Disfigured

If I were to paint a picture of myself this week, I would look a little disfigured.

I would start by placing a big fat foot in my mouth.  Because this week that is where my foot has stayed.  Right in my mouth.

Next, I would have my stomach tied in tight, big knots.  I've had several things on my mind this week, some of which have caused me heartburn.  Most notably that Little Middle is scheduled for surgery next week.  Ugh.  It's just his tonsils, but all the 'what ifs' start plaguing me and my stomach feels like a big bowling ball. 

Then, I would put my heart right up in the middle of my throat.  For some reason I have been especially overwhelmed and thankful for all that our family has and where we are in life.  Do you ever get that way?  Most of the time I completely forget about all that I've been blessed with or I choose to complain about the things I'm NOT getting.  But this week I have been keenly aware of just how blessed our little family really is.  Namely, I have been thankful for my 4 healthy, beautiful children.  And I am very aware that in no time these Yahoos will be gone.  Grown up.....boys to men.....girl to woman.....and leave me.

Just like it is suppose to be. 

And I feel a punch in the gut.  And my heart swells up in my throat.   I have to catch my breath.  I really only have such a brief moment with them.  And I know I waste so many of those brief moments on ipads, cell phones, FB and.....blogging.


And last, I would make my head about 3 times bigger than it actually is.  My head....full of hot air and pride.  I have really been a Miss Know-It-All this week.  My apologies to The Honey anyone I offended.  I used to have lots of friends.  But as of late that number has been dwindling.  I was counting it up as having no time for friendships with this 4 kids, husband, school, home kind-of busy life.  But now I'm second guessing myself.  It might have a little to do with me.


I keep having that song 'He's still working on me' running through my head.  And then this

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,  but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Romans 7:21-25

Thank you, Jesus.  Please keep working on me.

Fave Five time.


Food
I don't care what side of the Mason Dixon line you live on, this right here is pure heaven.

Even on the toughest of weeks there is nothing that a few fried potatoes and soup beans can't cure.

Rationalizing

Little Middle informed me that he was starting to diet.  And his method just might work for me.  His plan:  He diets every other day, and particularly on days that soup beans are served;)  Also, his healthy food list is a little broader than the average dieter.  He considers pizza healthy since it falls into several different food groups.  Also, the cinnamon dessert pizza at Gatti's makes the list because it has cinnamon in it.  So the lesson here is that if you cover anything in cheese or cinnamon it is basically considered calorie free.

Beauty
As much as Pinterest is a distraction to me, it can also be an asset.  I have tried lots of the yummy food I'm finding on there.  And I'm making my house prettier.  This week I tried this

I love finding beauty in unexpected places.  I put this in our bathroom.  We definitely need some beauty there.

Learning

I ordered this book a couple of months ago off Shepherds Press. Click here to check out their site.  They have a lot of great stuff.  I've been going through this particular book with the kids during school.  It is simply laid out and straightforward.  It goes over the different characteristics of wisdom.  We're working on one a week.  What I love is that I see God working and teaching their young hearts.  I see them practicing out the characteristics.  And they are hiding the verses in their heart.  Most importantly.....it's teaching me.  Because this Mama is in need of lots of wisdom these days.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him

James 1:5

Quiet Time

If I could do a product endorsement of the decade it would have to be Adventures in Odyssey.

 This program has seriously provided my kids with dozens of hours of entertainment and me some quiet time.  We pop these in the car and The Yahoos' mouths are silenced for the duration of the trip.  It's glorious. 

I'm so fortunate that our library has several volumes of these that we can check out.  But after listening to all of them 1/2 dozen times we decided to invest in some of our own.  They are so so great, I can't recommend them enough!

Ok, there you have it.  Now go find you a doughnut, sprinkle some cinnamon on it, and enjoy your weekend!

Lost in Translation

One of my favorite things about Mommyhood is that brief window of time when the little ones are learning to talk.  It is just so adorable.  Their words are so soft and light.....and nonsensical.   Baby Yahoo is talking like crazy these days.  But the words he chooses to use makes it a little difficult for people to understand him.  For instance,  he will say something is 'fluffy' if it is heavy.  Or he uses the word 'frumping' for something.  But my favorite is his use of the word button. 

