Happy Birthday to Jonah!

We celebrated Jonah's birthday over the weekend with family. Seventeen. Seventeen! It hardly seems possible. And today is his actual birthday! In many ways, it feels impossible that we are here. Weren't they just taking naps and watching Clifford???

I'm adding a bunch of pictures, some are in not in order. I love looking back over the years, through tear-stained eyes, that is, but still...

Happy Birthday, Jonah! My hope and prayer for you is that you continue to walk uprightly, in truth and with integrity, and then you will always be just where you are meant to be. You've got the biggest cheering squad and we'll always be in your corner. Love you lots!

And now I've got to go get the coffee and donuts ready.... ;)

Jonah's Sixteenth Birthday

Jonah's birthday was this past Sunday, and there's a restaurant in town that has the most amazing Sunday Brunch, so we headed there for our first celebration of the day.

I think we all rolled out of there when we were finished! There are several chefs that make omelets, pancakes, waffles, and crepes to order for you while you wait. My favorites were the Belgian waffle with almond cream and strawberries and the bacon and Swiss omelet. Yum!

Someone was getting a little antsy but had the best time playing Peek-A-Boo with us!

The only thing I didn't love about our fancy brunch was that Ethan had to miss it.

His travel team had their first tournaments over the weekend, and he had a big game Sunday morning.

Something else happened over the weekend that could've been much, much worse, but that still kind of put a damper on the celebratory feeling. When Ethan was driving home from the game Saturday evening, he was in an accident that (we think) totaled the car- someone hit him on the driver's side. Ethan wasn't hurt, of course that's the most important part, but the other reality is that now Bill doesn't have a car. The state troopers on the scene said that we could not drive it anywhere and that it had to be towed.

This comes after a season of really expensive home repairs that of course we weren't anticipating, and then the whole situation with Bill's new car that we later found out had been totaled, salvaged and rebuilt. And that we finally resolved by "forcing" the dealer to pay off the loan and returning the car. So we have the van. And that's it. For seven of us.

The past few weeks, I keep thinking that I don't want to be an adult anymore. 

So anyhoo. Everyone is healthy and well and that stuff is just stuff, it doesn't matter.

But I'll be honest and admit that I was having a hard time afterward, and I felt so bad because none of this was Jonah's fault and I didn't want to ruin his day. In the end, we all had a really nice day, and I'm thankful for that.

I still can't believe that my little guy is now a sixteen year old. I just barely got used to the idea of having one in the house, and then I blink, and it happens all over again. And then Caleb will be up, and it never ends. Time never slows down. All the more reason to do everything I can to let them know how much they mean to me while they're still at home.

 Bright colors and balloons, my staples for parties now that the boys are too old for themes and such

 These paper confetti dots came with a confetti balloon kit, which did not work, by the way. Or was just too time consuming for me to bother with. But the dots looked great all over the table.

Until some got wet and left very dark colored dot stains on the wood.

I found a few on the floor this week, too. Hope they fade. Sigh.

 Jonah requested a marble cake with my fudge cream cheese frosting.

I thought I'd evened out the layers until the guts spilled out because there was too big a gap between them. ha ha ha

Still tasted fantastic.

Selfies with my birthday boys- Levi was eleven months old on Sunday!

Even though this is one of the "big birthdays," Jonah really didn't want a big family party so we celebrated with just grandparents. He was happy with doing some special things one on one with us beforehand, and next week we're taking some of his friends and him to an indoor rock wall climbing place. He will love it.

And let me tell you, sixteen year old boys do not care in the least about the party particulars like we Moms do, so I'll probably just buy some pizza and cupcakes or something for that night.

Happy 16th Birthday, Jonah

I hope all your wishes and dreams come true!

Bill took Jonah out to grab an iced coffee, or maybe it was a latte, can't remember. Then they got an ice cream cake, our favorite. 

We would later find out that it was somebody else's favorite, too...

 He was so excited he couldn't tell up from down!

 Too busy finger painting with ice cream to look up

 Just look at his feet and hands - nonstop motion!

 When his little piece was all gone, he just kept staring at his blue hand like he'd just had the most amazing thing in the world. We were all laughing so hard watching him!

I can't believe I'll be having a First Birthday Party in one month!

I am so excited!

I know that Jonah knew we were feeling stressed about the car accident, and while I hated that it had to happen then, I am proud of his empathy and considerateness. He said that he felt celebrated all weekend long, and that's all that matters to me.

Here are some of Jonah's other parties:

The Perfect Party for a Teen Boy

Jonah's Foodie 13th Birthday Party

Death By Chocolate Party

Jonah's Winter Pool Party

THE PERFECT BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR A TEEN BOY

I feel like I've been talking about Jonah's birthday a lot, ha. But I like to document the details so I'll always have a way to look back and remember it all. I mentioned on Instagram on his actual birthday, Thursday, that we kidnapped him and surprised him with lunch out. My Mom and I picked him up from school (he's taking two classes there) and literally blindfolded him, ha ha. We met up with my Dad and Ethan at a local restaurant. This was So Much Fun!

