Valentine's Day - 2025

Now that the three older kids are out of elementary school, I just have one kiddo left to work on valentines for his classmates.  It's hard knowing that the end of an era is close so I made sure to schedule a block of time for us to work on these together.

James chose to give his friends sour patch kids and I printed a tag to go on each one.

He took the initiative and signed his name to each one and applied a sticky 'dot' to the back to apply them to the outside of the bags.

But the best part was the design of his box to collect valentines in.  He wanted a dinosaur and, working with supplies that we already had available in my craft closet, we cut/glued and assembled quite the masterpiece.  

Miraculously, it made it to school unscathed AND back home again.  He loves it so much that it is now residing in his bedroom on display on the top of his dresser.  His smile in the picture above is one that I hope to remember forever.

Jimmy's Magical Birthday with Friends

A week and a half after Jimmy' actual birthday, we made plans to celebrate in the most MAGICAL way -- with a hired magician to perform a magic show at our house.

At first, I planned to have the show in our living room, but the day before with Steve's suggestion, we chose to set up in the garage.  It gave us the chance to have the magician set up privately while the kids stayed inside the house and ate lunch.  The garage can be heated with our wood-burning stove (it used to belong to my grandparents) and I made some minor adjustments to the backdrop to make it all work.

Sophia helped the birthday boy fill all of the favor bags for his friends:

The favor bags were set up inside with some peanut butter blossom cookies for later.

I served chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, strawberries and apples inside and added a few small details here and there.  

The cupcake tower was a small labor of love.  I used large-sized playing cards and hot-glued them together to create a sturdy enough tower to hold the homemade cupcakes.  I always like to offer both cupcakes and cake.  In doing so, the cupcakes were vanilla and the cake was chocolate.  This was later moved out to the garage for the posse of boys to devour.

The audience of boys was set up in the garage and Jeff included all of them at one point or another so that it was a collaborative effort.  Even Jack was called up to participate.

The birthday boy was definitely involved:

Making magic happen!

Opening gifts from his friends:

Ainsley came over for the show; after all, she is Jimmy's birthday twin.  He was born on Ainsley's 7th birthday.  

The group of boys that joined us for the event:

The birthday boy and his cake.  

You should have seen his face when I showed him the finished product!  I purposely kept it a surprise and while he saw little bits and pieces while I was working on it, I don't think that he imagined how it would all come together.

As I was slicing it and handing out ice cream cups to the kids, I chuckled at how much they loved it too.  The bunny got split up among them -- one took the ears, another took a paw, etc.  It was perfect!

Jimmy's 9th Birthday - February 4, 2025

Jimmy turned 9 this week and we celebrated his last birthday of 'single digits' beginning with our traditional cinnamon rolls on the morning of February 4th:

Posing with all of his siblings before everyone headed to school:

After a day spent at school and basketball practice, we enjoyed Jimmy's dinner of choice (hot dogs and homemade mac and cheese) before opening presents.

As you can see, James chose a "magic theme" for his birthday and while we will be celebrating with a magician (!!!) with all of his friends later this week, I still followed through with the same concept when setting up his gifts in the dining room.

I enjoy a good theme and being able to use signs and wrapping paper to simply elevate the celebration even more is one of my most favorite things.

These two are two peas in a pod ... my two blue-eyed babies.

Jack chose to give Jimmy a big beanbag chair designed like a football.  It was a challenge to wrap and Jimmy spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what was in that beast of a box.

Sophia picked out some weighted stuffed alligators for Jimmy (which he loved) and he opened more collector Pokemon cards.  I still don't understand the thrill of them, but he consistently continues to put them on his wish list.

We finished the evening off with brookies and another candle while sang happy birthday to the special boy that completed our family.

Beginning of the Year Randoms

On New Year's Eve, we took the kids to a friend's house in Howell and while the kids hung out at the house (with lots of food, snacks and games), the adults went on a party bus and visited a few bars in the area.  We were back long before midnight and while our later evening plans changed abruptly, we had a nice time celebrating the end of the 2024 year.

********************

We celebrated Grandpa's 79th birthday at our house on New Year's Day.

Obviously I opted to not include all 79 candles on the cake!  Here's to another year of good health before we celebrate the "big 8-0" with him in 2026.

********************

The boys have been working hard on building a snowboarding/sledding ramp in the back yard.  