"Ma!  Push the butt!"

His command for me to push the play BUTTON on the dvd player.  

Ha!  Push the butt!  Love it.

I have to admit that I sometimes manipulate situations just to hear him say things in the adorable way that only he can say it. 


But there is another thing that I love about him learning our language.  I love that I am one of the very few that understands him.  That I have to translate for him when he is talking to others.  That I know HIS language. 



I've had several conversations with other Mama's this week about their youngins.  Some have kids the same age as mine, some already grown.  But regardless of what season of life we were in, we all shared this overwhelming burden and even fear for our kids to be making wise choices, to stay on the straight and narrow.  Some of these Mama's have had to watch as their kids made choices that resulted in a lot of pain and hurt for everyone involved. 


I really struggle with fear a lot.  I fear that something like cancer is going to snatch my Yahoos away from me, or someone evil will snatch them when I'm  not looking.  I fear that when their grown their therapist will have to break the news to them how most of their problems are my fault.  But my biggest fear is that they will grow up to reject Jesus. 


I get sucked into the mindset at times that if I follow a good 12 step program for raising godly kids or read all the blogs of women who have done it right that I will be guaranteed a permanent status of Supermom with 4 Yahoos that are missionaries or pastors or on tour with Beth Moore.


Or the pendulum swings the other way and I am gripped with fear that since I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time that the Yahoos are doomed from the get go to have any solid foundation to build their lives on once they leave this sanctuary we call home. 


But then I'm reminded

So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.

Zachariah 4:6 

You see, when I foolishly believe that my children's salvation is dependent on anything that I do, I dishonor the Lord and all He did for me on the cross.  When I put more faith in rules and regulations rather than redemptive power I attempt to rob Him of the glory due Him.  

 

The Honey and I have been wrestling through some decisions as of late.  And like most normal parents we consider how these decisions will affect The Yahoos.  But then The Honey said something profound .  When I told him it was profound (as if he didn't already think it himself) I told him he should right his own blog.  But he said no.  He would hate to show me up.  

Whatever.

Fave Five Friday

Eyes wide open.

It's amazing what new, beautiful things we see with eyes wide open.

I admit many days I walk around with blinders on and fists clinched, unwilling to receive the blessings offered me.

Sometimes it's the seemingly insignificant things that open us up, make us ready to receive.

It all started with last week's post on Fave Five Friday.  Saturday I began watching, waiting with anticipation for the wonderful, funny, humbling graces I would write about for the upcoming week.  That's all it took for me to be overwhelmed with the goodness placed before me each day.

Fresh eyes and expectation.

They started falling so fast I couldn't keep up.  Before I had time to bathe the blessing with thanks and praise to the One who gave it I would see another.  A butterfly kiss, hearing 'I love you' for the first time from Baby, teaching quarter notes to Sweet Yahoo at the piano, pulling Little Middle's first teeth, Ninja developing a sweet love of God's Word.  They are all around.  They continue on in the night as I am hushed to sleep by memories of giggles and games of Hungry Hungry Hippo and love letters written in crayon.  

We definitely have seasons in our lives.  Some are defined by grief and guilt, loss and loneliness.  But these days I get to file away as seasons of celebration.  Fresh beginnings and his mercies new every morning.  That He makes all things beautiful in His time.  A glimmer of the glory that will be revealed to us That Day.

I hope for you that these are days of celebrations. But if not, if your nights are plagued with tear drenched pillows and pleads for shimmers of hope, be encouraged that these troubles, these sometimes overwhelming, jaw-clinching, toe-curling troubles are not scars on our lives but the sharing in His sufferings...the Refiner's fire....Glory preparation.

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 

Philippians 3:10-11

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 

1 Peter 1:6-7

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

So here they are.  My Fave Five.

Date night with Sweet Yahoo

I got to take Sweet Yahoo for a girls' night out to see Beauty and the Beast.  We have that movie at home, but she desperately wanted to see the Tangled short at the beginning of it.  Unfortunately, we ran late and missed it.  But Sweet Yahoo lived up to her name and never complained.  We laughed at each other wearing 3D glasses, enjoyed hot chocolate, and shared some popcorn.  And on the way home I was blessed to be able to answer some great questions she had about Heaven and Jesus. I love that girl. 

