The Moberg Family

Category: Friends

  • Selah turns 12

    Selah turns 12

    Praise the Lord for getting to celebrate another year of our daughter’s life!

    Selah asked to have her closest friends over for a day and a sleepover this year, so we made it happen. Year after year I am overwhelmingly grateful for these precious friends God has gifted Selah with. They are just truly my favorites, and I couldn’t have thought to ask for more!

    I planned nothing other than food. Selah led it all. The girls pulled out all of our crafting supplies and went to work creating varies projects. I happened to be in the next room during this time and it blessed my heart to hear them singing hymns and an ancient Hebrew song in rounds in between giggling and laughing and crafting. Such a delight.

    Then they had a picnic on our dock, went on a UTV ride, and played games. We had homemade pizza and Caesar Salad for dinner. Selah requested homemade milkshakes for her dessert. The girls all spent the night though I am not sure they got any sleep (obviously). The next morning was Sunday so we had a feast of a breakfast and all headed off to church together!

    The day before she turned 12 she cut just over 12 inches off of her hair to donate.

    On her actual birthday, we celebrated with French Toast for breakfast and Chicken Alfredo for dinner. She took Grandpa, Daddy, and me on a UTV ride and spent the rest of the day playing games with Elliott, Grandma, and Grandpa.

    Perhaps the biggest milestone that occurred on this birthday was this:

    Selah has always been an inch or so behind Elliott each year. But at 12 years old, Selah is a quarter of an inch taller than Elliott was when he turned 12. You have no idea how victorious she feels over her big brother.

    Selah has been counting down the days until she turned 12 for one reason: so she could be old enough to work in our church nursery. 🙂 This is somewhat ironic because pretty much every mother in the church has wholeheartedly trusted Selah with her babies for years. Selah *ALWAYS* has a baby in arms on Sundays. She told me once that she has a specific rotation as soon as the service is over for how to get to every single baby. She first visits the ones whose families leave the soonest, and then she moves on to make sure she can hold each one before the day is over. It is surprising to NOT see Selah going through the potluck line with a plate in one hand and a baby on her hip. But, now she is allowed to officially be a nursery worker. She’s delighted.

    Selah is 2/3 of the way to 18! I am so grateful for the spunk, joy, and zeal that explodes out of our tenderhearted girl. Just as her name suggests, she truly sings her way through life, wafting the sweetest melody of Christ’s fragrance in her wake. She brings so much joy and love into our lives!!

    Happy Birthday, my darling girl!

  • Elliott Epically Turns 12

    Elliott Epically Turns 12

    Well, my friends, we officially have a pre-teen for the first time ever. What a marvel to watch these little people on their journey towards adulthood, growing more in the grace of God and the image of Christ with each passing year!

    As I’ve mentioned in the past, Elliott has declared that the only thing he ever wants to do for the rest of his birthdays is have Epic Capture the Flag parties every single year. Each year it has become a bit more epic, and I will say this year was definitely the most epic year of all. I am not sure I can handle if his birthdays become any more epic, so perhaps this is the climax of epic-ness. (I know….unlikely…and that’s okay.)

    Elliott continues to be the child who, just like his mother, always wants to invite EV-ER-EEEE-BOD-Y. That “EV-ER-EEE-BOD-Y” was taken to a whole new level this year when 83 people came to his party. Yes, that was not a typo. EIGHTY-THREE persons graced our property on that chilly, yet perfectly gorgeous Colorado day. (Eighty-seven if you count parents who did not stay to hang out, but just dropped off/picked up.)

    We had over 50 kids playing Capture the Flag and it was, may I say, EPIC.

    We had a dozen or so more kids join after the group photo that was taken towards the beginning. Good thing we got smart this year and procured a megaphone for the big day!

    You can see them scattered about our property in the above picture. After a couple of games, everyone headed back to our back yard for lunch and ice cream.

    On his actual birthday, he got to open some thoughtful presents from his parents and grandparents. I just love watching my kids open presents. The expressiveness of their gratitude never ceases to delight my heart. I love how Selah’s expressiveness just magnifies Elliott’s.

    As a family, we celebrated with waffles the morning of his actual birthday, leftover croissant sandwiches from his party for lunch, and pulled pork BBQ and baked beans for dinner. And, obviously, mud pie for dessert!

    We have had those cone candles since he turned 3, and have used them almost every year since! Think they’ll last till he’s 18?

    Our “big” present to him this year was to allow him to foster a red-eared slider. She was in need of a home and our neighbors wondered if she would enjoy our pond. Elliott has long wanted a turtle to keep as a pet and so Brian and I decided to give it a shot, knowing that if it didn’t work out we could set her free in our pond. Elliott was over-the-moon.

    Meet Pickles, the giant red-eared slider.

    What we didn’t know when we agreed to take her was how HUGE she was. She would really need her own 50-75 gallon tank and you probably know that Elliott already has one of those filled with fish. Our house is not big enough for two 75-gallon tanks! So we enjoyed her presence for a couple months and then decided to set her free into our pond– a space we knew she would enjoy much more.

    It occurred to me that “twelve” marks being 2/3 of his way to 18. It’s just so hard to believe!! Look at this little guy at one year old, six years old and twelve years old. It’s just amazing to watch, as a parent, how your child can grow up and change SO MUCH and yet be EXACTLY THE SAME as you remember him as a baby. He has the same joy, the same smile, the same personality, and yet he has GROWN tremendously. A true and beautiful paradox of life.

    Happy birthday to our favorite Epic Elliott!

  • Selah and the Double Digits Day!

    *You probably noticed, but our website is officially UNDER CONSTRUCTION! Woo-hoo! So pardon our mess as we rebuild it, but for now at least you can finally read our blog clearly!!*

    Our big girl turned 10!

