A simple birthday

Birthdays in our home are a special affair. I believe it is sooooo important for our children to know how deeply loved they are and how glad we are that they are in our family. I will say that things that make the most wonderful memories for us, have cost us little to know money. Some things we did on my daughter's latest special day were:

Pictured above, I arranged this so that as soon as she was out of bed, this would be the first thing she would see as she walked into the kitchen.
I framed a picture of when she was 6 weeks old, which makes her feel so special, but also brings about the story of her birth, which they all love to hear over and over every year...if not more often!
Made sure that her siblings either write, make or do something special for the birthday child. (You can see a card from her younger brother above.) Also, her 2 yr. old sis drew a picture, and her other sister who is older, purchased some of her favorite toiletry items. I want each of my children to show expressions of love to each other...so I encourage it in a fun and loving way.

Set below the framed photo of her...(which is sitting on an upside down bowl with fabric in a favorite color of hers draped over it and gifts all around),was a her name followed by a list of positive aspects of her character that I see in her. She is by no means a perfect child, as none are , but I want to focus on building up the wonderful traits she has now. I want to be her biggest encourager/cheerleader as she grows into a young lady. Looking at her face tells me what those words meant to her.

We had been running ragged all week long....so we thought we'd declare her birthday one of those stay-at-home, eat junk food, hang out with family, play favorite games kind of day. I did not focus on anything but enjoying this time with her and her siblings. She is the rummikub queen, so of course we played it. Another thing I do on birthdays, is to have their favorite types of food around for the meals for that day. We try to eat a healthy nutrient-dense diet on a daily basis, but times like these call for a change from the every day! Oreos, Italian sodas, and the like were enjoyed by all!

These we had for brunch with our chocolate chip pancakes....(shown below). They are wonderful and so simple to make. We take thawed ground turkey, add quite a bit of spike seasoning to it, shape it into patties, and cook in the griddle. So simple and not so greasy as their common counterpart. Ground turkey is very lean and inexpensive as well.

We love my dad's homemade maple syrup. Nothing like the fake syrup you'll find in the store. Much thinner than store bought, yet it has no artificial anything, and has some trace minerals and benefits to our health even. The three sweeteners we use are raw honey, maple syrup and sucanat. These sweeteners actually have health benefits rather than being anti-nutrients like white sugar...which actually pull the nutrients from your body!

Of course, no birthday is complete without a cake, right? At least not in our family. We will be having our daughters friends over for an afternoon of swimming at the beach, and we will celebrate with family while on vacation to see them. However, this was a wonderfully simple but happy day in our home, celebrating the life of my sweet daughter.