Ten

Birth day:


1st Birthday:


2nd Birthday:


3rd Birthday (a few days after, actually, plus bonus Deacon):


Fourth Birthday:


Fifth Birthday (with bonus brothers):


Sixth Birthday:


Seventh Birthday:


Eighth Birthday:


Ninth Birthday:


Tenth Birthday:


Happy Birthday Ezekiel! For 10 years now you've been filling our lives with sweetness and happiness. We are so proud of you and of the young man you're becoming. We love you so much, sweet boy.

Deacon Disaster

You guys, Deacon turned 8! As per usual now, we celebrated his birthday in two waves.

Wave One was the family (and friend) party. We had everyone over to the house for burgers and dogs, cake and ice pops, presents and hanging out. This year Deacon invited a school friend, Sean, to come over as well. 

We had a really great time, and were so happy to have spent the day with loved ones.

Wave Two was on his actual birthday. This year, we switched it up a bit and went mini-golfing! 

After a grueling game of golf, we got some McDonalds for dinner, which we ate at home while I made Deacon's special birthday treat - cinnamon buns!

He opened his presents from us that morning, and was pretty well pleased (if his face is to be believed).

When I took Deacon to his yearly check up he weighed in at 61.6 pounds (69%) and measured in at 52 inches (75%). The doctor was impressed to see that Deacon had grown a full 3 inches this past year! They're all getting too big. Is there no way to stop this?!

Deacon is such a fun kid. Josh and I were discussing recently how much Deacon's personality is like Josh's. They both always think they're right and will make sure you agree with them in that. They both will call you out if you make any sort of mistake. They are both day dreamers who prefer to spend time by themselves. They're both artistic people who love to build and are really rather hilarious. It's been so much fun watching this boy grow up, and I'm really looking forward to seeing just what he'll do/say/be next. 

I love you, Deacon! Happy Birthday!

Finn's Five!

You guys, my baby turned 5 last week. I know I ask this almost every time one of them has a birthday, but how did this happen?! How did we go from this:

to this:

already?

At his doctor's appointment on Monday, Finn weighed in at 46 pounds (90%) and measured at 44 1/2 inches tall (80-85%).  Finn informed me the day after his birthday that he is now big and strong, and no longer a little kid. He's totally right and it almost made me cry right then and there. 

Finn is such a great kid. I know every mother says that about all of her kids, but Finn really takes the cake. He's so smart, and so funny. I hope his kindergarten teacher is mentally prepared for him, because when he starts school in the fall, it is going to be something to behold. Kindergarten will also be a HUGE adjustment for Finn and for me, as he's been at home with me for the past 5 years, essentially enjoying my undivided attention as we hang out at home or run errands or go to Bible study. I'm thinking it's going to be harder on me, losing my little buddy. But that is a topic for another time!

Finn is SUPER into Peanuts right now. He walks around quoting Charlie Brown all the time. "Good grief." "I can't stand it." Good grief, I can't stand it either. He also LOVES to read. He may not read as much as Zeke does, but he never goes to bed with less than 10 books spread out around him. Finn loves being outdoors and he loves water in all its forms: baths, showers, pools, oceans, rain puddles, hoses, rain, faucets, etc. When the pediatrician asked him what his favorite food is he answered, "Nutella." She said that was the first time she's ever heard that response. (That's my boy!) Finn loves hanging out with his brothers, even though they don't often enjoy his company. He likes to play plants vs. zombies, but he'd rather act it out and envision it all in his head, than sit and play it on the iPad or kindle. Not that he's opposed to playing the video game version, he just really enjoys playing his own renditions of it. 

On Finn's actual birthday we had tacos and "cheese bells" (a. it was his choice, b. it was Cinco de Mayo) for dinner, then some brownies for dessert which we put candles in and sang over. 

This past Saturday we had family and friends over to celebrate the boy. It was a beautiful day, and Finn was spoiled rotten. It was a really great time and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.  