    We celebrated by having a PARTY! PARTY! More specifically, a DOUBLE DIGITS PARTY PARTY! This was really fun. I feel like there is so much more you could do with this theme than we had time for!

    This was a big year, and Selah made a big decision–to invite all of her closest church friends, rather than just one. What a treat!! What a joy!! So we started the PARTY PARTY around 5 pm on a Friday with pizza and salad. Yes, I know I’m the only one in the world who cares about making the food match the theme, but come on–that’s awesome, right? Get it? piZZA and sAlAd!! Double Z and double A!

    Next, she opened presents. She was so blessed!

    We got her a gift that kicked off the DOUBLE DIGITS PARTY PARTY games: Pass the Pigs. You guys. Have you ever played Pass the Pigs? As I was trying to come up with games that had a “double” theme, this one popped into my head. Where has this game been the last decade of my life? I know we used to play it…I have a memory of playing it in our home in Tacoma…but I had completely forgotten about it! I couldn’t remember much about it other than I remember laughing A LOT. So we got it for Selah with high expectations for the first official Double Digit game.

    And oh my, how these kiddos roared with laughter over these two little piggies! I also forgot how many gambling tendencies come out when playing the game so…oops! Man, it is hilarious. Enjoy it vicariously through these pictures. Notice how it starts off quite calm as they’re learning to play…and within just a few minutes, all calmness flies right out the window!

    NEXT, we had deSSert: Double Dice, Double Scoop Sundaes. This was probably the highlight of the whole thing. Everyone got two scoops of ice cream and two spoons. I came up with 10 different toppings that corresponded with the numbers 2-12. #10 was a free choice, in honor of our 10 year old.

    So, everyone took turns rolling the two dice. Then they got to put the topping of the number they rolled onto their ice cream! I think we went through three rounds and then I just let them all have free choice. That was a LOT of fun and a LOT of sugar! At least two asked me if they had to finish their ice cream, ha! #doublethedigitsdoublethesugar

    Of course, then they had to eat their sundaes with two spoons and two hands!

    At this point, it was pretty much time to wind down and go to sleep. This was Selah’s first multi-friend sleepover. And may I just take a moment to relish in and testify to God’s abundant grace over Selah’s life to provide these dear, dear girlfriends for her? This is a group of girls from ages 8 to almost 13. And they all LOVE each other dearly. There is no tearing down, no sassy talk, no cell phones, no worldliness. They all love the Lord and thus, love each other. There is just JOY and sweet fellowship and the love of Christ. WHAT A GIFT, not just for Selah, but for her mama who has prayed for this for so long. WHAT A GIFT.

    The girls got their beds and stuffies (who were, of course, also invited to the sleepover) all ready and spent a while crocheting and doing each other’s hair.

    I told the girls I would pray for them and then we’d turn out the lights. One of them responded with, “Can I pray, too?” And then another, “Me, too!” and “Me, too!!” So we all took turns praying and every one of them thanked God for Selah and her friendship and her life. WHAT A GIFT.

    We finished praying and then the girls said, “Would it be alright if we took turns singing hymns to each other before going to sleep?” Most likely a delay tactic but, come on–who would ever say, “No” to that request?!! WHAT A GIFT.

    We started out the next morning with a humongous breakfast. Shout out to Grandpa, without whom I never could have pulled it off. We had blueberry pancakes, homemade hash browns, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs and orange juice.

    Two of the girls had to leave by 10 am so we really only had a short amount of time to play some double games. We started off with Double Doodle Art: in this game, each kid got a piece of paper and two markers. They each folded their paper in half to create a line of symmetry. Then, holding a marker in each hand, they had to draw a symmetrical picture. Every single one of them completed their first drawing and asked to do a second. It’s kind of addicting!

    Next, we played Blind Partner Draw. Each child drew a picture, only using basic shapes. So, for instance, if they wanted to draw a tree, they would need to draw a rectangle with a triangle on top. Then, their partner grabbed a blank sheet of paper and partner #1 had to describe his/her picture to partner #2. “Draw a rectangle in the middle of your page. Draw a triangle on top of that.” At the end, they compared their pictures to see how well their instructions worked! It was very fun.

    Then, we went outside to play a few classic games that require partners.

    First, the Balloon Head Race. Hold a balloon between yours and your partner’s head and race to the other side. The kids loved it.

    Second, the three-legged race. This is one of Selah’s favorite games. She’s always asking to play it as a family. I didn’t think through how to tie their legs together ahead of time (oops) and my last-minute grocery sack idea was a failure. But they had fun anyway!

    Third, we were planning to play cornhole (another of Selah’s favorite games) but it was 10 o’clock and two of the girls had to leave. However, the kids got to play cornhole with Grandma and Grandpa later that day, so we checked it off the list!

    The remaining three jumped on the trampoline and played until lunch, which was homemade Double Cheese Mac and Cheese and veGGies.

    The party favors were a pack of Doublemint Gum (obviously) and two pens.

    “Double the digits, Double the gum! Double the pens, Double the fun!”

    Oh, my darling double digit daughter! We love love you so so much. You are our joy joy. Happy happy double digit (birth) day!

  • Elliott Turns 11 and Our Blog Becomes Extinct

    It seems fitting that our blog would take its place among the dinosaurs the same year Elliott turned 11. If you’ll remember, we started this little bloggy blog when we were pregnant with Elliott, so just over 11 years ago. And 11 years in computer age is like ELEVEN HUNDRED years in human years. So, our theme (I think that’s what it’s called?!?) is officially EXTINCT. KAPUT. GONE. At rest with the dinos. I noticed in February that our blog was doing something weird…the font turned white which obviously made it hard to read. I figured Brian (aka, builder of the blog and technical support) just needed to push a couple buttons to restore it after an update or something. But alas, when he finally had the 5 minutes to sit down and look at it, he informed me that the change was a result of the fact that our theme was dead. DEAD! Rest in peace, dear lovely theme that faithfully stuck with us for 11 years.

