Yesterday, Elijah turned 9.  My boy who still gives me hugs when he first sees me in the morning, and kisses on cheeks, chin and forehead every night, is getting older.

He is one-of-a-kind.  Our lefty, who plays harmonica and trombone, whose favorite color is black, who asked for a unicycle and stilts for Christmas/birthday presents, who will (sometimes) go out of his way to choose the out-of-the-ordinary, just because.  He stands out in our family with his quick wit, quick feet, quirky drawings, and unique sense of style.

He struggles with maintaining a good work ethic, but what he learns, he learns well, and what he does, he does well.  I see some of myself in him in this, though I haven’t really figured out how to help him overcome the propensity to leave work undone.  So we just plug away at it, reminding, correcting, praising a job well-done, re-doing half-baked assignments…and he’s making progress, slowly but surely.

On the flip side of things, he is incredibly persistent when he wants to learn something, and rather than trying something for a short while, then giving up, he works diligently until he has figured it out.

He has a lot of wonderful traits, and more that still need to be refined and reined in.  He has his own special way of making me feel loved and valued as a mom, which is so precious to me.  I am beyond thankful for these nine years of his life and I treasure every day with my Buddy.

Our sweet Ava Grace is 6 today.

She is petite, and princess-y, and putzy.

She is soft-spoken, with occasional moments of being extremely loud and boisterous.

She is more than happy to let others serve her, but also volunteers to vacuum and wash windows and peel garlic.

She has become an excellent reader, and is great at math, but struggles to remember things like months of the year, or names, or anything that requires simple memorization with no context to give meaning.

Ava loves dancing, and bike-riding (though still with training wheels, which is mostly the result of parental oversight, rather than anything else), and running, and picking flowers, and blowing bubbles, and building with blocks, and drawing, and painting.

She excitedly does anything her older siblings do, but is also starting to have her own opinionated, and often resolute, voice.  Yet despite her clear preferences, she will often defer to others in order to keep peace.  She loves her little brother and willingly, joyfully plays with him for long stretches of time.

Ava still curls up in a ball and tucks herself in right next to me (or anyone else available for snuggling).  She is moved deeply by affirming words and encouragement, and hugs are still how she receives the most meaningful comfort, consolation, and affection.

She’s moving so slowly into the realm of “girl” without the “little” in front of it that I don’t always notice, but the changes are there. Still adorable, but growing more beautiful now, too.  I love to see her personality emerge in new ways, and I love to see the characteristics she’s always had take on new maturity and strength.  She is simply precious and wonderful.  These six years, she has brought joy and blessing and sweetness to every day.  I love her so very much.

Today, Nathanael turns eleven.  He’s been looking forward to this birthday, in particular, because for some arbitrary reason, this is the age we decided to let our kids start having [decaffeinated] coffee.  He has been a lover of anything coffee-flavored for a while, so the countdown to eleven started well before his tenth birthday.

In addition to coffee, Nathanael is also our white chocolate fiend, and our bright-color admirer, and our child who often prefers “fresh” foods – crisp fruits and vegetables, citrus-y desserts.  He is in a neck-and-neck race with Bethany for the title of resident bookworm.  He is our go-to baby whisperer. He happily helps with any house project.  Nathanael is the kid who will slow down to walk with the person lagging behind, who will still volunteer for the task nobody else wants to do, who will – of his own volition – lay hands on and pray for family members who are sick.

Our Bug has a heart of gold.  He is insightful and funny and a little bit smart-aleck-y…maybe sometimes when he should be serious, but he’s learning.  I love celebrating his birthday, his part of our family that is unique and wonderful that we wouldn’t be complete without.  I’m so thankful for the gift we have in him.  He is absolutely on of the very best gifts I’ve ever received.

Isabelle is four today.

She is full of exuberance and tenacity and heart.

