Pris Adventures: Sammy's development

We had an epic birthday party!!!

I think the more kids you have, the better you get at organising kids' birthday parties! Gabe's birthday falls in early July, while Sam's is in early September. We will be gone on holiday during Sam's birthday so being the diplomatic person that I am, I decided to do a combined birthday party in August!

We booked a farm in the city for their birthday celebrations! It was the BEST decision either! We only had to pay 60€ to rent the entire premise and we had SO much space, it was heavenly! In total we had about 40 people including kids. But the place was huge! We never felt a space constraint. The weather was great too so the kids could run around outside!

This year, I decided to do the unthinkable. I actually told my guests NOT to buy any presents. I totally bucked the trend of children's birthday party = presents galore.

Honest to boot, our apartment is not huge. We have 3 kids and 3 bedrooms. Toys are matter. Matter is anything that has volume and takes up space. As much as I know how kids love to have new toys, the marginal utility of toys is very low!!! They would play with a new toy and be totally excited about it for a few days or weeks. Thereafter, I'm stuck with even more toys and no space to store them!

That's why we hardly buy any toys! I hardly had new toys growing up. But that's not the reason. I truly believe children should engage in imaginary play. Outdoor play. Make believe. They don't need more toys.

This is an issue close to my heart. I've been toying with this no-presents idea for the longest time. For the past 6 years, whenever we had a kid's birthday party, it was always such a headache telling others what to buy for the kids. Truth is, we always buy things that we need for our kids! We don't wait until their birthdays to get them something. And we have 3 boys! That means that they play with the same toys, wear similar clothes and I simply don't need anything for them.

What we need is, money. Money is liquid. We can save the money. Or use the money for sport courses, or Sam's private school come September, or go on day trips with the kids or holidays. All these are experiences that we would want to go for with the kids and it means so much more to us! I asked the kids if they would like to have toys, they said "yes!" And I asked, do you want to go for theme parks and go on rides, Sam said, "Yes!" So I asked if its ok that he doesn't get new toys but we go for more excursions instead and he agreed wholeheartedly!

It was such a BREATHER! We collected quite a fair bit of money for them and we're going to use it to get Sam a new bicycle / roller blades and put the money aside in a bank account! So so so thankful for my friends who understood and agreed!

Back to the party, I decided to outsource our birthday cake to a lovely lady! She did the entire Batman cake for just 70€! I marinated boneless chicken thighs in a satay marinade and it was sooo yummy! I asked some friends to do some side dishes of salad for the buffet table. We had an overdose of chicken satay steak and a bit too little sides, but it was perfectly fine!

All in all, I must say that I loved the idea of a combined birthday party. My goal for a party is not to get all the presents in the world but for the kids to have a lovely day with their friends and family. And that was certainly accomplished on this day!

I brought a ball but we didn't even need to do any kids' games. There was more than plenty of things for the kids to keep busy with!

I'm so blessed & thankful to be a Mom. Children are a blessing and GIFT from the Lord. That's my mantra especially on days when they don't stop bickering at each other. But mostly they are just wonderful playmates for each other and they do love each other a LOT. Sam slept on the bedroom floor today because he was in one of his "teenage" mood. When we went in a few minutes later, we found Gabriel lying on the floor next to Sam ON THE FLOOR! #heartmelt

I will not stop hugging, kissing and loving on my children everyday. I'll enjoy the pitter patter of Liam's little feet because one day I know he won't thud around so loudly anymore. I want to stop and notice the kids' expressions and study their behaviour, understand their emotions and thoughts and with God's help, help them to discover their God-given talents, passion and calling for their lives. But most importantly, I want to enjoy the moments of being a Mom. I've never regretted being a SAHM. Never have. Never will.

That said, I loooove having a home-based business with ItWorks now. I remember my days pre-ItWorks, my most interesting part of the day would be retail therapy. I'd spend hours reading Mummy blogs, searching online for kids fashion and finding out what's the coolest kids' birthday presents.

