winter birthdays

Birthdays are such a wonderful excuse to celebrate people God has placed into our lives.  Two of my children have celebrated their winter birthdays, and as I think back on these parties they seem to be a snapshot in time, capturing a bit of who they are, where they've been, and then pointing us ahead to where they have yet to go.

Micah's party captured his personality with an all-out Nerf war, time playing games and Wii with his friends, and his first slumber party oops, I mean sleepover; I'm pretty sure boys don't have slumber parties.  Our goal was to let the boys have fun and wear them out so they would actually be tired.  Would ending the evening with a late night movie lull them to sleep?  It seemed to work (only two of the five actually stayed to spend the night, so that helped, too.)

 Eric played Labyrinth with some of Micah's friends while the others played Wii.

 We tend to see the same select group of boys each year, with new faces here and there.  I can honestly say we enjoy these teen and preteen boys very much; he has chosen his friends well.

 A former neighbor, former classmates, and a friend from church yet all seemed to enjoy each other.  What's not to enjoy when there are Nerf guns and Wii controls involved??

Rachel's party was just last night and quite a bit of fun, too.  Ever since we studied the Pacific Islands in school last fall, she's been scheming to have a Hawaiian themed party.  Walmart had an ocean craft kit and the girls spent quite a bit of time carefully designing a sea scene.  I have seen through the years that girls+crafts=great party activity.

As I looked around the table, I realized that not one of these girls goes to the same school (three are homeschooled), but many knew each other directly or indirectly.  It was fun to hear several exclaim that they knew each other from somewhere.

Another beach theme: sand art!

We served this banana pie and a tropical punch drink along with ice cream.  Yum!!!  Josiah was quite the tag-a-long for this party, with Micah gone on a Jr. High retreat.

We tried hula hoops and Rachel's friend M. was really good at it!!

Surfing on a board with balloons taped to the bottom; it worked!

We ended the evening with a great game of Snipe Hunt.  The girls tore apart two levels of our house looking for the little critter hidden by the other team.

I am really not that gifted at planning and throwing birthday parties (the thought generally tends to overwhelm my introverted side), but we always seem to have fun anyway.  It seems like God always brings the right things together at just the right time, and keeping things simple might actually make it more enjoyable.  But the best part of all is seeing the heart of a child gladdened by the joy of friendship.