The Birthday Celebration ~ Lil' Bird is ONE!

Birthday Cake is so much fun, especially when you are ONE!

Just like each of my babies, he tried to touch the beautiful flame...

But it didn't take him long to discover the good stuff.

and man, is it good!

Yeah! This is great!

Cake is good, and being the center of attention is good too!

Sweet boy loves to share!

Happy Birthday Pops!

Time to wash off the frosting! Good thing he loves bath time.

Presents came in the mail from Grandparents

and then presents from mom and dad

you must always taste everything!

he sure knew what to do with this one!

and a new Aviator jacket to boot!

He didn't notice he had to wait a day to celebrate, and he had a great day.

Happy Birthday Little Bird!

My, oh my, a whole year has gone by! It brings a tear to my eye. I just made that rhyme on the fly. Ok, I didn't right a sweet little poem for my boy, but I did just get his journal in the mail today. Perfect timing to start writing to him.

One year ago today I went to co-op like normal and met my best Culburrito friend for the first time. I hung around the house with another sweet friend and I was feeling pretty good. It wasn't until Boy casually said mid conversation "Mom, I think you need to sit down" that I finally decided to call Dad. I still wasn't convinced it was time, but he said lets go on head since it was an hour drive to the hospital. Our little Bird arrived by VBAC only 1.5 hours after we arrived. I don't think it could have been better.
He was almost 3 weeks early and 7lbs 2oz with super sweet blond hair.

His first week was full of hugs and kisses and so much love!

The poor lil' guy has an aspiring photographer for a mother, but he was happy to provide and adorable model for me to practice.

Our sweet boy became and actor at only a few weeks old, and he played his part perfectly. A nearby church called and asked if we could perform as Mary, Joseph, and Jesus for their performance. It was an awesome experience.

For Christmas Bird made his first road trip, a drive to mama's hometown near Chicago. There Lil Bird met almost all of his extended family, saw his uncle graduate from Boot Camp, took a train into and went around the Windy City inside the warmth and comfort of mama's shirt.

In January he was looking bright eyed!

and he was laughing in February.

in March we went to Louisiana for a life changing Above Rubies retreat and Pops discovered his tongue.

April brought two teeth and good sleep.

In May he had his first swim and we discovered he loves water!

During June we went camping at the Blue Angel Beach and he ate some sand, and he celebrated Daddy's selection as a Jet Pilot.

In July we made our move to Mississippi. Pops discovered the freedom of not wearing a diaper and began running away during diaper changes.

In August Pops is happy to show his irritation when he isn't getting his way! He enjoyed a trip to the Rodeo and loves to cuddle with Dad and Mom. He also started walking this month!

In September Pops had a visit from his grandparents and the Culburritos. He is so silly and is a wonderfully happy boy!

And today he is ONE!

This year has sure gone by fast, but has been truly blessed by having this lil' guy to enjoy. His hair is still blond, he has 7 teeth, and he can run. When he starts to stumble he puts his hands up in the air as if to hold on, walks in a little circle until he rights himself and then keeps on going without falling. He looks a bit like Jack Sparrow and it makes us all laugh! Lil' Bird loves to explore and climb on anything he can reach. He also loves to snuggle, sing, and dance, and squeal. I think my favorite is the snuggling though, it sure warms my heart. It is wonderful to have a baby in the house! Happy Birthday Pops!

Books, books, we love books!

On the sidebar you will see a list of books. There isn't room for me to explain this list there so I'll do it here.

These are books that we have started reading just since living in the travel trailer. The books at the top of the list marked by an asterisk ( * ) are the books that we have started and finished reading since living in the travel trailer.

When I look at the list I am a bit amazed. I wonder if you think we have books glued to our faces or something. Nope, we don't. We don't sit around reading all day either, as much as Guys and I might wish. We typically only read school books during the day, and read all the rest of the books in the evening, after the babies go to bed. No, we don't stay up all night either. Most nights, anyway. Some of us happen to be pretty fast readers. I would say speed readers, but we don't actually have any speed reading certificates so I don't think we can claim that title. We just really love reading.

It also really helps that we don't have a t.v.

Since we read so many books and they are books you typically cannot find in the library, we are always on the lookout for bargains. I just found out that if you agree to post a book report on your blog, certain publishers will give you books for free. FREE. That is just the right price for me.

So, you will be seeing some book reports around here.
I will be sure to make it clear which are the books that I am actually recommending and which are the books that I have to report on so you don't think I just love every book I read.

Becoming a Woman of Simplicity

A book report.