Here she is practicing the piano.

 

I covet her posture.

Always the lady with her legs crossed.

She started showing interest several months ago and I held off finding a professional to teach her.  Instead she and I would sit down together sporadically and I would show her what I knew.  We worked through a book together.

After I saw how her interest never waned I found a wonderful woman to give lessons.  Thursday was her first and she was darling.  She was all pink cowgirl boots and denim skirt and nervous smile walking in there.  It was wonderful.

Baby Yahoo's Firsts


1st real game of Hungry Hungry Hippo

What I love about love is that it sometimes jumps out and catches you right out of the blue.  I was delighted this week when Baby Yahoo gave me my first 'I love you'  without being prompted, prodded, coerced and bribed.  What is most precious about it is that he said it while I was going to get him a diaper.  He was laying on the floor, naked, legs hiked up in the air and he blurted out 'I wuv oo, Maaaameee.'

Melt my heart.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that.  ;)


In other happenings.....

You know I love my 3 boys.  But every now and then I get an itching for another girl.  And since the Honey ain't going to allow that, sometimes I dress Baby up and play pretend.

Um, I don't think he's feeling it.

Definitely time for a haircut.  Ninja said he looked like George Washington.

Oops

Little Middle had a loose tooth.  We worked on this for days, despite him being sick.

So I pulled it.

Um, oops.  Wrong tooth.  Let's try this again.

Score!

Rest

Although I've been loving some of the productivity that has been happening around here lately, I was thankful this week that we had a few days of rest.  Nothing on the calendar, short to-do lists, evenings at home.  This gives us more time for WWE smackdowns in the living room, some mean games of tag  and hide-n-seek, and nightly Nascar races via Mario Kart.   And when the day is over, my Carpe Diam Yahoos collapse.

Sometimes before they even make it all the way onto the bed.

Because He Loves Me

 I got this book this week and love it.  It is by Elyse Fitzpatrick.  The subtitle is the best:

How Christ transforms our daily life.  

I desperately want my daily life to be transformed. 

I'm just getting started, but a nugget of wisdom from it that I have been chewing is that I feel I use Christ as a means of self-improvement.  Christianity is not about self-improvement.  It is about complete surrender, abandon, dying of self and being transformed.  This can only be done by the transforming power of Christ.  And, most potently, when we learn to see how the gospel is a part of our day to day life, not a one time event. 


Well, that's it.  My top 5 of kazillion things I was thankful for this week. 

Remember, keep those eyes wide open.

Confessions of a Homeschool Mom

Isolation.  It's an occupational hazard of a homeschool mom.

And though I use to find every opportunity to leave the house and socialize, I am realizing that my preference these days is to be a homebody.  Before I would wade through the trenches of packing diaper bags for 3 kids while buckling everyone in myself just to plan an outing in between feedings and nap time so that I could have some adult interaction for more than 15 minutes.  But these days I am very content to be at home with all these Yahoos.

Maybe it's the weather.  Or maybe I've wised up enough to understand that no amount of socialization is worth the work it takes to get out the door with 4.

Socialization.  It's overrated.

I mean, we're a family of 6 with 3 cats and grandparents coming out our ears.  How much more socialization do we really need?

I know that is one myth that homeschoolers get labeled with.  That we are isolated and not well adapted to our community and can't relate.  And I have to admit that that can happen if we aren't intentional with our time.  But The Honey and I try to be.  We try to provide as many opportunities as we logistically can to produce well-rounded, well-adapted, relational kids.

 MYTH

REALITY

Sometimes I wonder what other myths are out there about homeschoolers?  I hear all the time 'Oh, I could never do that!.'  But honestly, I think that about working moms.  I think that there is no way I could multitask the way they do.   By keeping up responsibilities at work, home, and still getting their kids to the activities they are in.  Not to mention being a wife (which I honestly believe is the most overlooked role we play).  It really puts me in my place when I think of the load these ladies carry and how they carry them out so well.