    He tinkered with it for close to an hour, trying to get it legible again. The result is something that I would not call “aesthetically pleasing” but it works. It functions. It will do for now. Brian says we will have to start from ground zero and rebuild our blog with a new theme. That does not happen to be MY personal forte and he has approximately *ZERO* extra minutes right now to tend to this problem. So, for those of you who are truly faithful and willing to bear with us as I post a blog or two here and there with my extinct theme, you definitely fall under the category of “true friend/family member.”

    I will admit I thought about ending our blog’s life, rather than raising it from the dead, but I can’t bring myself to do it. This serves as the one and only scrapbook we will most likely ever have of our little lives, and I’m committed to making it through as long as there is life in these nimble typing fingers of mine.

    So that being said, I bring you the belated news of Elliott’s 11th birthday! His birthday was on a Sunday and he begged us to open one gift before church. We had just happened to get him a new bible for his birthday so we figured it would be very appropriate to let him open it before heading off. He was gifted a bible many years ago with a children’s version of text and he has been asking for one with an ESV translation, which is what we all use. We found him a perfect navy and light blue one and it will never cease to delight my heart that my children are OVER THE MOON when receiving a bible as a gift.

    His Washington Grandma and Grandpa arrived that afternoon and surprised us while at church! We celebrated together the next day with a special breakfast, dinner and, of course, mud pie.

    As far as celebrating with his friends, you may recognize this birthday theme and think I have simply reposted last year’s birthday party, but alas, it is indeed a new year. All this guy ever wants to do for his birthdays for the rest of his life is play Capture the Flag on our property. And come on, who wouldn’t?!?

    We gathered with around 50 people I think (I never got a full accurate count but that is a ballpark) to celebrate this big guy’s life. It was a blast and, unlike last year when it snowed the morning of the party, the weather was PERFECT. I know what you’re thinking–“said no one ever in Colorado”–but I’m telling you, it was. It was cloudy and around 70 degrees and LITTLE-TO-NO WIND. Not too hot, not too cold, cloud cover…it was awesome.

    Thanks to all of our loved ones who could come out and bless the depths of our son’s heart by joining him in yet another epic game of Capture the Flag!! Happy birthday to our mighty Elliott!!

  • Summer 2021

    FAMILY

    Can you spy the new member of the Moberg family?

    FRIENDS

    SURPRISES

    Letters from authors the kids had written, a shimmery purple-blue butterfly, two hot air balloon landings on our property one morning and a creature that we still can’t identify!

    PROJECTS

    Brian and Elliott rebuilt the crumbling concrete wall surrounding the drain to our lake. Selah even jumped in (quite literally) to help from time to time.

    COOKING

    Selah cooked many different meals this summer, but by far her favorite thing to do was make her own creations. She particularly enjoyed making dessert creations for us…imagine that :).

    MOWING and BUILDING

    Ummm, yes, that IS Elliott driving our 100 horse power tractor ALL.BY.HIMSELF. Thus begins the time when my 10 year old can do things I’ve never done. He also built a floor in our attic, so add that to the list!

    DEATH

    With GREAT HOPE for spending eternity with our friend…

    LIFE

    In case you couldn’t spot him in the Moberg family photo, meet the kids’ new cousin: baby Beckett!

    ADVENTURE

    DAHLIAS

    • All thanks to Uncle Joe!!!

    GRATITUDE

    And although I have no picture for this…I must document that this summer Elliott beat me AND Brian at ping-pong!! WHAT?!! He has come A LONG WAY since we got our table at Christmas. Way to go, Buddy!!

    So very thankful for the Summer of 2021!

  • Elliott and the double digits!

    Elliott and the double digits!

    Our mighty man turned TEN!

    Wow, we have seen the fruit of the Lord working mightily in our son the past few months. What a joy it is to watch him GROW UP, not just as a boy filled with zeal and joy and wisdom and wonder, but as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We have seen a lot of maturity in him these past few months leading up to the big double digits!!

    On his big day, he woke up to a blue balloon with the words, “Happy 10th Birthday, Elliott!” written on it. Inside was the following note:

    Dear Elliott, Happy 10th birthday!! We love you because God made you and you’re YOU. You will never earn more of our love by anything you do. We love you because you are YOU, period! But we wanted to share some of our favorite things about you and some of the many reasons we absolutely delight in you and are so thankful that God placed YOU in our family!! Love, Mommy, Daddy and Selah

    We then instructed him that he must find 10 other balloons in the house. We had all written out some of the things we love about Elliott and each hidden balloon contained one of those things.

