Our family has completed "Birthday Season 2007." Between mid-October and the beginning of November, we have five birthdays, which makes for a whirlwind of cake and presents (and hopefully explains why I've not been blogging much lately). Here's how the celebrations go:

October 17 - My sister-in-law, Ashley, has her birthday. Ashley is such a sweet spirit and gathering with her friends was a relaxed, fun evening and a great kick-off for Birthday Season.


November 1 - My birthday. I really had a great day. My mom took the boys for the day, so I went for a bike ride on the Loveland Trail, met Matt for lunch, did a little shopping at TJ Max, then came home and slept through Oprah. Mom made us meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner -- yum! Then the McKee family came over to eat birthday cake that evening. It really was a great day.

November 5 - Matt's Uncle Donnie's birthday. This was the first year we've lived near Uncle Donnie and have been able to celebrate with him. Uncle Donnie has really added a lot to our family in the few weeks he's lived up here and we're so glad to have the chance to get to know him better, especially Patriot, who really adores Uncle Donnie.

November 6 - Azlan, my youngest son, celebrated his first birthday this year. I don't remember Patriot's first birthday being as emotional for me as this one was. I really struggled with making this day appropriately significant, but I think it turned out nice. The Saturday before we had the family over for an Elmo-themed party. Azlan loves Elmo. I mean, really loves Elmo. It is so funny the way his face lights up when he sees Elmo. So we decorated with all of our Elmo toys and made some Elmo cupcakes, which he greatly enjoyed (as you can see). Everyone wrote Azlan a letter that we'll keep in his memory box until he's older. That was nice. He opened presents and generally had a good time.

The day of his actual birthday was again filled with family. Azlan and I got to spend the afternoon together, which was kind of full circle for me, remembering where I was and what I was doing a year ago. All in all, I feel really good about the big first birthday. See more pics from Azlan's birthday here.

We ended our birthday celebrations with a trip downtown to see The Wiggles live. Let me tell you about big times: this was a big night for our family. Patriot studied every movement, every word, every song at this concert. He is an observer and takes weeks to process the things he sees. Azlan enjoyed every moment in the moment. He danced and clapped, pointed and laughed, as if the whole show was put on just for him. Matt and I actually enjoyed the show, too. It was witty and fun, plenty of slapstick and even a few jokes for the adults (at one point Murrey started playing "Stairway to Heaven" instead of "Play Your Guitar with Murrey" -- it was a riot). This concert was a great way to wind up Birthday Season for our family.

In some ways I really like having a Birthday Season. Logistically, it's kind of nice knowing that for a few weeks I will focus on birthdays, and then have a break before the next birthday rolls around. However, I discovered a danger this year: It is far too easy for me to lump all of these birthdays into one sum of a few weeks instead of giving each birthday the individual attention it deserves. I think I'll do better as the years go by.

WARNING: Most of these have to do with bodily functions, so anyone who is squeamish may want to proceed with caution.

1. Splashing toilet water on Mommy is not a fun game!
2. No, you cannot eat my spit bubbles.
3. Can you tell Mommy you're sorry for flinging pee pee in her eye?
4. We don't chew on our brother's toes.
5. Please don't blow boogers on the candle.
6. No, Elmo is not better than Jesus.
7. I love you all the way to the moon, and back!

I have fallen into a bad habit. One that I realized several weeks ago and immediately knew I needed to blog about it, but just didn't want to. I knew that if I posted it for the world to see, I'd be accountable for changing it, and I've just been too lazy. But God simply won't let me get away with it anymore.


I believe God has given parents the job of preparing our kids to follow Him in adulthood. While they are children, they trust in, obey, and depend on their parents. If we can properly teach them these concepts while they are young, they will make an easier transition into trusting, obeying, and depending on God when they are older. The target Bible verse I use comes from Galatians 5.

^"22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

In my mind, my disciplining is to develop these characteristics in my children. So when Patriot throws a tantrum because he can't have candy for breakfast, I put him in time-out and explain to him that we need to have patience and wait for an appropriate time to eat candy. We also need to have self-control when we are disappointed and respond appropriately. Or, when he argues with me about a decision I've made, he receives a pinch and I explain that he needs to trust Mommy to know what's right (faithfulness). In these ways, I'm discipling his heart.

Here comes the bad habit I have to break: I have been disciplining his behavior rather than discipling his heart. There is a fine line between the two, but I hope you can see the difference. Disciplining the behavior is, in my opinion, the easy way out. I toss him into time out for not sharing with his brother, but don't follow up with the discussion about love and kindness.
The long-term affects are that he eventually learns the right way to act, but he may not learn the right way to be.

I think I fell into this bad habit with Azlan's birth. I was tired and distracted with the baby and simply stopped taking the time to disciple Patriot's heart. Then, as we grew out of the newborn stage and into baby stage, Azlan still isn't old enough to understand heart issues like joy and peace, so I can only discipline his behavior right now (knowing that "No, you cannot touch the phone" will lead to a self-control lesson in a few months). Now I have teach myself to discipline the two boys differently according to their level of understanding.

Looks like I'm learning a hard lesson in self-control!

I have lots of important things I've been thinking about blogging: Patriot's birthday party, the Biblical view of spanking, gun control and the Christian family . . . We'll save those for another day because today I'm writing about candy corn.

If you're anything like me, you mark your holidays by candy. Easter brings Cadbury eggs, Valentine's was created for chocolate truffles, Christmas is marked with peanut butter balls and chocolate covered cherries, and Halloween is all about candy corn.

Let's first zero in on exactly what we're talking about: Brach's Autumn Mix is the only candy corn worth eating. It is the perfect combination of traditional candy corn, indian corn (with the chocolate bottoms), and mellowcreme pumpkins.

My candy corn ritual begins the first day of October (even though they start selling it in stores at the beginning of September). I buy a bag of candy corn, take it home, and remind myself that one serving is approximately 20 pieces. Then, almost every day in October, I have one serving of candy corn while the boys are down for their naps. My candy corn must be enjoyed with a glass of water to balance the sweetness but not distort the taste. My candy corn will NOT be shared with the children but may be shared with Matt -- he appreciates, even though he may not agree with, the importance of the ritual.

I think it's important for us to have little traditions that help us mark the passing of time. My holidays are filled with them. And not every tradition involves candy, but probably should.