Birthdays

So, Despite my best efforts, my babies are growing up. Elle is turning two in a couple of weeks, so I wanted to get the boys' birthdays up from this last year. Can you believe our little Sammy turned four in April? We were so happy to have both sets of Grandparents here, and Amy and Tyler's crew as well. We had a yummy BBQ, Sam loves hot dogs! Our little superhero got some mini superheroes, stretchy batman and a bear hat that roars! He still loves it, though it's stopped roaring now. At four, Sam can: eat at least 3 bowls of cereal in the morning; dress himself as Batman; put away the utensils from the dishwasher-sorting them properly is something that we're working on-; jump off just about anything from any height; ride his bike a little with a little help from mom and dad. Sam also wants to run with Mom whenever I go out. He's very active and loves to yell and play Batman.

 Don't mind my gut here, I was trying to push out to show you what not to do while carrying your child's birthday cake as your husband takes the worst picture ever. =)

Our (other) boy genius turned six last -ahem- December....I know I've slacked with the blogging! Anyway, he wanted a robot cake, so a robot cake he had. We had all the cousins to Duffy's Fun Centre, here in Brooks. We enjoyed some delicious pizza, fun games and some novelty cake. Max's favourite part was the candy watch. (Forget the other parts that took me like 3 hours to do!) Max got half a DS from us, he worked for the other half and paid for it himself, some DS games and a sweet RC car that drives up the wall! Grandma and Grandpa Wilson were able to join us for some pizza, too. We loved having everyone there. Max is excited for next year when he can invite friends as well as family to his party.

We still have like, a zillion, points to redeem at Duffy's. Uncle Tyler found the ultimate jackpot game and played it over and over and over. Then he gave all the tickets to Max for his birthday! How nice was that? At six, Max can: read and sound things out on his own; speak fluent french to his dad and teachers; unload the dishwasher by himself; vacuum the living room on his own; walk to and from school without anyone to help him cross the street!

I read a poem the other day by Emily Dickinson- my all time favourite poet, called Forever is Composed of Nows:

Forever – is composed of Nows –

‘Tis not a different time –

Except for Infiniteness –

And Latitude of Home –

From this – experienced Here –

Remove the Dates – to These –

Let Months dissolve in further Months –

And Years – exhale in Years –

Without Debate – or Pause –

Or Celebrated Days –

No different Our Years would be

From Anno Dominies –

To Max and Sam and Elle:

I can't help but feel gratitude to my Father in Heaven for blessing us with the knowledge of eternal families. These little moments of "NOW" will forever be my eternity. I can't think of any better way to explain it, to fully express my love for my little kids, who won't stay little forever. I'll always have my now times to remember infinitely. Happy Birthday, Stinkers.

Love, Mom