Ben & Kelly: The "Official" Birthday Bash

Between Sabrina's parties, visits and gifts from extended family and the party we threw for our children, Owen and Aubrey have done a lot of celebrating for turning 4 and 2. We've been so overwhelmed with birthday cards, special phone calls and gifts that I can't keep track of who we've sent thank you cards to. Yikes!
Yesterday we had a party at our house. It was the first time we've had a family party (as opposed to a friend party) in our home for the kids. It's one of the perks of living near family. We partied with Grandma and Grandpa Glupker, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Michael, Grandma and Grandpa Rademacher, Grandma and Grandpa Lange and the cousins: Cole, Brenden, Brooklyn and Carson. I thought we were keeping it simple until I saw all of the gifts. Oh my. I later told Ben that we might need to re-think this birthday party business before our kids begin to expect and feel entitled to so many nice presents from others. That's not to say that we aren't thankful. We certainly are. Aubrey was thrilled to see all of her new presents waiting for her when she got out of bed this morning. The kids hugged and thanked everyone for their gifts. They've also colored pictures to give to those who gave to them. But I still feel like I need to figure out how to train my children not to take the generosity of others for granted before it's too late.

Evelyn checking out Grandma

The kid table - outside! This made for easy clean up.

Aubrey Ann

Some time ago Ben told me that he would like to start a tradition of praying over our kids at their birthday parties. Our hope is that it would take some of the attention off the presents and put more attention on the child and their growth, both physically and spiritually. Our desire is that this time would become special and prove to be significant in the life of our kids. We'd like them to sense the importance of the prayer, the blessing we hope to bestow on our kids. I must admit that I had forgotten all about Ben's idea to do this, but he didn't! In fact I later learned that he had already talked to the kids about it a couple days ahead of time so that they were expecting to be prayed over. Owen, at least, seemed to think it was pretty neat. Everyone in attendance sat in a circle while Ben had each child take a turn sitting on his lap. Then he spent a few minutes praying for them and thanking God for them. And then he had them hug everyone and thank them for coming to his party. I am really thankful for such a godly leader for our family! I like this new tradition!

Aubrey and Brookie - they are so much alike and such good friends.

Grandma Lange made the cake. She brought it over early in the day so the kids could look at it and enjoy it. The cake was here probably less then two minutes before Aubrey decided to taste it (notice the three poke holes). The kids loved seeing Bob and Larry on their cake.