I've really enjoyed watching this boy grow, and I'm excited to continue to do so. He frustrates me to the point of pulling out my hair one second, then has me doubled over in laughter the next. Finn is going to do some mighty things in this world, and I cannot wait to see what they are.  I love you, Finn! Happy Birthday.

We Have Some Wild Kratts Kids Here!

For Zeke's birthday present this year we got tickets to see Wild Kratts Live! at the MPAC (Morristown Performing Arts Center). The show was Sunday (my birthday - which was a great day) and oh, man, did we have a good time! For those who have never seen the show Wild Kratts, it's a show done by 2 real life zoologist brothers (from New Jersey) who teach the kids about animals both in live action sequences and animation adventures. It's really clever and highly enjoyable and as Zeke wants to be a zoologist when he grows up, it's one of his favorite programs. He was also Chris Kratt for Halloween this past year. 

We gave Zeke the tickets on his birthday, but I think he might have been a little underwhelmed with the gift, not fully realizing what it meant. What made that harder was Josh and I had no idea what the show would actually be like, so we didn't even really know what to tell him except that we would be seeing Chris and Martin Kratt live. However, as it got closer, and as we talked up seeing Chris and Martin more and more, they all got a bit more excited.

Yes, they each have a homemade creature power suit. Yes, they all wore their homemade creature power suits to the show. And yes, their homemade creature power suits were way cooler than the factory made creature power suits they were selling in the MPAC lobby. Or so we think anyway. Once we were in our seats though, the level of excitement rose exponentially. 

Look at Deacon's face. If you can believe it, those eyes and that smile (as did the eyes and smiles of both of his brothers) got even BIGGER when this happened:

IT'S ACTUALLY CHRIS AND MARTIN KRATT!! AHHHH!! YAY!! WHOO-HOO!! And all that jazz. Zeke looked like he was going to burst into tears at any second when the Kratt brothers popped up on stage. Deacon curled himself into a ball and squeezed in next to me, probably to stop himself from literally exploding. And Finn, well, will was just so into it. He cheered and yelled and clapped and bounced in his seat and called out answers to every question the Kratt brothers asked the audience. He was so much fun to watch even some of the other parents around us got a kick out of him.

Not the best picture, but my screen was completely black so I had no idea what I was getting a picture of until we got home and I edited the brightness levels. I think it shows how enthralled with it all he was though. All 5 of us really enjoyed the show. It was a great birthday present for Zeke, and a great birthday "present" for me as I had the best time watching my boys have the best time. Not that they're reading this, but in case they ever do: 

Thank you Chris and Martin Kratt for all that you do. You guys are the best! Love, the Walter family.

And Now He's Nine

Somehow my baby turned 9 this past Saturday. To commemorate the event we took everyone bowling (just like last year). By everyone I mean the five of us, all 6 grandparents, 2 aunts, and all 7 members of the Farrell Family. See?

Here's the birthday boy after rolling the ball down the alley. Clearly he cares about what happens. 

After bowling we all (minus the Farrell Family) came back to the house for presents (thank you again to everyone for the great gifts):

and for cake (that's chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips in it, and chocolate frosting with chocolate sprinkles):

After everyone left we had a special birthday lasagna for the special birthday boy, followed by some showers and some Scooby-Doo.

Happy Birthday Ezekiel! We love you and we can't wait to see what this year brings for you!

We All Got Older

Since it's been awhile that I've been diligently blogging here, we have all had a birthday come and go. I'm almost embarrassed by that. Looking back, the last birthday I posted about was Deacon's 6th birthday. I never posted how big he weighed in at his physical that year, and now I can't find my numbers anywhere. I think he was 47" tall because that put him at 1 inch too short to ride the big slides at Frog Falls last summer. As for his weight, I don't know. Moving on.

After Deacon comes Josh in the birthday order of things.  Josh shares a birthday with his mom, so the weekend before we went down to visit his parents, making a short visit to the beach.

