Sick On His Seventh Birthday

Thursday was Koen's birthday.  Tuesday night he had started coughing and Wednesday it was evident he was coming down with a cold.  He was starting to show signs of this really being some kind of virus Wednesday evening when he quit swimming lessons early and barely ate any dinner.  Poor kid!  We hoped for the best and he did sleep pretty well in the night, so we started our Thursday off as planned (he had a field trip in the AM which Doug was chaperoning and I sent in cocoa chocolate chip banana muffins for a special birthday snack).  Here's our half-hearted birthday boy at breakfast.  Poor thing!

Doug kept me updated during the field trip about Koen's health and energy level and by 11am it was apparent that Doug should just drop him off at home after his field trip for a restful afternoon with Mommy.  While Koen was doing his best to get through his birthday morning at school (he had really wanted to go of course as it is so fun to be with your friends on your birthday!) the little guys and I had fun at home.  Penn was in a delightful mood.  Here's just one of the 15 smiles I grabbed on camera.

Tavin was at preschool most the morning, but when he got home I had a cardboard kayak waiting for him and he loved it (just a big box from Amazon and a wrapping paper roll).

I had fun wrapping Koen's gifts and coordinating them, but since little boys don't often notice these detail-oriented, time-consuming tasks, I thought I'd put a picture on the blog. =)

Koen was still feverish and very low on energy when it came time to open presents, but he rallied a little bit to open the gifts of course.  It was actually really sweet.  With his suppressed demeanor he really took it slow, appreciated everything and paid attention to the details of each gift.  It was precious.  But also sad to see him so unlike his energetic, excited self on his birthday.  Here's a quick review of present opening.  First cards of course.  Since Koen missed lunch at school, he still had to read my little surprise lunch box note.

Gramma & Grampa's card.  It's so neat because this year Koen is so confidently reading everything that he read all his own birthday cards.  

Tavin and Doug were in charge of doling out the presents.  They did it as horse and rider.  It was hilarious (and a good way to distract Tavin from the fact Koen was getting all the presents and a lot of the attention).

The faces in this picture are hilarious.  Tav looks totally bummed (he was convinced every present would be Legos), Koen looks confused at what it is and Doug look ecstatic.  

Once Doug explained it to Koen, Koen got very excited and we've already enjoyed playing the game together.

Our sweet friend, Lisa, stopped by on Thursday morning to drop off a gift from Koen.  It may have been his favorite.

Look at that face!  It's the trash truck from the Lego Movie and he was very excited about it!

We gave him a bucket of random Lego pieces to help with some of his more creative Lego play.  We also gave him a Rainbow Loom which is apparently all the rave these days (it's actually quite interesting).  He was excited about both of those, but as you can see he was very intrigued by this gift we saved for last...a hockey set.  After all the hockey the boys have been playing on the dining room floor, we thought it'd be fun to get them some mini nets and sticks to keep their indoor play interesting.  Koen was excited, but Tavin was as well.

Well, although I had plans of family dinner out at a favorite pizza place and then home for chocolate ice cream, we had to just lay low and Koen had scrambled eggs and toast for his birthday dinner. =(  He didn't even get his ice cream (his choice).  Poor bug!  We also ended up having to postpone his little friend birthday party that was set to be Friday afternoon after school.  Stay tuned for more birthday celebrations to come early next week when hopefully our 7-year-old is back to his normal self!

Happy Birthday, Koen.  We love you so much.  You are an amazing kid and it has been a joy this past year to watch you grow, learn and explore.  Some highlights include the amazing progress you've made at school in reading and math, your continual giftedness with your little brothers and ability to lead and love them and your development in your self-control, helpfulness and attitude.  We look forward to seeing what the Lord does in the next year as we continue to pray His will over your life, Koen.