The Party

Here are some pictures from Ethan's birthday party the other day. Ethan chose a few special friends from church to come over for a couple of hours and "party". They played several games, including Dodge Cow (a version of Dodge ball using our hefty supply of stuffed CFA cows), "Kama-cowzi", which is a game that Caleb made up that includes those same cows, and many, many paper airplane throwing contests. They had a contest for the fastest flyer, the farthest throw, which plane flew closest to the Lego tower, and many more. (Sorry, no pics of those games) They also enjoyed playing "Take Down Ethan's Big Brother", and Caleb was even enjoying himself!!

I thoroughly enjoyed planning the party this year, especially because I wanted to see just how inexpensively I could give a party. Turns out, I'm cheaper than I imagined and was able to pull the whole thing off for less than $50 dollars, including presents and take home treat bags! That made me as happy as all the crazy games that the boys played!!

Ethan was blessed with some very cool gifts from his friends. He was quite overwhelmed with the gifts he received. It was so sweet to see him later on as he looked at them and said, "I never thought anyone would get me something so nice. It's just what I always wanted."

It was really his first memorable birthday party that included friends and not just a party with our family.

Of course, as I've mentioned before, the cake was a hit. I was so thrilled with this picture of Ethan blowing out his candles! I always try and try to get a good "blow out" shot, this time it was a success. I had set the camera on continuous shot mode so I'd be sure to get the shot I wanted. I'm pretty happy with the results.

We all had a fun day. Sophia also had a couple of her friends over during the party. They had closed themselves off in the upstairs guest room playing with the dollhouse and their pooled collection of Littlest Pet shop toys. Even though they didn't want to be photographed, I snuck a shot of them when they came down to sing to Ethan and watch him blow out his candles. I was teasing them about putting their unsuspecting faces on my blog, so that's why it's included here...I have to carry out my word, don't I? (hee,hee girls)

It's hard to believe that Ethan is 7 years old already!! Time goes by too fast. The time of his birth was a surprise and pretty difficult after he had to be put on a ventilator for 5 days and remained in the NICU for 12 days after his birth. One of the worst times of my life as a mother was to not be able to hold my newborn until he was 7 days old. I knew it was for the best, but it just goes against every part of a mother!! I Praise the Lord for the advances of medicine, but I hope that I don't have to go through that ever again.

Seven years later, he's fine as fine can be! He'll talk to you until, well, I don't know exactly how long he could talk if you just let him go on and on and on and on and on..... I believe he might go on and on until he himself fell asleep! We know he doesn't require a captive audience because he is all the time having conversations with himself in the bathroom! lol! Ethan is also our most tender and affectionate child. I often wonder if he craves and thrives on physical affection so much because he didn't have it immediately after his birth... hmmm, it's just something I wonder. I don't lose sleep over it! :)

I can't wait to see what wonderful things the Lord has in store for Ethan as he seeks to serve him!! "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." 3 John 1:4