Today is my son's 6th birthday. Usually we have parties at our house and let the kids invite family, friends and neighbors. We do a pinata, games, and I make a cake. This year finances are a bit tight  and after a neighbor crashed my daughter's birthday and caused some problems, my  dh decided we should let Aaron invite one friend and take him somewhere special that he wanted to go. He decided on Chuck E. Cheese's and I found a couple of coupons. When we got there  yesterday(it's 40 miles away) they were closed for construction. Aaron then asked if we could go to a McDonald's playland(I'm thinking, we drove all this way to go to McDonald's???)  We went to one with a nice play area, had a happy meal, ate his tractor birthday cake and opened presents. He had a blast!! Then he wanted to go bowling and they weren't going to be open until the evening, so we told him we'd have to do something else. I was a bit surprised that he didn't complain at all and instead asked if we could just go home and play with his new toys outside. On our way home we had to make a stop for my friend to meet up with her husband. He is in the Army Guard and graciously offered to let us look around the hangar he works in. He let the children climb in a BlackHawk helicopter and explained how they're used, what the jobs of the crew members are and how they've used it recently to help some people. We spent a good hour with the kids fastening themselves in and out of all of the seats, touching the tools used to repair them, asking questions and learning. It was a homeschooler's dream and the icing on the cake of my son's birthday. 

  Today, on his actual birthday, we decorated the house, went to the library, had his grandparents over, had blueberry pancakes for breakfast and homemade pizza for dinner  and played outside. Just a few minutes ago Aaron said, "Thanks for a joyful birthday, Momma!" Here I was stressed because things didn't go as I had planned. Here was my boy just happy to do the simple things. I'm just so thankful for this reminder about what is really important.

• Post A Comment! • Send to a Friend!