Something DIfferent for our Birthdays this Year

Our family has truly been blessed with toys. Nathan and I decided to teach the children that it isn't always about presents and there are many people and animals that need more than we do.

So on each person's birthday they would choose where they want to donate. This has been quite a learning experience for us. (I think for me, especially) We certainly had birthday parties for everyone, we just asked our relatives for money towards a donation or money towards lessons of some kind.

Cozi's 5th Birthday!

She invited a few friends from co-op and they made their own pizzas. Then they ate from her Hello Kitty birthday cake.

The Cat Sanctuary: It was a given Cozi would choose kitties. So I researched some cat shelters and talked to the owners of this organization to have a tour. Instead of mommy and daddy buying her presents we donated that money to buy some kitty supplies.

They had a lot of cats! Phew!

Hannelora and Analise

7 & 2!

Hannelora loves horses so I did a horse in a pasture and also a big long Caterpillar for Analise.

Hannelora's party with friends, Kjersten, Emma, Annie and Gracie.

They had a slumber party.

I bought some t-shirts and they each designed their own shirts. Can you tell what most of the girls like? Horses of course!

Hannelora wanted to give away some of her toys to some children. So I called the Women's Shelter to see if we could have a guided tour. Wow! Truly humbling. I was shocked. They are always full, in fact so full that they let people sleep in their church room. There were a lot of blankets folded up in the back of the room. We were even allowed to see their rooms. I was quite saddened that so many people have to live in a room that isn't much bigger than an 8x11 room. They have to share bathrooms and showers. Sigh! I am so glad we got to see another world I so often tend to ignore. I am also more appreciative for what I have.

I took a picture when we were in the car because I wanted to give these people their dignity. So forgive the pictures.

This was where we dropped off the toys


Hmmmmm.... I some how didn't get a picture of me for my birthday...... Anyway, I chose to donate 3 boxes of girl's clothes to Care Net Pregnancy Center.

Nathan donated emptied out some stuff in our basement and our old patio furniture to the Rescue Mission.

Sebastian's 4th birthday!

The Fire truck!

I really shouldn't make 3-d cakes, they always seem to fall over and then I vow never to make another cake again!

We celebrated over at my parents, made homemade pizzas and had cake of course!

Aunt T and Cozi

Zeb is into garbage and fire trucks! So I thought we could do something for the firemen. I didn't know what. Nathan had a friend from work that was a volunteer firefighter and said we could come over and see the trucks. We waited and waited and it never seemed to work. Then I found a new way to go. It is fire safety month and some of the stations had some open houses. So we set out to make some yummy monster cookies to say Thank You to the firemen.

Of course, we had to have a taste test!

Fire station No. 1

Nathan and I laughed. They had some preschools touring and Sebastian fit right in.
He didn't care where we were, in fact, whenever I moved him to get a better view he got upset.

The fire hose!

Our 2 firefighter want-to- bes!

The end! Phew!