Soren is seven! Whoa!
Because his birthday was the day before we left for our long car trip to Illinois, I thought that it was pretty stressful and probably not much fun for him. But he seemed very pleased to have reached the austere age of seven. Here is what we did to celebrate:
1. I offered to take him out for donuts for breakfast but he informed me that he didn't want any sugar, that a normal breakfast would be just fine. This has been a thing on and off with him for the past couple of months: he refuses the idea of sweets but is usually perfectly happy to eat them when they are actually there. I took him at his word; we didn't go out for donuts but had leftover cake from Scott's birthday.
2. Scott stayed back from work for about 1/2 an hour in the morning while we ate, which was more special than donuts anyways. He gave Soren his birthday present: measuring tools! There was a balance, a set of beakers, and a tape measure. Soren was so delighted; he spent the morning measuring things.
3. I asked Soren a few days before his birthday if he would like to have homeschool or not. He opted not. But when he woke up on the appointed day, he changed his mind. "We should have school today," he told me, "because I felt my brain growing in the night." I didn't have any big plans but we did do a read-aloud. He was very proud of his narration. He told me that he could remember more details because he was seven. Apparently, seven is a big deal.
4. With so little schoolwork to do, Soren spent most of the morning playing with legos. He made a lego replica of his balance and asked me to take this picture of it:
5. For my gift, I gave Soren a joke book after lunch. He read it while I taught Kindergarten and then regaled us all with actually amusing jokes during our walk around the block. For our Kindergarten art project, we made Christmas cookies (full of sugar but also happily devoured).
6. Dinner was one of the best parts of the day. When Scott got home, Soren opened a present from his grandparents (a build your own remote-powered car). The package also included a bunch of birthday decorations, which I was soooooo grateful for. I had been too stressed about packing, daycare, and homeschool co-op to put up our traditional birthday banner. But with my mom's foresight, we were able to celebrate in style! The boys played with balloons and a variety of little doo-dahs while I put up the decorations and finished dinner. Then, there was chicken pot pie! And, since Soren asked me not to make a cake (that has sugar in it, you know), we put a candle in a bowl of mixed nuts and sang "Happy Birthday".
7. After dinner, we went to the ward Christmas sing-along. It was dark as we were walking but Soren told me that his eyesight had improved now that he was seven and so he wasn't scared of the dark. At the sing-along, everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Soren and the Fetzers made him a cake. And in the last five minutes of the evening, he caved and ate some. Everyone in our ward loves Soren so it was fun for him to talk with all his adult friends on his birthday.
8. When we got home, it was off to bed, with the promise of a long car trip in the morning. And a couple of days later, at the end of our long car trip, Soren got his birthday present from Nan: a digital microscope. He enjoyed using it to take close up pictures of his nostrils and fingerprints.
Happy Birthday, Soren!
Because his birthday was the day before we left for our long car trip to Illinois, I thought that it was pretty stressful and probably not much fun for him. But he seemed very pleased to have reached the austere age of seven. Here is what we did to celebrate:1. I offered to take him out for donuts for breakfast but he informed me that he didn't want any sugar, that a normal breakfast would be just fine. This has been a thing on and off with him for the past couple of months: he refuses the idea of sweets but is usually perfectly happy to eat them when they are actually there. I took him at his word; we didn't go out for donuts but had leftover cake from Scott's birthday.
2. Scott stayed back from work for about 1/2 an hour in the morning while we ate, which was more special than donuts anyways. He gave Soren his birthday present: measuring tools! There was a balance, a set of beakers, and a tape measure. Soren was so delighted; he spent the morning measuring things.3. I asked Soren a few days before his birthday if he would like to have homeschool or not. He opted not. But when he woke up on the appointed day, he changed his mind. "We should have school today," he told me, "because I felt my brain growing in the night." I didn't have any big plans but we did do a read-aloud. He was very proud of his narration. He told me that he could remember more details because he was seven. Apparently, seven is a big deal.
4. With so little schoolwork to do, Soren spent most of the morning playing with legos. He made a lego replica of his balance and asked me to take this picture of it:
5. For my gift, I gave Soren a joke book after lunch. He read it while I taught Kindergarten and then regaled us all with actually amusing jokes during our walk around the block. For our Kindergarten art project, we made Christmas cookies (full of sugar but also happily devoured). 6. Dinner was one of the best parts of the day. When Scott got home, Soren opened a present from his grandparents (a build your own remote-powered car). The package also included a bunch of birthday decorations, which I was soooooo grateful for. I had been too stressed about packing, daycare, and homeschool co-op to put up our traditional birthday banner. But with my mom's foresight, we were able to celebrate in style! The boys played with balloons and a variety of little doo-dahs while I put up the decorations and finished dinner. Then, there was chicken pot pie! And, since Soren asked me not to make a cake (that has sugar in it, you know), we put a candle in a bowl of mixed nuts and sang "Happy Birthday".
8. When we got home, it was off to bed, with the promise of a long car trip in the morning. And a couple of days later, at the end of our long car trip, Soren got his birthday present from Nan: a digital microscope. He enjoyed using it to take close up pictures of his nostrils and fingerprints.
Happy Birthday, Soren!
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