    Elliott Brian Moberg, how do we love thee in all of thy joy, and wonder, and zeal for life?? Let us count the ways…

    1. You always love me so well! You play fun games with me and if you ever wake up before me you will wake me up and snuggle me! -Selah
    2. You are so generous with your Legos! -Selah
    3. You are playful! You wrestle and race with me! -Selah
    4. I love this about you: when you love something or someone, you love them with all of your heart! And when you love something, you love to share facts about it with everyone who listen! I have learned a lot of facts from you! -Mommy
    5. I love that you love to snuggle and can’t get enough mama kisses or “I love you’s”! -Mommy
    6. We are constantly amazed at how detail-oriented you are. One way this plays out is when you do a job, assignment, or chore, we can always count on you to do it excellently. For instance, I’m not sure if you’ve ever missed a day of flossing and if you’ve ever not brushed your teeth for exactly 2 minutes (timed, 30 seconds per section, of course!) Your school work is always frame-worthy because you do all of these things with your whole heart. -Mommy
    7. You are such a good and loyal friend. You are inclusive, welcoming and kind. You are sensitive to others’ needs. -Mommy
    8. I love how good you are at driving huge tractors all by yourself! I am grateful I can trust you with such grown-up things because you are trustworthy. -Daddy
    9. I love that you’re always bursting with energy to share your thoughts and ideas with people! You love telling stories and inviting everyone into your experiences with you. -Daddy
    10. I like that you love going on long trips with me because I love going on long trips with you! -Daddy
    We had waffles, whipped cream and strawberries for breakfast, per Elliott’s request! Good morning, birthday man!!
    Grandma and Grandpa Moberg were here visiting and Grampa and Nonna Mauss came over for lunch. Hooray for grandparents! Elliott opened some presents and we feasted and enjoyed mud pie! I’m not sure either of our kids are capable of doing anything half-hearted. This series of pictures just cracks me up. I love Selah’s expression in the second photo. Literally awe-struck at his gift! He had just opened a 2011 proof set of coins from his daddy and me. As the awe wears off and pure excitement builds in picture 3, he goes flying up and down, as you can see in picture 4. Picture 5 is Selah–in the air–because she literally cannot contain her excitement as Elliott opens the gift from her. Hmmm, I wonder which parent they got their expression from? 😉 I sure do love these two joy-filled kiddos!!
     Our kids are so blessed to have both sets of grandparents in their lives. I thank God often for that. I didn’t grow up knowing my grandparents and it’s hard to imagine Elliott and Selah not knowing each of our parents. So thankful for the blessing of their lives!
    And, you guys. Look at these two. Are you kidding me? They are such a gift to us. Growing in their love for each other with each passing year.
    Just like last year, Elliott pleaded with us to time our daily bible reading so that Brian would be reading to us at exactly 6:25 pm, since that is the moment he was born. (5:25 pm Pacific Time) Again, these pictures crack me up. They were taken at precisely 6:25. Brian just kept on reading, undeterred :). But no lack of enthusiasm on either of their parts!
    Also, I wanted to mention that Selah, in true Selah fashion, decided to buy a balloon animals instruction guide and learn how to make balloon animals so she could give everyone party favors–2 days before his birthday! And learn, she did! She made Elliott a turtle! It was her very first balloon animal! And then a personalized balloon animal for each grandparent and Brian and me. Grandma got a pink bear, Grandpa a white bunny, Grampa an airplane and Nonna a flower! Brian and I got some very special creations, which we decided to call Cacti :).
    We decided to take Elliott on a special 10th birthday trip. Brian took him skiing and they had a wonderful couple of days away together. He hadn’t been skiing since last year but he picked it up quite quickly again! The trip was wonderful, other than a horrible, no good, very bad sunburn. (Grrrr….)
    Now, as for celebrating with friends… Last year, all Elliott wanted to do was have friends over to play ultimate tag on our property. The Lord had different plans, but this year his dream came true. In fact, I suggested making the focus an epic game of Capture the Flag and that is what we did. Elliott really, really wanted to have his cousin Micah there for his party so we held off about a month until Micah and his family were in town visiting. We started out with Ultimate Tag in the back yard as families and kids trickled in, and then Brian led the kids out to the property to commence Capture the Flag. Can you see them out on our property in the bottom two pictures? Huddled up on the left and spread out all over on the right?
    You’ve probably heard me say it before but in Colorado it is risky to have a Spring birthday party. For Selah’s fall birthday, we usually end up having to come inside because it’s too hot, but for Elliott’s spring birthday, we usually end up having to come in due to blizzard conditions. I think I got tricked because we had had such gorgeous sunny, beautiful weather. I love you, Colorado, really, but could you follow the seasonal rules, please?? So, staying true to her nature, Colorado decided to snow that lovely spring morning of Elliott’s party. Thankfully, the snow melted before everyone arrived, but it was VERY cold. But the kids were troopers and were running around the whole time anyway so they didn’t ice over completely. We started a fire during lunch so they could thaw out a bit. And then, just to confuse everybody, we served ice cream for dessert :).
     
    And not only did he get Micah there, but ALL of his Moberg cousins!
     And now, let’s do a little flash back, shall we? This popped up on my phone, reminding me this was 10 years ago. I haven’t been able to stop laughing since. What was going on here??? Did I write a blog post about this?? I’m taking caption submissions….
    Far be it from me to not pull together a few other wonderful baby pictures from 10 years ago…
    Really though, have you ever met a child more captivating with his joy? How is it possible that his joy has grown in the last 10 years when we started with such a high bar?!!!!
    Now, come on…their heads are LITERALLY tilted at the EXACT same angle, TEN YEARS LATER. Who does that? How did he know??
    Elliott Brian, what JOY to watch you GROW UP these past 10 years! A decade!!! We are SO GRATEFUL to be your parents!! We thank God that he chose YOU to be our son. May the Lord continue to grow you into a man of honor, valor, strength and wisdom, who loves the Lord with all of his heart, mind, soul and strength. Happy birthday, mighty man!!