These days, I'm investing so much time in self-development. I've taught myself so much about photo editing using apps-- the birthday invitation was made by yours truly using an App! I'm learning so much about people, human nature and myself. Being a WAHM is an entirely new dimension that I'm exploring! And best of all, I'm earning an income again! To give you an idea, in all my 11 years as a blogger, I've never earned more than a 3-figure income in total. I've been at ItWorks for 7 months and I've earned a 4-figure income in total already! #truth

I'll write more about my new life now as a WAHM soon! Here's an explosion of photos of the birthday party! Enjoy!

It says, "Let us celebrate Samuel's & Gabriel's birthday together!"

Do I hear you say "WOW!??"

So beautiful, I didn't want to cut it! It's chocolate on the bottom and vanilla on top

Our Salad bar

Trampolin happiness!

Our ex-cell leaders who popped by the party!

Orry looking great with 2 girls!

Take home presents, chocolate and more sweets!

Our youngest guest of day! So glad you could come, M!

Where we got our birthday cake: Message the lady on her Facebook page at "Home Ties"

Where we had the birthday party: Etzel Farm

Dear Sammy

My handsome, charming, cheeky, boisterous firstborn has turned five!

You're one year short of entering elementary school, so that means Mummy has only one more year of cherishing you in your kindergarten days before you go to a different school from your brother. It's been lovely picking up both of you from the same kindergarten.

Both your little brothers look up to you and while you're all sweet with Liam, offering him the sweetest smiles, you're pretty tough with Gabriel because he certainly knows how to push your buttons!

But to us, you continue to remain our baby and we doubt that would change through the years!

This year, for the first time, we decided to hold your birthday outdoors because there was simply no way we could house rambunctious 5-year olds in our apartment. It was also the first time that we celebrated your birthday 2 days in advance (which is a huge taboo in Germany), but that was the only time we could celebrate your birthday because we would have left for Italy for our holiday one week later (more about that later).

It was such a huge success! The sun was shining, the grass was green and everything was a picture of perfection on the day of your birthday party.

We decided to do an outdoor BBQ with simple decorations of just balloons and DIY pirate party pickers. Grandma and Grandpa even came along too! There were about 10 children in total but within the confines of a huge garden with playground, it was so relaxing!

We started off with some skewered barbecued meat and sausages followed by free play while the adults ate. Mummy prepared a game of "poison ball", where a person would stand in the middle of a circle and the other children would attempt to throw a ball to hit the legs of the person in the middle. As soon as the legs were hit, the person in the middle would be replaced by the person who threw the ball.

It was all nice and fun until some of you decided to throw the ball at the faces of the children, such that Mummy had to decide to draw the game to a close!

Instead of a birthday cake, we baked you chocolate cream cheese cupcakes and used your birthday train as candles. It was such a mess-free, fuss-free birthday! Each of you helped yourself to a cupcake without any cutting or distributing of the cake.

We ended off with a treasure hunt where all of you had to search for your treasure, which also happens to be your goodie bag. Your present from us was a scooter! You love it and have been using it almost everyday!

You had such a fantastic time that you told us at the end of the day that it was the "best birthday you've ever had!" I certainly hope you'll continue to have the best-est birthday parties every year!

Our beautiful firstborn, please know that we love you very much. We're so proud of the boy you've become. You've embraced the whole "older brother" role with gusto and have such a protective instinct over your brothers.

We're sorry for playing the "you're the oldest" card on you whenever we want peace in the house and want you to give in to your younger siblings. Your heart continues to be so tender inspite of all our parenting mistakes. We thank God for you and pray that God will continue to mold you to be a man after his own heart.

We pray that you will seek after God's love and not after man's praises and acceptance. We pray that while doing that you will also fight for yourself and not be easily bullied or taken for granted. We pray that you will have Godly wisdom and courage, lots of faith and hope, and a lot more joy in life in doing the things you do for yourself and others. We pray that your acts will be sincere and that there will be true joy when you choose to bless others in your little ways. We pray that God will also show you His compassion and shower you with His daily blessings and mercies. - prayer copied with permission from a fellow Mom.

Love,
Mummy & Daddy