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Last week we celebrated Amy's birthday. Nothing fancy or elaborate, just dinner and some time with the kids. In fact, we've just come through a season of birthday celebrations, four to be exact; Asher turned 13, Aiden turned 16, Jay turn 40-???, and Amy turned 40-something.

Birthdays in the Higham house are special days. From early on, Amy has tried to created a number of wonder tradition that celebrate each member of the family.  From balloons to special dinner requests to their favorite cake and ice cream, Amy works hard to make each birth day fun and unique.

So what do we do to celebrate our amazing kids? Here are a few simple and fun traditions we share in the Higham House.
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From the time our oldest was little, Amy has blown up dozens of balloons to fill the floor of their bedrooms. The night before their birthday, she takes 1 to 2 bags of balloons, and inflates them. As soon as the kids are asleep, she moves all of the balloons into the bedroom. When they wake, they wake to a sea of colorful balloons covering the floor.
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We have family chores. Each one of our kids take their turn at setting the table, washing dishes, unloading the dishwasher, taking out the trash, and so on and so on. Except on their birthday. On their birthday, they are excused from their daily chores. We started doing this as a way to celebrate them for a day.
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As our kids grow older, they started to develop their own sense of likes and dislikes. Part of those likes are the foods they prefer. So to help celebrate their special day, Amy started asking them for their favorite dinner items. Now they look forward to creating their birthday menu. From Ribs to Hot Dogs, to Mac n' Cheese to wings. The variety of items is as diverse our kids, but dinner is still delicious.
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To top off their special day, Amy now takes requests for birthday cake or ice cream cake. It's usually not much of a choice as most of the kids prefer ice cream cake. And as a good mom should, Amy faithfully creates a masterpiece of cookies and cream ice cream, oreo cookie crust and caramel drizzle. It's their favorite.
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It's not fancy. It's not expensive. Simple, yet memorable. Easy ways to celebrate your children's special day!

- the higham family

We've also experienced the Curse of Three. Do you know about the Curse of Three?

The Curse of Three is when three bad things happen over a short period of time. Sometimes it's within days and sometimes it's within hours. Regardless of when it happens, you know it's happening it happens.
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When it comes to bad things, it helps us to think about how we want to handle and respond to the bad things. In each of the 3 situations, we had to choose our response to what was happening. As these things happened we realized that certain things were out of our hands. All 3 events happened at no fault to what we were doing. They just happened.

You will see bad things. Difficult times will come. Whether it's the Curse of Three or rainy days that seem to never end, we're reminded of a very important truth. GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.

We have been hit by the Curse of Three many times. But in each scenario, we've trusted that God was still working and moving in and through what we were dealing with. Instead of over reacting, we took a step back, considered the situation, prayed, and stepped forward towards the solution.

For example, when we got a flat tire driving Nate back to school, we didn't panic or get angry. Nate and Jay changed the tire. Jay dropped Nate off at school. Then Jay when to Flynn's Tire, who quickly replaced the tire.  After 30 minutes, Jay was heading home riding on a brand new, 'safe' tire. Fortunately we had money in our savings account.

Replacing the tire was our third bad thing to happen in less than 24 hours. No, it might not have been the most devastating "bad thing" that could have happened. But after our two previous "bad things," the flat tire was frustrating, annoying, and not something we wanted to deal with it. Plus, it cost us something; time and money.

Don't let the Curse of Three, or the "rainy day" ruin what is happening in other parts of you life. Remember, God is bigger than even the biggest bad thing you can imagine. Stay calm. Be patient. Trust in God goodness. Things may actually get worse before the get better. But stay on your knees before God and walk forward knowing that his plan for you is his perfect plan for you.

​- the higham family

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This weekend we loaded up the Expedition with four of the five kids, and we made our way towards Philadelphia, PA! My brother was getting married and the family was gathering for the week's festivities. So off we went.

After some serious white-knuckle driving, we drove out of the snow and into the freezing rain. Yes, freezing rain. Twenty minutes of slipping and sliding down the highway, dodging semi's and travelers; more white-knuckle driving. It was intense, but we made it to our hotel, settled in and called it a night. 

The rest of the weekend was great. The wedding was nice. The reception was good. But the highlight was the time spent with family. Our kids don't get to see the cousins very often, so it was nice that they had some time to visit and hang out. In fact, now that most of the cousins are teenagers, it was really fun to watch them joke and laugh and talk about all sorts of stuff.
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everyone's schedules to line up for a full family trip to Philly. Even this time, we left our oldest (who is 20) home because he had to work.
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I know we've said it before, but as the kids get older, we realize more and more that time is running out. Like I just said, our oldest is 20. He turns 21 in just a few months. Number two is 19. Our youngest is 10 going on 16. The same is true of our extended family. The cousins are growing up just as fast. So to be able to spend time with our extended family is a true blessing. Spending time with our family, is of the utmost importance for us. We want to enjoy time with our kids. Have big adventures. Have mini adventures. Make memories. Write stories. Create the moments that we will all share and laugh out when we're sitting around the holiday table reliving what we're (or are) the good 'ol days.

Snow storm aside, it was a wonderful weekend. We had a great time. We talked. We laughed. We enjoyed spending time together. And we were reminded of the need to spend more intentional time together. As winter comes to an end, and spring leads into summer, we're looking forward to a series of fun adventures with the kids. Life is good, and we're grateful to have all that God has given our family.

- the higham family