  • Selah’s Golden 8th Birthday

    Our sweet little girl turned 8 on the 8th…her golden birthday!! I’m so thankful that we could slow down and take the time to celebrate our girl. She is a constant source of laughter and joy in our home and I am so thankful for her!! She is still the little girl who doesn’t need another person to hold a conversation (she is perfectly content talking to herself), interrupts herself while she’s talking almost EVERY.SINGLE.TIME and cracks herself up more than anyone I know. The other day I asked her a simple question about what she and the other girls did at school and after 15 minutes of trying to answer this simple question but interrupting herself with rabbit trails and other stories I finally burst out with laughter, “Selah! Just finish your sentence!!” She paused and said, “Well it’s more like a paragraph than a sentence.” Oh my word…yes, yes, it is. More like a novel, really.

    She requested just having one friend come over for her birthday, her dear friend Aspen. And it’s a good thing that’s what she wanted because…Covid. She sees Aspen 3 times a week but it is never enough for these two girls. They are CONSTANTLY asking for sleepovers and extra play time. What a perfect day to make that happen!

    So when I asked Selah what she would like to DO for her birthday, the ideas ranged from ice skating, to “I want it to snow and build a snow fort and have a snow ball fight,” to make and shoot bow and arrows, to whittling wood. But the two things that she kept coming back to were a wood whittling party and a bow and arrow party. Because, Selah. That’s my dear, special girl!!

    She and Aspen have been making their own bow and arrows for weeks and it’s been really fun to watch their creativity and skill. So why not have an archery contest?! But then, of course, I started thinking about her golden birthday and how to incorporate that and it came to me: Selah’s Golden Olympic Birthday Games: Go for the gold! How fun, right?! I also just couldn’t resist doing something extra special for her golden birthday, so this year she woke up to a surprise on October 1st with a note explaining that she would have a surprise every day for the 8 days leading up to her birthday. That was fun :).

    Day 1: She woke up to new bedding on her bottom bunk! (The kids had shared a room and the bunk beds up until last Spring. But ever since Elliott moved out the extra bunk has just remained empty.)

    Day 2: Her cousin Taylor! She knew her grandparents were arriving on the 2nd, but she DIDN’T know that they were bringing Taylor! I told her she would find her surprise in the back seat of their car…as she opened the back door and began searching, Taylor popped out of hiding from beneath a pile of coats! It was awesome.

    Day 3: Brown paint! Selah and I finally got around to painting her room a few weeks ago and as we talked about what she wanted on her walls, she said she really wanted a family tree painted on her wall, with photos of her family (and friends) on each of the branches like leaves. Well, okay then! It was super special for her to have Taylor here to help draw and paint the tree (which we barely got finished before Taylor had to leave)!

    Day 4: A rug for her room! Many weeks ago she mentioned casually, “I would love to have a round, teal rug for my room.” Amazon made it happen :). That day, I told her she’d have to find her surprise and her reaction when she found it was priceless! She carried the rug around with her everywhere she went for the next several days, haha. She wrapped herself up in it like a blanket and dragged it through the house and slept underneath it. I think she likes it :).

    Day 5: Have you read “The Courage of Sarah Noble”? It’s a very short chapter book about an 8 year old little girl who learns to keep up her courage. The character reminds me of Selah in so many ways so we got her this book, encouraging her to keep up her courage in the Lord.

    Day 6: I had asked her several weeks ago if she’d like an “8” shirt sort of like the “7” shirt we got her last year. After looking through several puppy shirts (still in love with puppies) she came across this brown tulle skirt with puppy ears and a tail. And she was IN LOVE. She wanted a plain brown shirt to go with the skirt. Alrighty then, Selah B!!! So her favorite stuffed teddy bear was missing this particular morning but Selah found a note from her, explaining that she was playing hide and seek (which happens to be Selah’s favorite game). When Selah found Beary, she was dressed in Selah’s new puppy outfit. 😉

    Day 7: We decided to get her a “real” bow and arrow. We knew she would love it but we also figured it might be good to have a real one for the kids to use for the archery contest. See anything interesting about this picture below???

    Also, what should I do with this picture? Blow it up and frame it? I can’t get enough of it. I have entitled it, “Target Practice.”

    Day 8: For her golden 8th birthday, her final present from us was a (rose) golden locket with a picture of the three of us in it.

    Her actual birthday was a co-op day so we had a semi-special but quick breakfast, she opened her locket and then she was off to school. I sent her with some chocolate golden coins to pass out to her friends at school. While she was gone I decorated the dining room. Aspen came home with her from school, we had a special birthday dinner (ravioli, garlic bread and asparagus–her choices), and mud pie for dessert.

     

    The next day, the Golden Birthday Games began! My parents were able to join us (what a praise and gift!!!!!) and the kids began their competitions…an archery contest, a hula hooping contest, a limbo contest and an obstacle course. (Unfortunately Taylor had online school she had to do during the party. So she was out there with us while Zooming into her classes for the morning…) It was a gorgeous but way-too-hot fall day. The kids tallied up their points at the end and received chocolate gold coins as their “medals”.

     

    And how perfect that her Olympic rings formed the perfect number… (wink, wink)

    Now, I was trying to figure out how to incorporate her wood whittling request into the party…because whittling wood is about as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall (in my opinion). I just couldn’t figure out how to do a meaningful project that could be started and finished within a short time frame. So…I came up with…wood burning!! Perhaps slightly selfishly motivated (I’ve really wanted to learn how to wood burn but couldn’t justify buying one for myself, ahem), we purchased a wood burner and I tried it for the very first time at her party! Wouldn’t recommend that :). I thought it would be so simple…have the kids draw with pencil on a piece of wood and then trace over it with the wood burner, right?! Well, not quite that simple. I helped Aspen make her way through the project but then spent the next few days playing around with tips until I figured out a much easier way to wood burn. So it went a lot quicker with Elliott, Selah and Taylor. Anyway, it was fun. My vision was to have the kids wood burn a design and then color it in with colored pencils. None of them chose to color them except for Selah, and I think the simple wood burned look looks really neat. I do love how the colored pencils look with the burned wood outline though! Taylor did both the front and the back of hers so she can change which verse she has up in her room at any given time. Here is a little bit of the process along with their final projects:

     

     

    What a blessed little girl she is…she is so loved!!