She hugs with abandon (and often gets a running start).  If I ever ask “can someone please [fill in the blank]?”, she dashes off to be the first one to do whatever was asked.  She’ll grab five books when told to get one for reading.  When she’s excited, she literally bounces her way through life; when she’s distraught, her big eyes and quivering lips are about the saddest thing you’ll ever see.

She is stubborn (to a fault sometimes).  She loves fiercely, but is wounded easily.  She is quick-witted and insightful.  She loves pretend play and dressing up, and Fancy Nancy books are her favorite.  She is so many things rough-and-tumble, but she has the girliest giggle and she loves dancing and always asks if she looks beautiful [of course, Sweetpea, you’re ALWAYS beautiful].  She has more personality than she knows what to do with sometimes…eye rolls, hands on hips, wild arm gestures, furrowed eyebrows and more (all at once), and it can be hard to not laugh at all her spunk.

But, oh, I love this little girl with all my heart!  She is a treasure and a joy and such a big part of all that is good in my days.  I’m so glad to celebrate four years with her today.

And now, Lucas is one.  How did that happen?  I remember the day of his birth like it was yesterday, and yet, I know a lot of life and growing has happened in the 12 months since.  The first five or so months were more of a challenge than usual, with Lucas spitting up dozens of times a day…which, I know is a relatively small problem in the overall scheme of things, but which becomes tedious and time consuming and nerve-wracking in day-to-day life.  He never had problems growing or being super-energetic, though, so we just waited for the hopeful day when the spitting-up would stop.  And it did – almost overnight – and it seemed like my brain took it as a sign that his infancy was over.  It’s funny, the things we find that we miss sometimes, and as crazy as it sounds, I admit that I did cry more than once at the realization that I no longer had to change shirts three times a day, or carry a couple dozen burp cloths with me wherever I went.

Then, almost as soon as the spitting-up ended, he was crawling, then at nine months, walking, now running and reaching and going everywhere and getting into everything that he possibly can.

He has been teething persistently since about three months, but his teeth were frustratingly slow to come in, with the first not making an appearance until 10 months, the next three following within a week.  Whether because of the spitting-up, or the lack of teeth, or something else entirely, it took a long time for him to develop an interest in any kind of food.  It was also around ten months that he would finally eat more than two or three bites of anything.  But his tastes were quick to change, and now he’ll eat just about anything we give him.  His favorites are rice, fruits (especially banana), mac and cheese, potatoes and carrots…nothing too unusual, but exciting for me in its normalcy.

From the start, Lucas has been full of energy.  He can’t even nurse without kicking a leg, or swatting an arm.  He is strong – almost freakishly sometimes – and so persistent I struggle to keep up at times.  His favorite song is Come Thou Fount, and has been from his very first days.  When I sing to him, he will “sing” along, which at this point amounts to some cross between humming and singing gibberish.

He has two fingers that are constantly in his mouth, a habit that unfortunately had more of a chance to take hold since his teeth were so long in coming in.

He loves his siblings, and they love him.  I honestly think he might have a bit of a superiority complex because of it, though.  When he enters a room, he looks around at everyone, fully expecting a round of big smiles and exuberant greetings every time…because that’s what he got for the first many months of his life.  It has waned somewhat now, though his siblings will still clamor to hold him, or feed him, and Nathanael has become the go-to person for walking him around when he’s tired, almost always resulting in Lucas nodding off.

He’s definitely a mama’s boy, though, and I am kind of glad he is.  Sometimes I complain about his occasional insistence on only sleeping if being held in the middle of the night, but I truly do love having him snuggled up against me while he sleeps, and am not in so much of a hurry for him to move on from wanting me close.  I love this boy so very much.  I’m thankful beyond words for the gift he is to our family.  I’m thrilled to celebrate his first year of life today.  Happy 1st Birthday, Lucas William!

