I meant to come here earlier in the week to write about Bracken turning seven last weekend, but we were gone for much of the week traveling to celebrate another birthday in the family (more on that later.) We’re still unpacking and settling back into home, and I’ve just barely flipped through the pictures from Bracken’s birthday, but here I am at last.

These two pictures were taken by my friend April, an amazing photographer (not to mention an amazing person.) I’m always so grateful for the pictures she shares with us. (She changed her website, by the way, and you can check it out here.) I know not everyone likes having pictures of themselves or their children posted on blogs for all to see, so I’m just posting these two favorites from this year’s celebration. Though there were several to choose from, I loved the look on his face (saving up all that air to prepare- ha!) and the twinkle in his eye in that particular picture during the birthday song. And that last picture, as we were all lingering a bit longer before heading to our cars to leave, is one I can hardly put into words how much I adore. I haven’t wrapped my mind around the fact that Bracken is actually seven now, seven feels so big!

My mom comes from Florida to celebrate Bracken’s birthday every year, which always means so much to us, and she came this year as well. This year’s travels had plane delays and things of that sort which made her travels more challenging and frustrating, but she was determined to get here and get here she did. (A grandma wanting to make it across the country for her grandson’s birthday is a determined force, let me tell you.)

Our kitchen floors were overdue for a good mopping and I wanted to get that done before my mom arrived. First though, there was applesauce to be made before any mopping could be done. (The floors are always such a sticky mess afterwards.) I had a bunch of apples to process into applesauce and Bracken helped me tackle that project while Jeff worked all that day in his shop on a wholesale order. Bracken was such a huge help because he loves turning the hand crank on our food mill and wanted to be in charge of that part. By the end of the day I was exhausted, but we ended up with quite a few jars of applesauce. We added fresh pressed ginger juice and it’s our favorite applesauce we’ve ever made.

The vacuum had broke while I was in cleaning mode before my mom got there and after fixing it and having it work great for a stretch, it broke again, so I cleaned without it and wondered how I ever got along without a good vacuum. When my mom finally made it here, sleep deprived and exhausted, she still insisted on helping with the party prep. (She did agree to take a nap, though.) We spent the day baking and cooking. I did my best to have food available for all different diets and food allergies and such because I wanted there to be something for everyone to eat and enjoy.  (Our family often packs food along when we travel and I don’t expect anyone to feed us in a special way, but I know how much I appreciate it when family and friends are so kind and thoughtful about the way we eat and have foods they know we love.)

Bracken requested a chocolate cake for his birthday this year and he and his grandma baked one together, using the recipe for chocolate cake made with coconut flour in Cooking with Coconut Oil. I have a wonderful memory of them dancing to music and being totally silly while they busily worked in the kitchen. I baked carob cupcakes in case there wasn’t enough cake. The chocolate cake turned out amazing and though we had a frosting fiasco (I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand so we were winging it), we ended up coming up with a frosting recipe that actually stuck to the cake and ended up tasting amazing, so the cake was saved after all. Oh, and I had forgotten to buy candles at the store, but our friend (who was out of town during Bracken’s birthday this year) sent a package that arrived just in time with a candle she had specially made for the occasion in beeswax. She didn’t even know about my lack of candles, she’s amazing like that.

For the first time, we didn’t have a birthday party for Bracken at home, but instead had one at a gymnastics place. The great thing about that was how fun it was for the kids to have such a large space to run around in. The hard part for me was feeling so rushed to set up the food and everything and then feeling rushed to pack out, even though there were many helping hands, when I wanted to slow down and savor my time with everyone. (Though they were helpful and wonderful there and more than patient with our time slot, it just felt like a whirlwind and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet.) Bracken’s grandparents and great-grandpa drove up for the party from southern Oregon, and some friends drove a ways to be there, we were so grateful to everyone who came to make our boy feel loved on his special day.

Bracken had so much fun running around with his friends and also told me he felt a bit overwhelmed at having so many of his friends together all at once. He said to me later “I didn’t know who to play with.” (I get it bud, it’s hard to get time with everyone in a room full of people.) The sweet thing was that quite a few of his friends told him (or their parents told me) that they really wanted to have some one on one play time with him, bless their little hearts. There were such sweet, thoughtful gifts (I need to catch up on sending my thank yous), but I think some of my very favorite gifts were the cards that his friends drew for him. They were so incredibly precious and sweet. Afterwards, we stayed overnight in a hotel so we could drive my mom to the airport early the next morning. We got in our jammies and watched a movie in our hotel room. It was an exciting ending to a very full day for Mr. Seven Year Old!