19 August

Our family celebration for our big 6 year old included eating at this restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives.  The hot dogs were, indeed, fabulous.  Isaiah got a hot dog wrapped in bacon and covered in cheese sauce (hold the grilled onions).  Luke got a reuben dog, and Noelle and I got a Carolina dog, with chili and cole slaw.  They were all so good.  And the sweet potato fries were awesome.  Sweet Lucy slept through the whole meal.   

Birthday morning!

Isaiah requested chocolate chip pancakes for his birthday breakfast.  Noelle said, "Happy birthday, big boy!" to her brother about 100 times over the course of our 3 day celebration.  She was a great sibling celebrator -

 After breakfast, we went to church.  We came home for lunch and gifts.  Isaiah was especially excited about a spider man book that he can read himself, Star Wars figures, a Lego head lamp, and the promise of sea monkeys!  We had ordered him a little sea monkey kit, but it didn't arrive in time.  So, he got to pop a balloon w/ a message inside directing him to go to the computer and play the youtube video that was ready for him.  It was swimming sea monkeys set to music to look like they were dancing.  He kept asking "what are those things??" while the rest of us did a sea monkey dance.  He was excited once he knew what was going on and they have since arrived and hatched!

After gifts, the big event of the afternoon was "guy time" watching Star Wars.  Isaiah had been really excited to watch it (for the past 2 years!), and we felt like it was time.  He sort of enjoyed it, but we found it was a mis-judgement on our part because he ended up w/ Darth Vador nightmares for 2 nights...

But, the experience highlighted one of our favorite things about Isaiah.  He has a tender heart and a mind that is always wide open - for learning, instructions, ideas, and fun.  He absorbs everything that comes his way, whether it is a book or the Olympics or a math lesson or a trip to Sea World or guidance on how to play a game or the news or a scene of Darth Vador...  He is very eager for experiences and knowledge, and he would almost always prefer to have one of us or a friend with him to share experiences or knowledge.  And now that he's reading, he is finding a lot of facts on his own, which he always passes on to us.  These days, he is especially interested in Magic Treehouse books, Legos, replacing batteries in anything that needs it (especially if it involves using a screwdriver), watching football w/ Luke, "cooking" w/ kitchen toys in the bath w/ Noelle, "helping" Noelle follow rules, and all things related to Lucy!  He's turning into a great swimmer, he'll be in basketball again this fall, he loves sweets (chocolate especially), he wears size 13 in kid shoes, and I just bought him a size 7 (!!) shirt.  He starts kindergarten next week, which he is very excited about.  Recently a friend from church complimented my kids by telling me that Isaiah (and Noelle) have a certain depth about them that isn't always seen in kids their age.  I took that as a great compliment and I can see it, too.  Isaiah is mature in many ways, he is obedient and almost always has a great attitude!  We feel so very blessed to have Isaiah and hope and pray that we can parent him as he needs as we move into the "big boy" season of his development.  Our hope is that we can help him become who he is created to be, that we can delight in him as a 6 year old, that we can write God's love and grace onto his heart, that we can teach him well, and that we can give him opportunities to grow, stretch, and be delighted by the world around him in the year to come.  We love you, Isaiah Ben!!