This past Sunday was a very special day in our family; it was half of our family’s birthday!! Our triplets ‘babies’ turned 6!
As I probably mentioned in our oldest daughter’s birthday post a couple of months ago, birthdays are celebrated in a big but different way, in our family. Basically, no one works or has school, and we spend the day together, discussing and celebrating our loved one’s life in the ways that feel right to us. Every family is different, as we all well know. For us, annual parties with piles of presents never sat well with us. It just wasn’t what we wanted to do every year, as much as we LOVE to plan celebrations. It just seemed to us that the presents become the focus of the gathering — especially for children, who are still learning/being taught what matters most in life. I think that perspective became all the more important to us to really try to implement in our children, when we arrived at a child’s birthday party some years ago. When we got there, and came walking up the driveway, the birthday child started to coming to meet us, and I personally was initially very impressed with such manners, to greet their guests like that. But then the first words the child said to us were, “Where’s my present?“. We had one of course, but that kind of stuck with us, and gave us a new determination with how we wanted to try things differently, and try to redirect to the most meaningful parts of the day. Granted, teaching such values is a constant work in progress, but the kids seem to be pretty focused most time on the true meaning and purpose of Christmas, birthdays, and the like. We do give and accept gifts, as you’ll see in this post, too. But as a family, we really do focus most on our traditions and time together, thankfully, than the gifts. Although those are always pretty exciting too, huh? They are more like bonuses.
With that being said, I know some of you have been chomping-at-the bit (for different reasons I imagine), and checking many times a day (we’re flattered!) for this birthday report, with all of the sorted details and photos……so here it is:
J, O and S’s birthday was really beautiful. Really. I’m still flying with glee from it, to tell you the truth. Just an emotional, exciting and FUN day, that created such memories! Weather-wise, it was beautiful, but the whole day was as wonderful as we had hoped and planned it would be. It started on our bed. They always ask to hear the stories of when we were expecting, and all of the crazy things that happened while they were all crowded in there together. But as we tell stories, they are always watching the clock, waiting for those official minutes of the morning when they were actually born. We purposely skip the whole labor part, as that is a horrifying and terrifying story, that even I prefer to forget (but can’t seem to). So we skip right to the moments of joy!
Next the little bedheads, still in their boxers and t-shirts, which we call pajamas, headed to the table to wait for their (our family’s) traditional birthday breakfast.
We have pancakes often enough, but they are just extra special on birthdays.
They usually prefer strawberry yogurt with their pancakes, instead of syrup. But this day they chose syrup, so that gave me reason enough to let them have their first surprise of the day;
Electric (well battery powered) toothbrushes. I could tell by their expressions that they weren’t sure how excited they should be about this first surprise. Then I heard one of them suggest that they go try them out right away………..
It might have been the longest they have ever brushed!! They came out with great BIG smiles, and I swear their teeth were whiter! We’ve heard lots of extra and longer buzzing in the bathroom in the past 2 days. Let’s hope the thrill of it sticks around. : )
Then the phone rang, and it was their Papa (my father)….who sang Happy Birthday to them over the speaker phone. (He could have/should have been a country star, just so you know. He has a great voice, loves to sing, and self taught himself guitar and harmonica….which he can really jam on and often entertains us. The kids LOVE it.)
Once we were all ready, we headed to Mass. It happened to be Sunday, and {A} was THRILLED that she was scheduled to serve on yet another special occasion to her. But what a beautiful way, anyway, to start this special day. The trio’s Daddy and I loved going to Mass on their birthday, and having such an opportunity in that way, to give thanks to our Heavenly Father, for the gift of these children He has given us. They could very easily have been ‘taken back’ to Heaven, on more occasions than we care to remember, while in utero or the NICU. I personally begged and pleaded while on bedrest, and admittedly ‘made a deal’ with God, to keep these babies in an earthly way. He granted my (our) constant prayers I presented with him throughout our expecting these babies, both through my 6 months on bedrest as well as when they were in the NICU initially. I am keeping my promise to Him, in return, and will until the end of time. My gratitude is present in my heart every day I live, with every breathe I breathe. So at mass, as I gave thanks once again, the emotions just kept on coming. How many ways can you be thankful for such beautiful and healthy children, who didn’t have great odds in having such a life??
After Mass and some brief ‘hang-out- time with our friend Fr. Bob, who presided at this mass (see? perfect!), we headed home to change and grab lunch. Because…..we needed to head out to the big surprise of the day!!
Color Me Mine,….an AWESOME and FUN pottery painting place. The kids just could not figure out what they wanted to do all together for their birthday this year, so their Daddy and I came up with something we were SURE they would love doing. They walked into this place with wide eyes, and ‘wonder’ written all over their faces. Once we explained to them what we were doing, the 4 kids all chose a plate to paint (well, except {J}, who initially really wanted to paint a piggy bank,,,,but being the Mama, knew he would be sad later when everyone was eating off of the special plate they made…so I talked him into what I knew he would ultimately be happy with.).
They could paint it and design it anyway they chose. I have to tell you…2 of them were insisting they needed to use a butterfly ‘for Meme’. That is my mother, who passed away. (As if the day wasn’t emotional enough.) They see butterflies as her spirit visiting them, and reminding them that she loves them and is still here, as many people see butterflies representing their own loved and lost ones, I guess.