    And here she is with her puppy ears. You can’t see the tail, but I assure you, it is there. 🙂 Happy golden birthday, dearest Selah!

  • Selah is 7! Let’s Paw-ty!!

    Selah is 7! Let’s Paw-ty!!

    Leading up to her 7th birthday, I cannot count how many nights before bed Selah would suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears while I was snuggling her. When I could finally calm her down enough to tell me what was wrong, she would sob, “I just want to stay little forever so I can snuggle you forever!! I don’t want to turn 7!!” #heartgush

    We had finally decided to make a little agreement that we would celebrate her birthday but she didn’t ACTUALLY have to turn 7 :). It would sure be fine with me!!

    But lo and behold, when October 8th rolled around, she confessed in a small voice that maybe she did, indeed, want to turn 7. So I permitted it. 🙂 That night, while going to bed, she confessed, “Mommy, I just wish I could still celebrate a birthday every year but only grow older every OTHER year. So I’d be 3 and 1/2 right now. That sounds nice.” I don’t know if I will ever grasp the incredible complexities in this little girl’s mind, but somehow my heart expands for her each day and I love her so much more with every sunrise. What a special little girl God made her.

    In this same vein of not wanting to grow older, for years Selah would “suddenly” turn into a baby. Literally, for years, we would be eating dinner, playing a game, or at the store and Selah would suddenly exclaim, “Mom, I’m a baby today, k?” And she would drop to all fours and start crawling around speaking gibberish. This year, that little habit transformed a bit. Now, at various times throughout the day, I hear: “Mom, I’m a puppy. A BABY puppy, k?” And, in like manner, she drops to all fours and begins to bark and beg. She asks (ahem, barks and motions) to have her food and water delivered in a bowl on the floor. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found her lapping up water from a bowl on the floor. She is a surprisingly convincing puppy for not having spent much time around one and I am getting used to stepping over my sweet little puppy while going about daily life.

    She asked to have a puppy party this year and, of course, the ideas just started flooding in. We settled on a puppy adoption party and invited some sweet friends to come join in on the fun. The kids pulled out all of their doggy “stuffies” (as they are called by these children) and placed them in various places around the house as decoration. Selah wanted 3 waiting right in the doorway as people walked in. A few minutes before party guests were due to arrive the kids began making a banner that said, “Selah’s 7th birthday,” so that is what they are doing in that bottom picture!

     

    We set up our dining room as the party room and adoption headquarters. Fun fact: I learned that we can print 11×17 papers so I made posters for the first time ever! You can see the basket full of puppies “that we found abandoned on the side of the road,” the carrying cases the kids got to decorate, adoption certificates and a bunch of leftover Great Wolf Lodge ears for the kiddos.

    The kids’ eyes were HUGE as I explained we had found these puppies and they needed homes! I said they could each pick one and they just stared at me with mouths gaping and said slowly, in awe, “Do we…get to…KEEP…them?” When I said, “YES!” they just giggled with gratitude and joy and wonder. My goodness, I love this age!

    Here are the various stations, with instructions on the “Selah’s Puppy Adoption Center” poster. Choose your favorite puppy, take your pup to the vet, design a perfect collar, decorate a doggy carrier, and receive an adoption certificate. The kids each selected a puppy and we headed to the Vet’s office! Selah had set out clipboards with “Check-up” sheets attached and various vet supplies.

    I created this “Check-up” sheet after scrolling through several ideas. They were perfect for giving the kids a guide as to how to take care of their pets. I was fully expecting Selah to jump in and examine her puppy but, instead, she took on a teacher (or head veterinarian?) role and helped each friend one by one, answering questions and instructing them on how to fill out their forms and take care of their puppies. It was adorable. I was hoping this station would be fun for the kids, but I was surprised to see how FULLY engaged and “in it” they were. They carefully, diligently, and quite seriously inspected their little puppies with stethoscopes and examining tools. We weighed them and checked their eyes, ears, hearts, paws, and noses. We bandaged, provided medicine, or x-rayed them if necessary. When we were certain we had 6 healthy puppies, we moved onto crafting!

    I had purchased these gable boxes from Hobby Lobby and Brian cut a hole in the front so their puppies could see through. Then, I just pulled out every sticker, gem, and crafting supply I had that might work to decorate them. They made adorable little carriers for their pups!! I also set out pipe cleaners and various beads and jingle bells so the kids could decorate collars. I cut out little circles from cardstock so they could create a tag for the collar. It was fun to see their creativity!

     

    Once they had finished their carrying cases and collars, they signed an official Adoption Certificate!

     

    Selah was adamant about having an obstacle course for the puppies. She and Elliott had set up a little course in the backyard and once the puppies were “officially” theirs, they took them outside and ran through the obstacle course with them! Meanwhile, I set up for lunch inside.

    We, obviously :), decided to have a HOT DOG BAR for lunch, along with some “puppy” food. As we were talking about various toppings we could have out for hot dogs, Grandma suggested chili. I immediately got the vision in my head for our “Hot Dog Cafe”…Choose between a “Hot Dog” or a “Chili Dog,” (check out the picture below) and then add your various toppings!

    In addition to hot dogs, we had Paw-tato Chips, Veggie Kibble, and Fetch Sticks. Super fun :).

    We had a couple older siblings playing with Elliott while the younger ones paw-tied, but they joined us for lunch!

