Our sweet Declan Kolbe turned NINE this weekend.
"I can't believe I'm nine. I still feel like I'm only eight."
The night before his birthday, I told Declan that I was going to take him grocery shopping with me in the morning. He said "Yesssss! That's my favorite thing to do in the morning!" This boy is an absolute joy, smiles so easily and is happy to tag along anywhere. He is constantly asking to come with us on errands, dog walks, and runs and can keep up while chatting us up the whole time. He was very happy to find cards from his siblings (JP face-timed him from college):
He picked donuts for breakfast:
He reminded me that I had said that everybody could use the foot massager on their birthday:
After lunch (Annie's mac n cheese that he had picked out at the grocery store) he got to open his big present:
A nighthawk! Don't worry, we made him go put on shoes and a helmet before he zoomed off.
Declan picked shepherd's pie "with only corn, no peas and carrots" for dinner and triple chocolate cake (with ice cream, of course) for dessert.
Declan has always loved dolphins. He hopes to swim with them one day and I hope his dream comes true, but until then, he has a nice light for his room.
Nana and Gramps sent up The Chronicles of Narnia set, which was a big hit! Xander stole book five to read right away.
Gammy and Grandpa got him a fitness tracker, which he has been asking for since Brendan got one on his last birthday.
And we gave him a Paint by Sticker book with ocean animal pictures. The kids love doing these :)
Declan, we all love you so very much. You are a kind and generous little boy who is so very thankful for everything you have. You love so easily and give out hugs and say "I love you from the bottom of my heart" every single time we leave each other. You love to play outside, especially soccer, but you are a great student in school as well, and a friend to all. You are coming out of your shyness each year and it's fun watching you grow in confidence. We don't deserve a beautiful soul like you, but we are so very grateful to God for the gift of Declan Kolbe Martin. We love you from the bottoms of our hearts. Happy Birthday!
Took much cuteness! Those adorable little knees in the soccer picture!
ReplyDeleteI love taking the kids on errands solo; it really is a great time for conversation. That dolphin nightlight is incredible. I have a child that would love that (though not as much as he'd love the nighthawk!)
Happy Birthday to your special birthday boy.
Thank you Elisabeth, pulling up those old photos really makes me miss their little knees and chubby cheeks. Birthdays are so sentimental for moms :)
DeleteHappy belated birthday Declan! What a perfect celebration of you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Madeline, the nighthawk has been a huge hit, maybe something your kids would like?!
DeleteHappy happy birthday to sweet Declan!
ReplyDeleteThank you Beth, gotta love him to pieces before he turns into a big stinky teenage boy ;)
DeleteHappy birthday to your kiddo! I know you have more experience with this than I do, but nine has been my FAVORITE age so far! Hope it is a great year!
ReplyDeleteOoooh that's good to hear. I always say four is my favorite age, but no more four year olds, so it will be nice to look forward to nine :)
DeleteHappy birthday, Declan!! I can't get over how incredibly sweet it is that he says he loves you from the bottom of his heart. What a special kid! Did that donut come like that or did you add to it?!? Pretty amazing!
ReplyDeleteAlso chuckling over your disclaimer about a helmet and shoes before he rode his nighthawk "for real". Yesterday Cecilia was headed out to ride her bike wearing her sister's too-big slides and I told her she has to change into real shoes. 45 minutes later when I went to call her for dinner, I discover her BAREFOOT and she said "What!? You told me not to wear sandals!" *facepalm* She did have her helmet at least...
The donut came like that! Honestly it was too sweet for everyone and a lot of it ended up in the trash. He heard a homily once where the deacon said that he said "I love you from the bottom of my heart" to his dad every day, and has been doing it ever since. We certainly try to keep the kids as safe as possible, but there's a lot of barefoot playing here too!
DeleteAw, this is so sweet. If Curly was a girl, she would've been Declan - not sure I ever told you that. Curly loves dolphins too. That light is really cute. I love how enthusiastic he is about everyday adventures. Happy belated birthday. *I planned to get caught up on reading posts during my 3 hour test today. Things didn't go as planned. Long story, so I'm getting caught up later than planned.
ReplyDeleteDeclan really is such a great name, Irish, unique but not hard to pronounce. I can't wait to hear about your test gone wrong!
DeleteI love all his 'younger' pics, but I mostly love his big, happy heart!! What a sweet, kind and caring young man you have. Tell him I'm a fan of Dolphins and using a foot massager too! 😜
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