 Then that night, he had a basketball game, so of course I had to do something! I mean, how often do things like that fall on your actual birthday? Usually his is sometime during winter vacation week, so this felt like a big opportunity to embarrass him, ha ha. And they won the game! Woo-hoo!

Here we are singing, right before handing out cupcakes to everyone.

What a great night!

So onto the actual birthday party, which was the next night...

I know boys (especially older boys!) don't usually care as much about party decor and decorations as we ladies tend to, but I really enjoy doing simple things to make our house look festive for the occasion. And I think they appreciate it, too. A few inexpensive banners, some crepe paper swags and bright balloons, and festive plates and cups to get the par-tay started. Jonah batted his beautiful hazel eyes at me and requested a Whoopie Pie cake. Again. It turned out so well last year that he wanted another one. Okay, so he didn't bat anything, but he did ask nicely. =)

For family and friends, I made regular sized whoopie pies and frosted the other dozen cupcakes I'd frozen, leftover from basketball. In case you're wondering, the giant whoopie pie bakes really nicely at the same temp and for around the same time as the smaller ones; the two larger "mounds" of batter fit on one large baking sheet.

Our naughty cats kept getting a little close for comfort after I put the rest of the whoopie pies and cupcakes out, and I spent the hour before friends and family arrived shooing them away. Carb junkies.

I waited as long as I could for the "sparkler" candles to sparkle... and they were duds. The occasional little burst of flame here and there, but the candles were melting so fast and I couldn't just stand there snapping pictures hoping to capture sparkles. Dumb candles.

This pretty much sums up the evening. Lots of smiles and laughter. It made me so, so happy.

Bill and I would be in the kitchen prepping things and then this completely insane bout of laughter would erupt from the other room, and we'd just look at each and smile. That was my absolute favorite thing. We set up the island as a pizza making bar- they loved that!- and had snacks and drinks on the small table in the kitchen. I don't have even one picture of any pizzas because it absolute chaos and cuh-razy!

While the pizzas cooked, they watched funny soccer videos and such on YouTube- hilarious! In past years, we've had science experiments, scavenger hunts, and Olympics-type competitions, but now that Jonah's older, we didn't need a "theme" or specific activity; he just wanted to hang out with his friends and play video games. Which they never ended up doing because they were too busy tossing balloons, eating, and laughing. Such a wonderful group of friends! I am so thankful for each of them because I have watched Jonah, in particular, struggle in this area, and that is so hard as a Mom.

Here's an action shot. None of my pictures came out very well. Ugh. The boys won the championship on Saturday!

Isabelle was annoyed (really mad) at me when I wouldn't let her go play on the other side of the gym because one of her friends was over there. But this friend doesn't listen to her mother and is really obnoxious, so, um, no thanks. There were other kids over there too, climbing all over equipment and such, and I don't think that's right, at least not during the basketball game. She absolutely beamed when cutie pie cousin walked in with my sister-in-law and her parents to cheer for Jonah. Whew! Cute cousins for the win!

Jonah's Foodie 13th Birthday Party

As much as I love themed birthday parties, I've learned that a 13 year-old boy doesn't particularly care so long as there's fun, good food, and friends & family. So this party for our new teenager was vibrant, colorful and festive. And he loved it.  =)

Jonah is often in the kitchen with me because he loves to cook and bake yummy things. And eat them of course!

 It didn't surprise me at all when he began requesting special things like gourmet vanilla cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting and decadent chocolate cake with fudge frosting. He loved all the treats at his birthday party last year, which honestly, I kind of wish I'd saved until this year for his big 13th, but I guess you live and learn.

So here are some pictures of his gourmet birthday treats. They were so, so good!

Hands down The Best Vanilla Cupcake I have ever eaten. Ever.

I adapted the recipe ever so slightly from a baking blog...I'll have to share.

The whipped frosting was equally fantastic - I could have eaten it straight from the bowl!

I really don't think a fun and great looking birthday party needs to be expensive. There are tons of clever little things you can do to add color and festiveness, and I always have balloons. Balloons just add so much!

The birthday boy also requested my special salsa, so we had that and some dips with tortilla chips and pretzels. Easy, cheap and yummy!

I loved making labels for the water at Caleb's Spy Party, so I did that for this party as well. They looked great.

These are very similar to the birthday signs I made for Ethan's 13th birthday party - they're so colorful and add a nice touch, and super easy to make a bunch. I just taped the signs to pieces of colorful card stock, then taped those to the walls and doors.

And of course another staple at our guys' birthday parties are making messes and/or exploding things.

Here are good ol' Mentos and Coke. Classic.

And it never disappoints, ha

It was a great day! I know he felt celebrated and special, and since that was the whole point, it was a success! 

I really wanted to get a picture of the birthday boy with each of his friends and relatives...but there is always such commotion that it just never happened.

Happy 13th Birthday, Jonah Gabriel!