********************

Jack received a popular (and expensive) pair of sneakers for Christmas and was excited to wear them to head back to school.

Green and white Air Jordan's:

********************

The Annual Squirrel and Rabbit Hunt hosted by our local American Legion was a success:

At one point in the afternoon, with the fire roaring in the garage, I found Jimmy taking a small snooze.  He regained some energy shortly thereafter and rallied to later attend the dinner and prize ceremony with Steve, Sam and Jack.

********************

Sam and a couple of friends planned a special night with dinner, movies and snacks.  The snacks were based on board games and Sam chose 'Mousetrap' and I helped her put together a charcuterie tray with crackers, cheese and the cutest homemade chocolate mice.  Needless to say, it was a big hit!

********************

The lake is frozen and perfect for ice-skating!

And then later, I often find the boys tired out from all of their time spent outside in the snow and on the ice.  Michigan winters are perfect for them.

*********************

One evening, while the girls were out shopping, we decided to take the boys into town for dinner.  The local bar/restaurant has a pool table and I gave the boys some quarters to be able to play.  I chuckled because it wasn't long before a guy -- who had been watching them play -- challenged Jack to a game.  He was impressed with Jack's talent (at the age of 11) and it was a moment of pride watching Jack in his prime. 

********************

Christmas - 2024

After sprinkling reindeer food all around the front lawn, the kids came back inside and were ready to open their traditional Christmas Eve gift.

By now, they know that there are always new pajamas in the boxes but they do not know exactly what they will look like.  And, I always hold my breath a little hoping that they like them and that they fit.  I can proudly say that they were all winners this year!

We all watched a movie together, then Jimmy picked out cookies and filled a mug of milk for Santa before everyone retired to their beds ... waiting in anticipation for Christmas morning to come.

The kids were not up quite as early as they used to be on Christmas morning, but they were still ready to open presents long before the sun came up.

Stockings are always first!

These two seem to always be right next to one another in whatever activity we do.  And I would like to note that Jimmy looks like he is still a bit sleepy.  Ha!

New work gloves were on Jack's Christmas list.  The hatchet was NOT, but Steve knew that he would like it.  I guess that he was right.

A small, cordless vacuum so that she can keep her vehicle clean.  

The Detroit Lions have had an EPIC football season and we are excited to see how far they go into the playoffs!

And this, right here?  

I might have teared up a bit listening to him read the letter left behind from Santa.

For years, Santa has brought him a new stuffed hedgehog for his hedgehog family.  They always have a name (all starting with 'H') and this was the last one to complete the full family.

Please allow me to formally introduce you to Henrietta:

Jack received his beloved (and much wished for!) Air Jordan shoes.

Gifts from their dad:

Later, we celebrated with family at our house and ended the evening picking up LOTS of wrapping paper while James strategically placed all of his new football trading cards in his binder.

Here's to a great year to 2025!

Christmas Cookies and Gingerbread Houses - 2024

This year, we waited to make Christmas cookies until Christmas Eve; not necessarily because that was the plan but it was the best day when all of the kids were home together (and Sam wasn't working).  

Strategically placing his cookie cutters to maximize the amount of cookies that he could get from his sugar cookie dough:

I am pretty sure that Sophia makes at least one Santa cookie every year ... full of details and design.

Likewise, I am sure that Sam takes one of our 'elf' cookie cutters and turns it upside down to make a least one reindeer.

Another Christmas tradition in the books.

Later that night, the Jimmy was in charge of picking out a few of the freshly-decorated cookies for Santa's plate.  I can't be 100% sure, but I think that he really enjoyed them ;)

********************

One day, Christmas Catherine showed up with gingerbread houses for each of the kids to work on.  

It was a nice afternoon activity for everyone to work on at the dining room table on their own individual trays.

These blue trays have been through a lot over the years and are still going strong!

Jack prefers to carefully engineer his.

Steve jumped in to help Jimmy because, Lord knows, I am not very good at constructing gingerbread houses.  I prefer to buy the ones that are already assembled and then use my skills for decorating.

Fully put together and ready to decorate.

In process.  By the way, it looks like Christmas Catherine may have lost her balance in the middle of the table during the activity.  

Colorful gum drops are a must.  Always.

Letting her creative genius work!

Banana runts!

Complete and ready to head to her job at the local winery ...

********************