MYTH

REALITY

I am also asked a lot about why we homeschool.  That is such a loaded question.  I think that is like asking a physician 'Why do you practice medicine?' or a teacher 'Why do you teach?'  I look at homeschooling my kids as my profession.  It is one of many roles I play.  It is not THE ONLY role I play.  There are a lot of benefits to homeschooling.  One of my favorites is that The Honey and I get to teach the kids about the Lord ourselves.  That we get extra time in our day to testify to His faithfulness in our lives.  I also love getting the be a part of their growth.  That I can be the one to teach them how to read or that I can be there when fractions finally click for them.

I'm hoping one day soon fractions will finally click for me.  You might remember my feelings towards fractions.

Back to the point.  Those are special moments.  But those really are all just benefits to homeschooling.  Not really the reasons for our choice.  I picked this job just like most of your picked yours.  By prayer and walking through doors of opportunity that were placed in front of us.  I don't believe that homeschooling is our only option. There are lots of avenues our family could travel.  This is just the one we're on now.  And I have to admit that I'm loving it!

I also get asked a lot 'How long do you think you will keep homeschooling?'  Honestly, God only knows.  We do this a year at a time.

Some days a day at a time!

But right now I'm loving it so much I can't imagine doing anything else.  I really do love being with my kids.  Of course, we get on each others nerves.

A lot.

But learning to love your family is the catalyst to learning to love the world.  And I desperately want my Yahoos to grow into fine adults that absolutely love the Lord and love others.  And what better practice than to day in and day out love the imperfect family you are born into?

But, as to not mislead you, there are some dark sides of our lives.  So I thought I would take a post to humbly bear my confessions of a homeschool mom.  Be warned.  It's a little ugly.  Here goes:

1.  I'd say I average about 3 days a week that I don't get out of my pajamas before 3:00 pm.

There are loads of books out there by way better moms/wives than I am that testify that getting up at 5:00am to zumba, knit, bake pies, and read 30 chapters of Psalms is the key to their day being successful.  I am not yet under that conviction.  I am clinging to the freedom that allows me to roll out of bed 20 5 minutes before The Honey leaves for work.

2.  I have yet to file one piece of work The Yahoos have done this year.

Not one.  I have just been throwing them into a drawer labeled:  To Be Filed When There is Absolutely Nothing Else To Do or Upon Graduation.



3.  Baby Yahoo watches an insane amount of  TV.
 Insane.  That's a pretty general, relative word.  Let's just say that my labor and delivery with my children was shorter than the average amount of hours Baby Yahoo spends in front of the tube.  It's pretty pathetic. His best friends are Diego and Dora.

At least he will be fluent in Spanish.


4.  Our field trips consist of Kroger and the Post Office.

Sweet Yahoo said she might want to grow up and work at either Walmart or Arby's.  I consider these 'field trips'  more like job placement training.

5.  Scope and Sequence means how many rooms we can clean and in what order.


This falls under Home-Ec.  Home Ec is my favorite subject.

6.  I'm really nervous the mail carrier is going to report me for truancy.

He's sees my kids a lot.  They are often outside shooting things and spraying each other with the water hose.  I make a conscious effort to lavish him with lots of candy at Christmas.  And sometimes cash.

7.   My biggest guilt is that I have a hard time getting one on one time with each kid.

Which honestly isn't a 'homeschool' thing as much as it is a 'mom of 4 Yahoos' thing.  But while I'm making confessions I just thought I'd throw it in.

8.  If I don't watch it my family can quickly become my idol.

I am convinced that Satan's number one tactic for my life is to distract me from what God desires for me to be doing.  And what better thing to distract us by than by something good, something necessary....taking care of the kids.

But our hearts can quickly get led astray if we place anything as a higher priority than our devotion to Jesus.  Let's face it. I can say I'm raising my kids, teaching them Scripture, etc for Jesus.  But He is so jealous of me.  And He knows that my heart is deceptive above all things.  How at times I'm doing it all for me.  For my pride, for control, out of fear.

He knows.

And He constantly is calling me back to Himself. 

 
9.  I really struggle with intimidation.

When I take my eye off the goal I get really intimidated that my kids are going to graduate without knowing the difference between mean, median, and mode or how osmosis works.