Bethany is 12 today.  She has turned a corner, I think, this past year.  There are many of the old struggles still – with work ethic, and attentiveness, and day-dreaminess – but her attitude has come so far.  Most days, she is sweet and encouraging and kind.  Her hard-headedness has made way for a more teachable spirit, a greater humility, a new willingness to ask questions and admit when she doesn’t know it all.

A recent event really encapsulated a lot of the character traits I see in Bethany.  It was during a belt test for Tae Kwon Do.  All of the students were to demonstrate a set of moves at the same time, but not necessarily in sync with each other.  Bethany got flustered – distracted by the others around her who were all at slightly different spots in their demonstrations – and she flailed, never fully recovering.

The sensei then singled her out to go through the whole routine again, on her own, in front of everyone else.  I could tell from her face that she was fighting back tears, and I felt scared for her…knowing how difficult I would have found the situation.  But she didn’t falter.  She demonstrated the moves flawlessly – like, better than I’ve ever seen her do anything else in Tae Kwon Do.  See, for as flighty, and easily distracted, and, sometimes, not-so-serious as Bethany can be, she also has an incredible memory, a not-easily-shaken confidence, and a fierce determination that allows her to rise to the challenges of life, rather than be ruined by them.

I was so proud of her.  I am so proud of her.  And I am so thankful that God is working good things in her – even despite what I am often sure is utter failure on my part.  Bethany is a joy and a treasure, beautiful inside and out.  I’m so happy she’s mine.

I was looking through old pictures (and videos) a few days ago, trying to find one to put on Caedmon’s birthday card.  I don’t do it often, so every time I do, old memories and old sentiment are stirred up anew.  I laughed so hard at how Caedmon was just SO unbelievably cute (which made me feel a little guilty, because even with an absolutely adorable 9-month old, seeing Caedmon at 18-months was almost too much cuteness to handle).

I was also reminded of how talkative he was.  Non-stop.  All the time.  In videos about him.  In the background of videos of Bethany.  When we were trying to explain something to him or show him something or get him to do something, the mouth was running.  And it was cute, but also a little naughty, sometimes.

So, I naturally compared our two-year old Caedmon to our fourteen-year old Caedmon, who does still love to talk, but has learned self-control, and respect, and patience.  I saw in the videos the raw material that has been shaped and nurtured to form our intelligent, articulate, insightful oldest child; saw how natural ability mixed with character has developed into someone I am regularly impressed by and thankful for.

And not just in how he communicates.

Caedmon does so many things well.   He is a talented musician and a natural writer.  He began learning the alto saxophone this year and has caught on very quickly, and though his piano practice has waned recently, when he does sit down at the piano, I don’t ever really want him to stop because I so enjoy listening.  He writes history papers that have made me look at the notes he wrote from because I didn’t think he could have come up with such detailed, well-explained writing on his own (and I always just found exactly what notes should be – snippets, ideas, key points…nothing copied or even well-written at that point).  He has a series of tall-tale stories that he has been adding to for several years now, and he actually chooses to write for fun on a regular basis (though not history reports – ha!).

He is diligent, hard-working and kind.  He listens carefully to correction and I rarely have to explain anything to him twice.  While there is still bickering and annoyance with his siblings at times, I also regularly hear him being the peace-maker, offering perspective, and reminding them of what their attitudes should be.

He can take it pretty hard when he’s hoping for a well-done, but gets correction instead, and he sometimes glosses over details in his rush to just finish.  Occasionally, his responses tend toward debating instead of doing.  And obviously, there are talents and character traits that can be nourished and strengthened…but that is about the sum of his areas-that-need-work.  He is an amazing young man at fourteen.  My life and our home – every day – is made better because he is in it and I couldn’t be happier to be spending today celebrating him.

Yesterday, Elijah turned 8.  So far, he doesn’t seem to much mind having his birthday the day after Christmas.  Tim always takes the day off, and we usually try to do something fun together as a family…although I do think he gets kind of bummed around August that those special gift-getting days are sandwiched right together, and then he has to wait for a whole year-minus-a-day for the promise of more presents.

