his birthday, AJ still had two presents left from us to open. One was a "want" (Legos), and one was a "need" (booster seat). We had already gotten him a bunch of books back in August, so we left those as his "read," and his "wear" included clothes we had purchased a couple of weeks earlier. I really like the simpler birthdays, although he circumnavigated the limit by getting Legos on his cakes.

Opening up more Legos on his actual birthday

Opening up the huge box containing his booster seat.

H wanted to sit in the seat, too.

I can't believe my sweet boy is already four. The past few years have really flown. He is such a blessing in so many areas of my life, and I thank God for the opportunity to be his Mommy.

A Birthday Celebration

I really think that K and AJ were more excited about H's birthday than he was. As soon as Timo got home, they begged him to let H open some of his presents.

But H thought it was more fun to stand on this one than to open it.

K and AJ helping him open the present.

Still more fun to stand on top.


Daddy joined in the opening party to help H stay focused.

"Now that the paper is off, I can finally stand on it again."

Here he is with his ball. He really liked it, and there was no getting him to open the remaining presents afterwards.

So, after Timo ate dinner, it was time for cupcakes.

Hunter's cupcake.

Blowing out the candle. I had serious problems blowing it out. K finally blew it out for me. I honestly don't know what is wrong with me today.

Touching the cupcake

Resisting K's attempts to feed it to him.

Mmmmmm. He finally ate some once I broke it into bite-sized pieces for him.

Then he shoved all the pieces into his mouth, one after another.

Messy boy. There is a reason I took his shirt off before cake time. :)

"I've had enough. I am going to throw the rest on the floor."

Actually, after a few bites, he started handing me the pieces. I put them on his plate. Then he started putting them on the plate, then taking them off the plate, then handing them to me or putting them on his plate again. He finally grabbed the plate and attempted to shake all the pieces off. I quickly intervened, but then he grabbed them to throw on the floor.

It was fun to see him enjoying himself today. Happy Birthday, my sweet boy. I love you so much.

Birthday and Midsommar Cupcakes

Today marks a special day. My youngest son is one year old. I opted to make him cupcakes instead of a cake this time, and soccer seemed to be an appropriate theme given who his father is as well as the fact that we are in the middle of the World Cup.

I didn't have any black, so I used ganache instead. You can tell which ones I did first.

The "grass" is colored coconut.

I only made five cupcakes for Hunter's birthday, since each of us will only eat one. Plus, I wanted to make some midsommar-themed cupcakes.

I made some with white icing...

...and I experiemented with the height and width of the maypole.

I also made some with chocolate ganache frosting.

And then I added some blue "flowers" for a final touch.

Yes, I realize the maypoles in all my pictures are crooked. I don't know what is up with that. I am just having a bad day, I guess.

It was fun decorating these, and they didn't take that much time (which is always a bonus). The midsommar ones, especially, are so simple that anyone could do them. I am just glad to finally have an original idea for my cupcakes. :)

Simplifying Gifts

I recently read a blog post that inspired me to simplify my gift-giving. We have way too much in our small house -- especially when it comes to toys. The idea is to give four gifts -- one in each category of want, need, wear, and read. With Hunter's birthday coming up tomorrow, I decided to use this strategy when it came to shopping for him. This is what he is getting.

Want (okay, this is my interpretation, not something he has actually asked for): a blow-up pool with a built-in shade.

Need: A travel bed for our upcoming trip to Germany. This bed can also be used camping.

Wear: A bike helmet for when I finally get a nut with the right size of threads for my bike.

Read: A fun book about tractors

I had already bought him a small ball before I read the post, so he gets a bonus gift. Plus, the older kids are going to pass down some of their toys to him.

I especially look forward to applying this to our Christmas gifts, as I hope it will help make the time mean more than just a bunch of presents for the kids.

I may add one category as the kids get older: Others. I would like to introduce them to various charitable organizations and needs out there so they think of someone other than themselves. Then, they can choose whom they would like to help as a part of their birthday or Christmas. I hope that this will teach them that it is indeed better to give than to receive.

Birthday Dinner

This evening we celebrated Timothy's birthday as a family. Since Timothy has been working late recently, we decided that we had the best chance of eating as a family tonight, rather than waiting until his actual birthday.

For the occasion, I made a chocolate cake, covered in a ganache frosting. I had considered decorating it using some of the new decorating tips I received for Mother's Day, but, with three sick kids this week and a gorgeous day yesterday, it just didn't happen. Timothy didn't care, but I had to tell the kids that I will make another one to decorate later. Even so, they all relished their cake. AJ even remarked, "Mmmm. This is so delicious."

Timo with K and AJ and his birthday cake

K and AJ helping blow out the candles

For those wondering why AJ doesn't have a shirt on,

Chocolate cake + 3-yr-old boy = x, where x= the reason he remained shirtless.

My piece of cake

Happy Birthday, Honey. I love you more now than I did when I married you almost 9 years ago.

Thanksgiving Birthday

Today we hosted some of our Swedish friends for a very late (or very early) Thanksgiving meal. I had run across some Ocean Spray cranberries at the grocery store after returning from the US, and I bought a bag to put in the freezer for when I found a turkey. I wasn't hopeful for the turkey, but Timothy located one at our regular grocery store in the frozen section. I am not even sure why he looked in that freezer since we don't usually shop for frozen meat. It must have been a God thing. Anyway, so we made a traditional turkey dinner, and we used up our last two boxes of Stovetop Stuffing. We skipped the pumpkin pie since these friends had already tasted it (when we visited their house for the Julbord), and I made my version of a Boston Cream Pie. Since this was also my birthday cake, I went with something I wanted instead of something more traditional.

When they arrived, our friends presented me with some beautiful tulips and a Swedish cookbook for my birthday. I was so excited to receive the cookbook as I have wanted to learn to make some Swedish dishes. I am looking forward to cooking some of the food in there, and I have already picked out a few meals I want to make.

Busfabriken

Last Saturday we went to Busfabriken with the kids. Kristen invited a couple of her friends from school, but only one could make it. We are friends with the whole family, so we invited all of them to come with us. Here are some pictures from the day.

This is a volcano that is right when you come into the play area. It is kind of like a climbing wall with a slide to get down. The sides get steeper as you go up. Later, AJ slipped on this, and his shirt got caught on one of the blue circular grips. He was hanging there, crying, while Timothy and I kept slipping in our efforts to reach him to get him unstuck. I am sure it was humorous to watch, but it was frustrating to be in the midst of the situation.

Here is Kristen near the top of the volcano.

Here she is sliding down the long slide.

Even Hunter had fun.

Here I am taking Hunter through a tunnel to get to a slide. This was really hard on my knees as I had to inch forward while holding him.

This is the slide after the tunnel that I took Hunter down. Timo took him, too (obviously).





AJ having fun.



AJ jumping.

Hunter checking out the octopus.

AJ had run into Arvid. Arvid was wondering what he was doing, and AJ has a mischievous grin on his face.