Posted by Cindy on February 15, 2009
She turned 12. How did that happen?? Happy Birthday my sweet girl, or I suppose I should say my sweet young lady! What a privilege and honor to be your mother!
We had lots of fun celebrating with a little ice skating, a family party and a girls-only (plus a toddler) shopping trip.
Oh, and I can’t forget the very yummy hummingbird cake!
Time flies when you’re having fun. Now I’m realizing how short my remaining time with her as my baby might be! Guess we’ll just have to make the most of each and every opportunity. Thank you, Lord, for all the time we have together because of homeschooling!
Posted by Cindy on December 15, 2008
Eli won’t officially be two until December 23rd. Since everyone was going to be in town for the big kid’s Christmas Program Sunday, we decided to celebrate his birthday a little early.
Eli with his Daddy and Great-Grandpa.
He didn’t quite understand what presents were all about at first, but let’s just say I think he’ll take to it pretty quickly when Christmas morning arrives this year!
I hesitate to even share this picture of his birthday cake-less table. Third children born in the month of December are sure to lose out, aren’t they? He wanted a truck and tractor theme. Since we’d already made tons of cookies and sweets, I decided to improvise on the whole cake thing and save myself a little time. Shameful, I know. I’d rather be called creative! 
Happy Birthday my sweet “ittle boy”!
Posted by Cindy on October 15, 2008
Mahayla surprised me this morning with a very yummy breakfast in honor of my 37th birthday. I wasn’t allowed to come downstairs until it was ready – in other words, they made me stay in bed for an extra half-hour! When I was called down, everyone greeted me at the bottom of steps by singing “Happy Birthday”.
And the day is going to get even better, too! Steve is taking me out to dinner. That may not seem like such a big deal to most of you, but Steve and I haven’t been on an alone date since Eli was born – almost TWO years! (Thank you, Jody!)
Nancy has already given me several birthday wishes today and Stacy is such a sweet friend that she made this for me. The sad thing is – my hair did look similar to this in high school!! LOL
I hope your day is shaping up to be as good as mine!
Posted by Cindy on October 3, 2008
What’s good about living on a gravel road in a drought? This….
The same child (who wants to be anonymous) made me an early birthday present. It’s a new broom made from alfalfa hay. It leaves the most lovely covering of alfalfa leaves on my porch as I sweep.
Posted by Cindy on April 29, 2008
On Thursday of last week I reminded the kids that Daddy’s birthday was coming up. Within hours, Caleb had designed and built these two gifts. I heard lots of hammering at the barn and the next thing I knew, Mahayla had hooked the wagon to the lawn tractor in an effort to help Caleb hide the (enormous) gifts under the porch.
I’m not sure why they worked so hard at hiding them, though. In their excitement, they ended up giving him his gifts the next day (four days before his birthday.) 
The first thing Caleb said when Steve sat down on the bench was, “Oh, please don’t sit there. You really need to move down some. I’d hate for you to break it!” And, so, we are now the proud owners of a barn bench with designated seats and a tool box shelf. (I think we need a new box of nails, too.) Oh, and Steve will smell very good after shaving thanks to the aftershave Mahayla bought!
When Steve said, “Now what am I supposed to do on my real birthday?”, Mahayla answered, “Oh, don’t worry. We’re going to give you so many homemade cards it’ll keep you busy all day!” Such sweet kids.