So, what makes our Buddy so unique?  Well, he’s our only lefty, despite still using his right hand for many things.  He loves salad, while most of his siblings only eat it out of obligation.  He’s strong and quick and agile – capable of doing just about any athletic endeavor his older siblings can do, and sometimes even more.  He gives me hugs – out of the blue, full-force, I-love-you-Mommy hugs – almost every day, STILL.  While he sometimes tries to avoid whatever chore or schoolwork he’s responsible for at the moment (is there any child that doesn’t??), what he does, he does well.  He hears and retains instructions and corrections remarkably well and, hence, has an incredibly steep learning curve.

This year, he played baseball (he has a powerful swing and a great arm), has started Tae Kwon Do, and has pleaded with me to let him learn the harmonica…which I’ve hesitated on, but plan to let him legitimately start learning in the coming weeks.  He has boundless energy…like, he’ll tell me that he needs to “do something to get energy out”, and will happily do extra push-ups or jumping jacks, or really just about anything, to tire himself out.  His natural bent is still to encourage and build-up, although his particular sense of humor makes it tough for him to resist making jokes about his siblings that, while often funny, can be less than edifying.

He has other quirks that we’re working on moderating, too.  He remains our naturally loudest child.  We have to remind him often to use his inside voice (sometimes even when we’re outside because his outside voice is too loud, too).  He can be a bit too sensitive when injured and we can have a hard time telling a serious hurt from something like…oh, I don’t know…a sliver?

He loves reading, and learning about animals, and playing with legos, and taking care of Lucas, and helping with cooking.  He is quick-witted and sincere and capable at so many things.  He still snuggles close to me and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.  I am so thankful for Elijah and love him more than words.

My sweet Ava Grace is five today.  Five.  Wasn’t it just yesterday that she quietly entered our world and turned our hearts upside down with her beauty and charm and sensitive heart?

To be honest, I feel like I’ve missed so much of her growing up these past few years.  She is so often quiet and unassuming.  Rarely one to force her way into a situation, she has kind of gone with the flow of our days a bit too easily, sometimes.  But she is still, always, so quick to give an exuberant hug, or climb into a lap, or whisper I love you when her heart overflows at the simplest gestures.  Agh…this little girl still melts my heart.

And I am so thankful that, this week, she started doing schoolwork, which means that every day, I am forced to carve out a big chunk of time just for her.  To read to her.  To hear her thoughts.  To answer her questions.  To give her high fives for doing a good job.  To pour out whatever I can to remind her what a treasure she is to me.

And she is such a treasure, who is both spitfire and slow and steady; sensitive and rough and tumble; independent and damsel in distress.

We think the world of her, and celebrate the joy she has been these five years.  Words can’t say how much we love her.

I was thinking today about how much this birthday of Nathanael’s reveals who he is.

His birthday requests were almost entirely comprised of Captain America stuff and legos.

Instead of a birthday cake, he’s having pecan pie.

We decorated with multi-colored balloons and streamers.

He’s wearing one of several tie-dyed shirts.

When given the choice of songs to sing during our morning worship time, he chose As the Deer, Our God (water You turned into wine), and I Stand in Awe (You are beautiful beyond description…).  I think if we’d sung more, he’d likely have chosen How Great Thou Art, also.

As I was doing his laundry folding chore this morning, he started helping anyway.  Even when I said I would fold it all, he insisted that he could help.

So many things about him that seem to me to epitomize his idealism, his love of sugar, his love of color, his very real love for Jesus, and his servant’s heart.

He’s not as much of a snuggler these days (which, I’ll be honest, kind of breaks my heart a little), and he doesn’t usually have lots to say…but he finds ways to pour out love to others and to the Lord even so.  I have so loved these ten years with my Bug and I am so glad to be able to take this day to make him feel special.