a simple birthday

My middle child was born on tax day, bless his heart.

All of our birthdays fall in a six week period, except for Matt, so we have officially entered the birthday season.

We told our children that birthdays' would be very low key this year. That makes it sound like we are normally pitching circus tents, but that's certainly not the case.

We are very simple and homespun.

No themes, no dog and pony shows, no elaborate games or favors.

I like streamers and flowers and candles.

For boys or girls.

We are opting out of parties this year, instead there'll be one big whing ding at the park for friends and family....more of a community fest than birthday party.

Lew kicks off the season and is a child who has always been very clear about his desires.

Narwhals? Check.

Zombies? Check.

Marine biology? Check.

Exotic fruits? Check.

Can you see how a theme wouldn't exactly work?

'Low key' is code for not many presents.

There are two reasons for this. We are on a budget for sure, but it's more basic than that. As simply as we live...small house, rare shopping, very little outside media, limited material needs, in a small western town...our children still live in a world where excess prevails and waste is the order of the day.

Toys and apps and games and devices feel almost disposable, with their rapid fire descent into obsolescence. There is always something new and better available. Even books are different than they used to be. It's not just a wonderful story, but a series with a new offering (or twelve), when you could be savoring and exploring a genre.

What happened to that one doll that you nurtured through a childhood. Now everything comes in sets with add-ons and castles and pets and carrying cases and accessories too myriad for a child to even contemplate, much less connect with. Legos used to be little blocks that you made stuff with. Now they are an endless world of characters and movie spin-offs that leave a kid only wanting more. Children don't understand that they are being heavily targeted by the media, so it's up to us to be the filter.

I don't want childhood to be one big distraction for my kids. I don't want their minds to operate on sound bites. We have no TV and that goes a long way toward curbing the mania, but they all walk out the door each day, and go to school, and hear the 'must have' du jour. We don't live in a bubble and they are savvy to the message that every character, movie, and pop sensation is subject to a marketing blitz to make their mouths water. It's scary when Hollywood and Disney decide what our children think they need.
Off the box, I'm getting. (see, I'm still channeling Yoda!)

So when it's time to celebrate the birth of my babies, I want them to be the star. In all their unique splendor, not Thomas the Train or a Disney Princess or ICarley. I want to look back and remember that Lew loved sea creatures, not Sponge Bob.

There is nothing more important than the day my babies were born and it certainly doesn't take a present to say 'we love you more than we can freaking express'.

On a birthday, a kid just needs to feel special. 

Things need to be out of the ordinary.

There need to be traditions in place that elevate the occasion to a celebration.
 

We have the 'morning table'.

Lew goes to bed at night and knows that when he wakes up there will be flowers and candles and a lovely table with a few gifts and lots of sweet cards and artwork, that are all in his honour.

Coffee cake will be served and we will sit together as a family and love Lewis up.

His main present was a snorkel and mask, because he loves sea life and wants to learn to scuba in the near future. A snorkel and mask is a start. He loves action figures and wanted a zombie. He got one. The other day he mentioned that it was a dream of his to taste every strange fruit ever grown. He loves fruit. He's nuts for fruit, really, and always has been, so this was vintage Lewis. I am nuts for scavenger hunts, so on the 'morning table' was a poem comparing Lew to all sorts of weird fruits and the first clue in a scavenger hunt that led him all over the house and yard in search the weirdest fruits that I could find at City Market. We then had a taste test and voted on our favorites.

Ugly fruit won. Papaya lost. Pluots....meh. Star fruit, absent but talked about.

Scavenger hunts are free, by the way. {unless you pay me to come design it...and i will} And oh so personal. They get the adrenaline pumping with excitement. I make them sort of tricky and always funny. I also add pertinent questions that they have to answer, just because I can.

If you give a kid a snorkel, he's going to want some water to go with it.

So I put dinner in the crock pot.
{Birthday child gets to pick dinner, and he wanted Camp Sonlight Bar B Q chicken.}
I made this up and he said it was close to what he remembered.
Dump the following in a crock pot:
3 bone in chicken breasts with skin
5 chicken legs with skin
1 bottle of BarBQ sauce
the juice of one lemon
several shakes of Worcestershire
a little glug of apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper
cook on high for 6-7 hours
it was very yummy.

Back to the water. We hopped in the car and headed to Ouray, Colorado.
It's about an hour away, and besides being over the top, breathtakingly scenic, they have a huge hot springs. Lew snorkled the day away. I'd look out over the pool and eventually spot a very slow moving snorkel. He found an opal. We soaked while it snowed, and gawked at the mountains that opened their craggy jaws just enough to nestle a small Victorian town into. Try to get there in this lifetime.

Certainly worth the blizzard we drove through to get there.

I love old neon.

Can you spot the waterfall? They're everywhere. My waterfall spotter was going crazy.

 Ouray is the ice climbing capitol of the world.
No thanx.

Back at the ranch, a masterpiece was waiting in the refrigerator. With cussing and self doubt, Matt slam dunked eight pounds of oreo cheesecake perfection. Men cuss more in the kitchen, have you noticed?

Go here for the recipe.

It was so serious. Lew loves cheesecake.

Can you make out the gold narwhal necklace on Lewis?
 Thanks Aunt Nan!
She knows.

from here

His grands always thrill him with sweet surprises.
His cousin called with birthday wishes.
He floated a balloon.
He was shining with love while America was calculating deductions. 
Happy Birthday Baby.

May you always have a...

{and don't forget the give away!! scroll down and enter right now!}