If they graduate at all.

But I do have to remind myself often that I did not choose to homeschool to produce high test scores.  There are plenty of schools that could do a much better job of that than I could. But this verse has helped me a lot when I start to struggle with intimidation:

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

2 Peter 1:3 NLT

He gives us everything we need to do what He has purposed for us.  And I really don't believe God's main objective for my Yahoos is to score a 2300 on the SAT's.  There is a higher calling on their lives. 



OK, that's it.  I think they're right....confession is totally humiliating good for the soul. 

My apologies to homeschoolers who are actually doing it right.  We are just doing it real.

Now, for an added bonus:  this recently released Youtube video that makes some well crafted clarifications to many myths about homeschoolers.  Make sure you turn off my background music on my playlist at the bottom of the page.  Enjoy!

The gift of song...

Congrats, Kayla McGinnis!  You just won you some music! 

Thanks to you gals for your suggestions.  They were great!  And you just might be seeing them used next Friday.

Fave Five Friday & GIVEAWAY

One day I'm going to have this blog made into a book   You can do that, you know?   Make a blog into a book?  Not the incredibly lucky and wealthy way by being an excellent blog writer and someone influential noticing you and passing your name on to studio heads in Hollywood and having your blog made into a movie.  But the regular ol' way for us sorry blog writers via  Blog To Print.  It doesn't make you millions but it is priceless.  I can't wait to pull my grand kids up in my lap and flip through the blog pages full of pictures of their parents when they were young and have them read all the embarrassing stories I am writing about them ;)

Ninja Yahoo asked me twice today if he could read my blog.  Um, no.  I told him this is Mommy having adult conversation with the computer screen.  And all conversations with adults (be they real or virtual) are private.

But I will totally let his kids read.  Every last word;)

In other news:  I think I'm going to start doing this regular post called "Fave Five Friday."  It will be a collection, of sorts, of some of my top 5 things from the week.

So here goes.  My first installment of Fave Five Friday.

1.  Favorite food.

Just look at it.  That spoon staking it's claim into this irresistible peanut butter pie.  You might remember my pickiness of peanut butter and the love affair I have with this pie.  It is scrumptious.  And I stole the recipe straight from my mother. I made it for The Honey after he acted like he was starving to death from giving up pop, coffee, and fast food.  Needless to say it didn't hang around long. 

2.  Favorite Moment  - By default any week that I get to spend some time with my Granny will be my favorite moment.  So I'm going to go ahead and get it out of the way this first week.  I promise to mix it up a little and not use her as the favorite moment every week.  But we did get a chance to visit with her Tuesday.  It was warm outside and the Yahoos love playing in, around, on top of the barn.  Take a look:

The boys standing guard to protect Rapunzel up there in the top of her tower.

That last one is of the Yahoo's greeting their Nana.  Their Nana is the mail carrier in our little town.  That's like being the mayor.  Keep in mind your mail carrier knows a lot of dirt on you.  I would reward them richly during Holidays with loads of peanut butter fudge and potato candy;)  And when I say 'Holidays' I mean days like, I don't know, Groundhog's Day, the first day of Spring, Labor Day.  You get the point.


3.  Fave Scripture

Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. 

Colossians 1:9-12 MSG

Don't we all want this?  I think we all struggle with not knowing how God works or wants us to work.   But this verse reminds me that the more I get to know Him, the more I will know exactly what He would have me to do with my life.  And I do want that 'glory-strength' that He gives.  I recently had to get a bite guard from gritting my teeth too much.  Gritting your teeth is for the birds.  I'm all about that glory-strength these days.  And that it spills over into joy!!!  We all know someone who has had to endure so much but doesn't smell like they have been burnt by it.  I really want to be that kind of person

4.  Fave song :  If you are a regular reader you might have noticed I spiced up the blog with some background music to set the mood.   The first song on the playlist is my fave of the week.  It's called Beautiful Things by Gungor.  Feel free to scroll to the bottom of the page to replay it and listen to the words.  They are really speaking my heart this week.  I feel like God is showing us how He makes all things beautiful in His time.  And this gives me hope.  Hope in knowing that all the ugly mess I see around me will someday be the ugly made beautiful.  And a legacy of faithfullness for all He has done for me.

