Happy Birthday!

Today is my oldest son's birthday:)  Where has the time gone?  It seems like I was just pregnant with him and now he has informed me that he is working on a mustache but will shave it when it bothers me.  It was just the other day when we had four boys five and under and our life (well mine for sure) was taken up with diaper changes, nap times and baby toys.  Now we have moved on to swim teams, scouting, reading, games and half the time they still seem like a pile of puppies just tumbling around.  I used to think I couldn't wait for them to all be potty trained and talking and how much fun it would be when they could read and we could do more 'interesting' schooling.  But now I don't wish for time to speed up any more.  I think about playgroups and getting to sit and chat with friends while our kids played at the rec center together.  Now we are lucky to text each other and get together every few months as our schedules, which seem to revolve around kids activities, allow.  No, time is flying and I don't wish for it to go any faster or my kids to grow up any more quickly than they already are.  I am loving the time we have together and the great personalities they have...and I am not looking forward to telling my son he needs to shave!

Birthdays at our house start with a special breakfast.  If I make bacon and eggs on a regular day the boys will ask me what holiday it is and where the cinnamon rolls are.  The balloon fairy visits during the night and leaves balloons for the birthday kid to find.  Granted a few times she has mistakenly left the package of balloons in a kitchen drawer for us to enjoy together;)  And once when our house was for sale and we had a house showing she filled the car with balloons.  It is just a special day that we celebrate having that person in our family.  They get to pick their birthday meal.  Tonight it will be cheese stuffed pizza, homemade with hidden pepperonis, and a magic lamp cake.  I am grateful for my children.  I am grateful for them in my life.  I am grateful that I get to stay home with them and enjoy knowing them as well as I do.  I am grateful for the many things we enjoy and I know that we are very blessed.

My birthday is next week. I am getting a trip to the Immigrations office to be fingerprinted!  And hopefully approval of our I800A.  I also bought a very cute doll with hair that can be brushed for Min. When I mentioned that we have to fly...it isn't because we are rich, or because we don't want to take the time to drive...it is because we have no other option.  There are no roads to get us to Anchorage.  We could take the ferry for a couple days and then drive for another full day to get there...but that would be at least a three day trip each way.  So we are flying up and I am so excited that we have air miles saved for the trip.

Min's birthday is the next in our family.  And I am hoping and praying we have her by then.  Then we can celebrate the blessing it is to have her in our lives.