On his actual birthday, I had PWOC. Before I left for the evening though we had a nice dinner and some cupcakes (Katherine joined us for those), a little celebration for the birthday boy.

Following Josh is Zeke, with Me being right behind. I actually did post about our birthdays here. See? I'm such a mess. What I didn't post then was Ezekiel's height/weight numbers. Those I do actually have and will post here for any future time when I may need them - assuming I can remember where I posted them, that is. So, at 8 years old, Zeke came in at 52 1/2" (85ish%) and 56lbs (50%). This means, once again, Zeke is tall and skinny just like his dad.

This brings us now to Finn, who turned FOUR in May of this year. Finn's birthday was celebrated in the usual style - family over for dinner, cake and presents (not necessarily in that order).

Finn weighed in at a lot of pounds for who still insists on being carried around almost everywhere (42lbs [90%]) and measured 42" (90%). He's a big kid. When we pick up the boys from school, most days I just look at how Finn is either as tall as or taller than quite a few of the kids in kindergarten and first grade. I get that he's trying to keep up with his brothers, but this is a bit ridiculous.

Now we come full circle back to Deacon who turned SEVEN (what?!) this summer. Another birthday, another family party (this time some friends came too - hello Davis and Aguerra families!).

This birthday was a little extra special because a new member was added to our family. I wrote a post about The Turtle Stark (what I've been referring to him as recently), but here's a pic from the day he arrived.

On Deacon's actual birthday we had cinnamon rolls in lieu of cake. Yum!

Deacon, at his most recent physical, weighed in at 56 1/2lbs (about 80%) - he now weighs more than Zeke does, and measured 49" tall (about 70%) - which means he grew 2 full inches in the past year. Sheesh.

Well, now that this is finished, I feel better. I also managed to get this done before Josh's birthday came around again. Of course, this year he'll be in Florida on his birthday, so there probably won't be a post about the amazing party we had for him. Yes, that is why there won't be a post - he will be out of town...

Sweet Seven

Deacon turned 7 this week. Seven, you guys. How? What? Why? MY BAY-BAY!!

The Saturday before his birthday, we had the family gathering. This year our "family" included our neighbors, the Aguirre family, and our good friends the Davis family. It was a lot of fun.

Even MORE fun was Deacon's special birthday gift from Pappy...

a TURTLE!!

I'm sure there will be more about him later, so I'll leave it at that for now. 

On Deacon's actual birthday we switched things up and had cinnamon rolls in lieu of cake:

I didn't have time to wrap his present that I bought that morning, so we gave it to him like this:

I told you guys awhile back we were a little ghetto. I wasn't joking.

Happy birthday Sweet Dee Dee! You are such a fun guy and you bring so much laughter and joy into our lives. I can't wait to see what happens next. I love you!

**Edited 7 July: Deacon had his check up today and he is 56 1/2 pounds heavy and 49 inches tall. That's 65% and 90% respectively.

FOUR?! How Can He Be Four Already?!

You guys! Finn turned FOUR! I don't remember authorizing this to happen. My sweet baby really isn't a baby anymore. For posterity, at his appointment Finn measured in 42 inches tall, and...I don't seem to have his weight written down anywhere so let's just go with...heavy. I'm not kidding. That is kid is NOT light.

The Saturday before Finn's birthday we had his family party. Usual guests doing the usual things, at the usual time and place.

On his actual birthday we did the usual smaller affair. 

Since it all played out as usual, and I haven't anything else really to add, I thought I'd take a look back at what each boy looked like at four. 

Zeke
43" tall, 36 1/2 pounds heavy:

Deacon

41 1/2" tall, 41 pounds heavy:

Finn

(again) 42" tall, (probably about) 41 (or so) pounds heavy:

What fun! Happy birthday sweet boy. We love you and LOVE watching the funny, smart, resourceful kid you are turning into.