    For her birthday “pup-cakes,” Selah requested Mud Pie, which is the Moberg tradition. I made these individual Mud Pie pup-cakes and we decorate them with paw prints. The Oreo paw has mint chocolate chip ice cream inside, and the marshmallow paw has cookies n’ cream. Mmm.

    Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, dear Selah!

     

    For her birthday, we got Selah three presents this year. The shirt you see her wearing (how adorable, right?!!), a bible of her very own, and…wait for it…a puppy costume.

    She basically hasn’t taken the costume off since and now we all feel like we really DO have a real, live puppy in the house! For her birthday breakfast she requested waffles with fruit. We had an amazing feast! That night, we celebrated with (more) Mud Pie! Little girl by day, puppy by night. We all laughed hysterically when she put her little head down in front of her birthday cake! Look at that puppy!

    She lifted her head, howled, and eventually blew out those 7 candles. So I suppose it’s official. Our little puppy is 7 years old!

     

    And as if all of that weren’t ENOUGH birthday fun, here is even more celebrating!


    Happy birthday to our dearest Selah Bethany. You may be 7, but you will always, always be my baby girl. And I will never stop reminding you that you will NEVER be too old to snuggle me. 

     

     

     

  • Elliott is eight!

    Elliott is eight!

    And it sure has been great! (For the past 5 months….)

    It seems like my life motto might be “better late than never.” Sigh.

    So before I go any further, you all know we moved about 6 weeks before his birthday. So, to answer the question you will all be dying to ask–no, I did not choose the orangey-beige color on the walls and yes, I DID let the kids paint the walls and write verses all over them to make absolutely sure that the walls got re-painted. Win.

    Our mighty man hit the big 8 and we had lots of celebrating to ring in the new birthday year. One of the more exciting things is that we had the honor of a visit from Aunt Paula and Uncle Joe!! They got to join us for Elliott’s Mauss family birthday party a couple of weeks before his actual birthday! What a treat!!

    Let’s just take a minute and talk about Elliott. Oh this boy is just so special. He still chooses to wear his Carhartts and striped blue/navy blue shirt (that I got him for his 5th birthday, I think??) almost every day. If you’re wondering how it could possibly still fit this growing boy and how it could possibly not have holes in it from this active little buddy…well, it doesn’t really fit (see the sleeves?) and the elbows are basically two big holes. He loves the Paw Patrol (even though he’s still never seen the show) and boy is he into “stuffies”! Selah got him this little Marshall stuffie last year for his birthday and they are inseparable. He is also just hopelessly infatuated with turtles. I love his heart. Here he is on his birthday morning, wearing a 3 year old shirt, in his birthday balloon chair, with his birthday stuffie from last year. I just love this child of mine so much!

    On his actual birthday, he had testing at school for the morning (which he was really excited about, mostly because they got to chew gum, lol). Grandma and Grandpa were here to visit so we all picked him up from school, played at the park for a bit and then hit Chick-fil-a for lunch. Doesn’t get much better than that, does it??

    We celebrated as a family with mud pie (obviously). And…I discovered that I somehow lost all of our candles in the move. Hmmm. And I still haven’t found them. I’m starting to wonder if there’s a group of baby turtles out at our lake having a hey day with these colorful wax sticks that burn fire…

    I regress. I found some matches (matches?? who still owns matches??) so they served as our candles. It was a win-win because I also couldn’t find our lighters, so we just lit a match to light the match candles and told Elliott to HURRY UP and BLOW THEM OUT!!! We opened some special presents, one of which was the “biggest Lego set I’ve ever had!!” from Grandma and Grandpa. He might be a little excited.

    A different night, we ALSO went out to dinner at the Texas Road House (first year he hasn’t picked Red Robin!) which was fun because they put him on a saddle to sing to him!

    And, for the final celebration…One of Elliott’s best buddies, Quinn, has a birthday just 12 days after him. Our families decided to go to Great Wolf Lodge together to celebrate our boys. We ended up with two extra bands so each of the birthday boys got to pick one more friend to join in for the day. They went down a million slides, swam hard, bowled and even got to play in the arcade. It was such an awesome birthday!!

    Elliott is SO BLESSED with incredible friends. These three boys are no exception. This a group of respectful and kind, yet wild and super fun boys that I would happily have Elliott rub elbows with for a long time! They are such a blessing!!

    These two. I’m always tempted to pull out the baby pictures. Maybe I already have! It fills my heart with such extreme joy that these two were bosom buddies, and were friends long before they were born. What a GIFT and treasure from God!!

    Quinn’s sisters made a delicious Star Wars cake that was devoured pretty quickly for sure!

    Yes, we were all there too. And Grampa and Nonna joined us for lunch and birthday cake!

    Well, that’s a wrap. I will end with this picture, which I think is my absolute new favorite picture of my boy. But seriously.

    Happy birthday to our turtley awesome 8 year old boy!!

     

  • Selah’s Sixth Birthday Selahbration

    Selah’s Sixth Birthday Selahbration

    I am pretty sure that before every single birthday party we throw for our kids, I say, “Let’s keep it simple.” And every year, it just ends up being far from that. I seriously don’t know how it happens EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. This year for Selah’s birthday was no different…we decided to let her choose one friend to celebrate with and the plan was to…you guessed it…KEEP IT SIMPLE.