5. Fave product -  Let's play pictionary to see if you can guess what my fave product was this week.

Anybody???



Yep.  They Honey gave me an ipad for Christmas.  I even had it personalized. 

I have to admit it is pretty cool.  I don't even know 1/8 of what it is capable of doing, but we're having fun learning.  Thank you, Honey!


OK, well, that's about it. Some of my 5 favorite things about this week.  I had some other categories I thought about using like fave pic, quote, book, etc.  And that's where you come in....and the giveaway.

I'm loving this group Gungor so much lately and I really want you to love them too.  So, I'm giving away their cd (or gifting via iTunes. Your pick) to anyone who comments on what you think would be a good category for Fave Five Friday.  I'd love your suggestions. 

You know the rules, guys.  You have 24 hours before one of my lucky Yahoos gets to draw a name out of the hat.  So make sure you leave your name in the comments section.  I have no idea how to gift music to anyone named 'Anonymous.' ;)  Happy Commenting!

Nothing To Say

Thankfully, I've been speechless.  I tend to stay out of trouble that way.  For the past few days I've been thinking about blogging, though, and haven't had any profound utterings that I thought I should share.  So I think I will just ramble.....

Like about the time this week when I had to rescue Baby Yahoo from jumping off a ledge.  Literally.  He had shimmied his way across the railings of our staircase and was on the verge of falling almost six feet.  I was yelling at instructing one of the big Yahoos about how whining nonstop for 7 hours will never get them a wife when Sweet Yahoo yells that Baby is on the ledge.  I maintained my composure, walked over to the stairs and lifted him up.  I hold him.  Tight.  And then we go to fold laundry together.  Because that is how my mom taught me how to deal with crisis.  By folding hankerchiefs.


Or I might ramble about this diddy I found on Pinterest.

Don't get me started about Pinterest.   I think I am a Pinterest crack head.  But there are so many great ideas on that site.  I love it.  I'm almost tempted right now to end this blog and go there.  But wait, I have more rambling...

Back to my clipboard.  I decided at the beginning of the year to be organized and task oriented.  Because I see alot of people being task oriented and they actually seem to accomplish things.  And most task oriented people I know carry a clipboard.  So I bought a clipboard.  And it didn't motivate me.  At all.  So I thought if I dressed up my clipboard real fancy then I would become task oriented.  And it really worked!   I decided to make a bunch of these clipboards!  See, I really think this task oriented thing is going to work for me. 

And what do you think of the music I've added to the blog?  I went back and forth about putting music up on it because if you are like me you can't read with any kind of comprehension and listen to music at the same time.  But music is such a big part of my life.  I really is how God ministers to me most of the time.   So I thought since I was bearing the rest of  my soul to you nameless, faceless friends I would share some of my current faves with you guys.  If it's too much for you, feel free to scroll to the bottom of the page and push stop on the player.  

Ok.  That's it.  I think I feel better now.  Thanks for listening....or reading.....or.....whatever. 

Birthday Recap

Well, the birthday went off with hitches but we still had a great time.   We managed to fit in eating, naps, playing outside, and more eating.  See, my Little Middle and I share a love of food.  I always offer to make the kids their favorite meal for their birthday.  Most kids would chose pizza, hot dogs, you know.  Not Little Middle.  We had turkey, dressing, taters, and all the works.

So here's the visual play by play of what I hope was a wonderful day for my wonderful boy!

Baby Yahoo showing the love

The fixins

 OK, in these next few frames pay attention to Ninja and Little Middle. 

This face says it all.  Robbed I tell  you. This child was robbed. 

Let's try this again.

Trying to think of the best wish possible

Baby Yahoo getting excited over something.

The big moment.  It even looks like Ninja might be a little happy for his little bro.

Our motley crew

The cake left its mark

The BIL thought he'd have a little fun because he enjoys acting like a 4 year old.

Oh, the joys of Mario Kart

Sweet Yahoo showing the love

I even managed to sneak in a little one on one with the man of the hour.