Birthday Marathon

February is full of birthday celebrations in our family. Three out of four of our birthdays arrive this month. We joke about having birthday cake once a week. Sometimes we’re still licking the frosting, when we start to bake the next one. We have just began to recover from the hype of Christmas season, when it hits. It can complicate the gift ideas, so we try to keep celebrations more simple. Each birthday honoree, chooses their breakfast & dinner of choice. Along with favorite cake flavor and theme. Sure there are gifts, but a lot of planning goes into the meal and cake frosting.

Living remotely and monthly grocery shopping adds to the birthday planning. I try to have the celebratory meals and cakes accounted for when I run my January errands. Simple isn’t really on the menu most years. Chinese food, Mexican dishes, elaborate cake requests, etc. It catches me by surprise the culinary challenges the little cowboys come up with. This birthday, Big W announced he wanted shrimp cocktail. What? We live in the high desert, far from the ocean. And for his cake choice, yellow cake, strawberry filling with a white antelope skull complete with horns adorning the top. It took me several days to wrap my mind around the blueprints for a 3 dimensional model. Yet every year, their eager smiles and hearty appetites are the ultimate reward.

Today Big W turns 7 years old. It is amazing how fast time goes by, especially when you have small children at home. The amount of changes in 12 months is sometimes hard to believe. The acquirement of new skills, advanced knowledge and grown up facial features resemble a different little cowboy than we celebrated last year. He has become such a huge help to us. From helping drive the feed truck, chopping water tank ice, feeding livestock and more. I do miss the baby stage, snuggles & rocking them to sleep. Yet, I love their ever growing personalities and the new adventures each day.

Every year, Nate & I reminisce about the day each little cowboy was born. The ups and downs, the craziness that comes with a new baby addition. The lost sleep, chubby cheeks and the proud moments of first steps, words, etc. Children are truly a gift from God, even on the hardest days. The aspect of parenthood changes you forever. There’s no going back to your previous existence. I honestly don’t know how we did it somedays, juggling livestock, a town job and little cowboys. I do know that we didn’t do it alone. The Good Lord helped us every step of the way.