    But then as the birthday ideas began to come together in my mind, they just kinda snowballed into a somewhat extravagant birthday “Selahbration” for our girl. Her very special guest of honor was her dear friend Stella and so other than knowing that Stella would be there, we decided to keep all the party details a SURPRISE for Selah! Oh my, this turned out to be way more fun than I could have ever imagined!! The theme that came together was activities centered around the letter “S”…Selah turning Six with her friend Stella…it all just came together in my mind and I decided to send her on a little scavenger hunt with clues that she had to unscramble. (P.S. What a great learning opportunity! After I came up with this idea for her birthday clues I started incorporating unscrambling letters into her homeschooling day!) I created postcard clues with real STICKERS that she had to unscramble! I’ve never made stickers before and now I am totally hooked. I want to make stickers for everything. Super fun. I had so much fun prepping this day for her!

    So the day began with her finding an envelope pinned up to a cork board in our kitchen that read, “Selahbrate.” I had seven other envelopes waiting (six plus a bonus one) that I would place/hand out strategically. Within the first envelope was a card that explained the day ahead.

    She was VERY excited and immediately jumped out of her chair and began trying to find the six envelopes. I told her she couldn’t find them and that they would find her. “But how?!!” she kept asking. It was adorable. It was soooooooo hard for her to wait for the envelopes to “find her!!”

    To help kill time, Elliott selected a special book and suggested that she read it. It was one of her favorites–Angelina’s Birthday Surprise. And much to her surprise, as she began to read through it, an envelope fell out from the pages of the book! It said “#1” on it!! “WHAT?!! How did that get in there?!!” she exclaimed with glee. 

    She knew that Stella would be a part of her day and that was great because this was the first time she had ever unscrambled letters. This was definitely a challenge for her so it was great to start with one that she already knew the answer to :). So she unscrambled the letters and stuck them to her card and got…

    We headed off to pick up dear Stella. Once Selah greeted her I told Selah to go ahead and get back in the car so Stella could say goodbye to her mama. But when Stella climbed into the backseat with the kids, somehow she had envelope #2! Selah was SHOCKED when Stella handed her the next envelope! She opened it up and read the clue…

    Can YOU solve it?? Now, this one was a little tricky because it was actually two words and it was the second word that started with S. (But I knew if I put the first word into the print it would be too easy for her to solve.) And she had to unscramble it in the car. I told her which letters to group together for each word and with a little coaching, “What does the word have to end with to complete the rhyme?” and a few more prompts, she figured it out!

    She had been asking several months back if we could go ice skating and it just didn’t happen. When I thought of that idea for her birthday I knew it would be the perfect surprise adventure. The kids had never been so they were thrilled!!

    I was able to get a 30 minute private lesson for the girls. Stella had never skated either and this seemed like a good way to start things off. The gal was wonderful with them and happened to be from South Africa which was super fun!

    The girls had a BLAST and laughed their way through the lesson. Afterwards, the teacher handed envelope #3 to Selah. My goodness, you should have seen Selah’s face when she handed it to her! “How did she…??!!!” She couldn’t even finish her sentence she was so in shock!! She opened up the envelope and sorted the letters…

    In the second picture you can see Elliott running to tell me that he’s figured out the answer ;).

    The kids took a quick few bites and then were all eager to get back onto the ice! Brian gave Elliott his own set of private lessons. The rink also had these awesome walkers that the kids could use. It really helped them get comfortable on the ice. They all fell but they always got right back up with a smile. I was so proud of all of them!! (I was also proud of me who hadn’t been skating since…?? I have no idea!)

    After open skate time was over, the kids reluctantly got off the ice and enjoyed the rest of their snack while the zamboni prepared the ice for the hockey game that evening.

    We were at the Air Force Academy so we decided to swing by to see the chapel which will be closing for a long time for renovation. We walked in to look around and encouraged Selah to sit down in a certain pew. Within a few seconds she spotted the envelope sticking out of a hymnal and I’m pretty sure her jaw actually touched the floor!!

     

    This was another two-word clue. I did help her by sorting the letters into two piles so she could solve one word at a time. The party favors were that each kid got to pick out a stuffed animal. This was fun :).

    Selah brought her new stuffed animal up to the register and lo and behold, as the gal handed her stuffed animal back to her she also handed her an envelope… Selah’s utter shock never got old!!!

    We headed off to one of her favorite places to eat…

    She opened some very special presents, we had a delicious dinner and towards the end of our meal, Selah received a sixth envelope from the waitress!

    Now, for various reasons, I chose to do a Bonus envelope in addition to the six envelopes. I knew that this was, by far, going to be the best of all the surprises. She was surprised that their was a bonus envelope in the first place, but as she opened it and read it and started to figure out what it could be…she couldn’t even contain herself.

    It was both of the girls’ first (real) sleepover and it was absolutely fabulous. Girl chats, lots of laughter, not enough sleep, and delicious pancakes the next morning: utter birthday bliss :).

     

    Although yes, the clues turned out to be super fun and special, I have to say that what made this party a success were the people who were there to selahbrate with our girl! She had both sets of her grandparents there, her parents and brother, and her dear friend Stella who has so many of the qualities I have prayed for in a friend for Selah. Stella is kind-hearted, thoughtful and FUN!! She has the BEST giggle and she lets it loose freely!! I am thankful Selah had such a special friend to go on this birthday skating scavenger hunt adventure with her!  She was surrounded by people who love her tremendously, and that is what made it wonderful!!

    So all that to say… real simple, right?! 🙂 And the reality is, BEYOND this splendid birthday party Selahbration, Selah had multiple other celebrations…her very first classroom birthday celebration where her grandpa read one of her favorite books to her class, a park co-birthday celebration with one of her classmates after school, a birthday party at Grampa and Nonna’s house with family, AND…her Grandma and Grandpa took her and Elliott to Great Wolf Lodge for three days!!! AND we had mud pie at home on her actual birthday!! What a birthday!!! I have a feeling she’ll ask to turn 6 every year!! Selah girl, it is utter joy to selahbrate you!!!!