Birthday Blessings

Join me in wishing this special guy a very happy birthday! (His laugh blew out half of the candles right before I snapped the picture!)

Brent turned 33 today and celebrated by getting off work a bit early, playing 9 holes of golf, opening a generous pile of presents from family, and enjoying a delicious "French dinner", with some fabulous Italian cheese delivered from New York. (My parents gave him a "French dinner" gift of cheeses, wine, and a bread pan for making our own baguettes...since we're out in the middle of no man's land with no great options for bread. A gift that we will both enjoy!) Seriously, some of the best cheese we've had since being in France years ago!

Then we all enjoyed his birthday dessert choice of Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Torte! It was yummy! (I think I've mentioned before that he's not a traditional birthday-cake-kinda-guy!) Tomorrow night, Brent and I are going out to dinner at a fun little place downtown...looking forward to it immensely!

A few years ago, a friend gave me a great suggestion of using a notebook in lieu of individual birthday cards for the children to give to Brent. Thus, our "Birthday Blessings" book was created when Hadleigh was two. I just picked up a navy blue spiral notebook full of blank pages, wrapped a festive ribbon around it to resemble a package, and added some metal "Happy Birthday" words from Making Memories to the bottom. (I think I found everything at Hobby Lobby.)

In it, the kiddos color pictures, write short notes, and hopefully, one day, letters to Brent. This eliminates the storage solution for all those many cards (which I am too sentimental to part with. If you've ever written me a card, chances are I have it somewhere stashed away!) It is also a really fun way to see how much the munchkins have grown, how their scribbly lines turn to doodles, their doodles to pictures...how their handwriting changes year after year. And I know that one day, it will contain precious letters of love written from a child's heart to their very special Daddy. One day, it will be a written testimony of the blessing that this father has been to his children and the blessing these children have been to their Daddy.

This was the entry for this year! Hadleigh wrote all her messages herself (though I spelled for her)...while I helped Nathanael a little with his name--except for his "H's", he's really good at the "H"! (And of course, I wrote Madeleine's name...though at the rate she's learning and growing, she'll probably write her own name next year!) I love how Nathanael turned the box for Madeleine's birthday message into a house or a cake...not quite sure which!

Hope your weekend is full of celebration as well!