“I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:3 (NASB)

If you walk into any book store you will find shelf after shelf of modern day cures for the overwhelmed and frazzled superwoman, the so called Christian Book Store is no exception. These cures are just a band aid, they only temporarily cover up the superficial wounds of running around with too much to do and no purpose for doing it. Becoming a Woman of Simplicity isn’t a superficial band aid. The author really gets to the core of the issue, the lack of being simply and purely devoted to Christ. While other books will encourage you to take more “me time” or hire a professional life coach or trainer, you won’t find those lies here.

Cynthia Heald cuts out all of the “psychology this” and “feelings that” and leads you through an in-depth and thorough bible study filled with the truth, the scriptures and her own thoughts written in an encouraging “Titus 2” format.

This book fits right along with cutting out the crud and getting down to what really matters, what actually counts in life, and that is right up my alley.

If you have ever felt like the pressures of life are suffocating you, this book will get you going in the right direction and reveal the simple truths needed to get you back to breathing.

I really enjoyed this book and I hope to complete it as a study with other women.

Finished Reading!

Hey, so we finished a couple of books recently, that we wanted to talk about. We kinda have a late push to get done all that we can before I start working full time this Monday!

Mom and the children finished King of the Wind. It was the first book in the "History of the Horse" curriculum set. We did a lot of drawing maps, including Morocco, France, and England, while we followed Sham through his adventures. We also are learning how to draw horses from another book that came with the set, we drew several Arabian horses, and I think they were all very satisfied with their improvements.

Mom just finished a Beverly Lewis book, Summerhill Secrets 1, that she got for her birthday. She loves the Amish, and says she wants to be like them. I think she's crazy and reading books about them will have to suffice.

Mom and I also just finished From Playpen to Podium too! It was an excellent Christian book about creating a very communication friendly and encouraging environment. Surprisingly we found that many of the tips they give you for encouraging communication in babies and toddlers are things that we've always just done! Maybe this attests to how quickly our little ones start talking and getting involved. We also like many of the tips for teaching the older children how to start looking at the world around them and actually analyzing it and trying to understand the messages conveyed. We recently did and exercise when my son asked me what a certain billboard was showing. We got to discuss all kinds of things about: Who made the advertisement? What are they selling? How are they trying to sell it? Is it effective? etc... It was an excellent experience.

We'll see how many books we're able to read now that work is back on. Well, I'm sure that mom and the children will be able to continue at a good pace, but I maybe fairly slowed down. Oh, well. We'll keep ya'll posted.

-Mr. Pilot

My Birthday

I turned a year older last Saturday and I wanted to share what a wonderful birthday I had this year. I received hugs, kisses, cards, some cash (yeah!), a Beverly Lewis book, and other very thoughtful gifts from my family and friends.

I got real Cowboy boots from my darling hubby. I have always wanted some, and now I have them. I love them. He actually gave them to me about a month ago and I have been wearing them ever since, but they were for my birthday.

While we were in Florida my wonderful Culburrito friends made me a part of their family birthday tradition, a sweet surprise for me. The Mission Impossible theme song clued everyone in that the celebration was starting and their children all started yelling "A birthday!" Then I was handed a birthday card that contained the first of several rhyming clues, written by the 1 Teenager, and I started off on my very own scavenger hunt. What fun!

I finally found my present buried in the backyard. It was really fun digging in the dirt in the dark with 10 of the 12 children just as eager to see my treasure as I was. My gift was the "Two Alike" Willow Tree figure. It made me cry.

When we got back inside the house my hubby and Mr. Culburrito had the candles on my cake lit. As 3 Adults, 1 Teenager, and 9 Children sang me Happy Birthday and I blew out my candles I cried again. No, I wasn't sad for the blazing fire of candles representing how old I was, I was crying because I dislike cake very much and it wasn't cake.

It was mashed potatoes with gravy for icing. I super love my friends.

I thought we were having mashed potatoes for supper, but they had cleverly told me that Mr. Culburrito dropped the mashed potatoes on the floor while mashing them. It is a good thing I believed them, I am notorious for ruining my own surprises.

The Navy Ball also happened to be on my birthday this year. I love the Navy Ball!

We got all dressed up and had a lovely night out.

I won the beautiful table centerpiece with very sweet smelling and gorgeous Lilies. Almost a week later and they are still looking and smelling delicious.

To end the night I won a $50 door prize!

Yes, this was indeed a lovely birthday. I have so much to be thankful for in my life.

PS~ Don't bother trying to count the candles on my cake, I am not yet 30, that is all that matters ;~)