Figuring out what they wanted to do, and getting set up was the hardest part. But once they got going, they felt really settled and were as happy as clams to get to work!
The photos in this post are just a handful of the ton of photos I took on this day. Truth be told, I always have a hard time choosing which photos to post in the blog. Any photos of our kids are my favorites, and any from THIS particular day was especially special. But I did my best to narrow them down. Who minds?
{A} decided on a couple of ‘add-ons’ to adhere to the sides of her very personality-evident plate:
{O} really wanted a job at this place. Once she was done working on her plate, she was washing everyone in the place’s brushes and sponges. lol
Their father and I were very busy the whole time, helping them get more paint or showing them how to do whatever, and I was taking all the photos I could as well. But there was one thing I wanted to do before they closed shop………a family hand-print plate. We managed to get it done, and my husband hand-lettered our names under all the prints, all the way around. THAT will be a treasure of mine for a long time to come. Well…forever!!
Of course, all of the pieces you have seen are very ‘undone’. We are very excited to pick them up in about a week! Once they have been glazed and kilned, the color will all be ‘popped’ and they are going to be just beautiful!! It’s just another somethin’ to look forward to! (For you too…since I’ll take photos and put them on the blog, I am sure.)
After we scrubbed up and left Color Me Mine, still kind of covered in paint, and with smiles seemingly painted on too, we left STARVING!! It was time to go out to dinner, and 2 of the kids wanted to go to the 99. 2 others wanted to go to a seafood place. {S} wanted baked scrod, and {O} wanted fried shrimp. We figured out that we could probably get both of those things at the 99 anyway…so that’s where we went. What a LOVELY and enjoyable dinner together. We just laughed (hysterically at times) and chatted over a nice meal. {S} did indeed order baked scrod, with broccoli (yay!) and apple sauce. {O} could have ordered fried shrimp, but changed her mind to chicken tenders. The other 2 ordered burgers. Anyhoo…..here was a nice birthday celebration bonus. Our (excellent) waitress came to out table, and let us know that 2 of the kids meals were free (for the purchase of each adult meal), because the Red Sox won the night before!! SERIOUSLY??!! (Not that the Red Sox won….lol, but about the free meals because they did.) Well……. OK!!! I guess that’s the deal they offer. We love that. : )
On the way home, balloons were on the urgent agenda. The birthday trio REALLY wanted them. So we stopped on the way home to get them, and somehow that experience was pretty fun too!! They were allowed to choose their ribbon color too, so they were thrilled. Then the cashier, who was one of those people who had never seen/known triplets before, was an especially (puzzling) hoot. We were cracking up on the way out.
Once we got home, we still had a few things to do. A couple more surprises, and the ‘coffee cake’ they specifically requested (for months) for their birthday cake. There was also sweet message on the machine for them; a quite amusing ‘Happy Birthday’ duet and message from their grandparents. We listened to that a few times. : )
Their big sister, {A}, is just the sweetest big sister when it comes to their birthday. She starts planning weeks in advance. Once her birthday is over, anyway. She really works at figuring out just what she wants to get them, and insist on using her own money. she makes pretty good money for a kid, as she enjoys being our business assistants here and there, and we like to compensate her when she does. She saves most of it, and spends a little. So as their birthday approaches, she asks us to drive her to the places she needs to go, and we do. So she was pretty excited, as she always is, to give them their gifts. She always knows just what they’ll flip over:
{J} loves penguins, and puppets……..
Not too long ago, the kids Papa came down for their pre-birthday visit, and gave the kids a gift. He gave {O} a purse, which I thought was perfect. She’s so into girls things. In accepting the gift, {O} amusingly said in her sweet and grateful little tone “Well thank you, Papa! I don’t know what I have to put it in it, but it’s nice! Thank you.’ {A} remembered that, and got her plenty of purse things to put in it……
Last year, {A} bought {S} a blue hummer toy. He LOVED it…had it every moment of the day. Until one day it rolled off the table and broke. (A few times, actually….and we fixed it over and over). Eventually it was just done, from playing with it, and it dropping so many times. So he really wanted another one, and said so a LOT! Do YOU think he looks happy?…….
Then we had one more surprise for them, before cake.
They have been using an educationally based computer program called Jump Start. They’ve been using the 1st grade one for over a year, and seemed like they needed something more challenging, so we got them the next level up. Mind you, this isn’t a school thing we give them. It’s something they like to do in their spare time, outside of our formal school time, for FUN. It’s all parts of writing, reading, math, science, social studies, thinking skills, music and art. So….”sure kids! You can play with that for awhile!” They are getting a refurbished laptop of their own that is fast enough, because {A} needs hers for science and history/geography. (Here is {O} below using the program the next day.
The next day we realized there was some mail and books that came for them that we forgot to give them the (late) night before. Not to mention the pile of thoughtful cards they got more in the mail that day. They were all very sweet/funny, and they even got some handmade cards that were very appreciated by them. They also appreciate the phone calls they received with birthday wishes over a few days time.
So that was our wonderful day, in a nutshell, believe it or not. : ) Although I am (very) excited to share our always exciting first day of (home) school with you, (oh my goodness…the abundance of photos I took), I wanted to share this day first. I will be blogging about our unexpected first day of school soon, somewhere in between the work I have, school and everything else important. I need to go through and process the photos before then too.
Thanks for reading all about this big day in our family! We appreciate the visitors, as we share, and record our daily family life we are so blessed with.
