Howard Trio Plus One: 4th Birthday Celebration

This is the first year that we didn't plan on spending the kids' birthday with grandparents. For their 1st birthday, we celebrated a couple of weeks early while we were in Michigan and then Micah's parents came down to ABQ for their actual birthday. For their 2nd birthday, both sets of grandparents came to ABQ to celebrate. For their 3rd birthday, we flew to Michigan on their actual birthday so we celebrated there a couple of days later with family. This year, though, circumstances were a bit different as both sets of grandparents had just come to help out after Graham was born, and Micah had a work conference during the week of their birthday (which fell on a Wednesday). Because of the conference, I asked my mom to come out and help for the week since I didn't feel ready to handle all four kids on my own day and night. Thankfully she was able to come, and Micah decided to go to the conference a couple of days late, so the three of us were there to celebrate with the kids for most of the day.

The day started with showing the kids the new trampoline from my parents and us. Micah and I worked hard after the kids went to bed the night before to get it set up, but it got dark and we made a couple of mistakes that cost us some time, so unfortunately Micah spent several hours on the kids' actual birthday getting the rest of the trampoline put together. After seeing the trampoline, but understanding that they couldn't jump on it until Daddy finished putting it together, the kids opened their presents. They were very excited for everything they got.

Excited about the new trampoline (before the net was put on...)

Birthday presents!

A replacement Snoopy shirt for the one that she is outgrowing

Trucks!

DVDs for our long car rides to visit family!

Grandma and the girls then decorated the cake and cupcakes while I helped Micah with the trampoline. We then sang and enjoyed cake. The trampoline was finally put together in the early afternoon and the kids loved it.

We are glad Grandma was here to help manage the day since I spent a lot of it feeding Graham while Micah put the trampoline together

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday (3 different times). I can't believe how much the girls look alike here.

Jack

Faith

Alexis

Waiting patiently for Daddy to finish...

On the kids' 2nd birthday we took them out individually, and we decided to do that again since my mom was in town to stay home with the others. Each kid chose their own outing from some ideas we gave them. Originally we thought we would both take each kid out but, due to baby needs and time constraints, we had Graham with us when we took Jack to the climbing gym, and then we had to split up with the girls. Micah and Alexis went out for frozen yogurt (aka "the ice cream factory") while Faith and I went to Starbucks for a cake pop. Right after the girls' outings Micah had to rush to the airport and he was gone until Friday night. (NOTE: Micah had so much fun with Alexis that he forgot to take a picture when they went out for frozen yogurt. Oh well, it's probably something she'll remember for a long time!)

After a few attempts, Jack gained the confidence to climb to the top! Coming down was the hard part as it's an unusual feeling to let go of the wall and trust someone to lower you down, even when you are a kid.

Bouldering with Daddy

Faith with her cake pop and milk at Starbucks

She chatted my ear off, which was great since we so rarely get one-on-one time. And she had to tell another customer that it was her birthday as she was quite excited :)

On Saturday morning we celebrated the kids' birthday again with a party at our favorite park. This was the first friends birthday party the kids have had since every other year we celebrated with family. It was a cars and trucks theme, but I kept it simple as I hired a friend to make the cake and I just threw some snacks in toy trucks for the kids to enjoy while playing. Originally five families said they would (probably) come, but two families canceled at the last minute (for very understandable reasons), so the party was smaller than we originally thought, but still fun. The kids played at the park while the parents talked, we ate some cake (that was made soy free and dairy free so I could eat it!), and the kids handed out small party favors to their friends. All in all it was a great low-key party, which was perfect considering I was nursing and holding Graham for most of it.