Mr. Z's Birthday

Mr. Z's birthday caught us by surprise this year.  We knew it was his birthday, but hadn't planned anything for it.  Last year we went and wrote notes to him, put them in a jar and sent it down the river to the ocean.  After school John and I got talking about the evening--it was Monday and Family Home Evening night, and decided that we wanted to do something for Mr. Z's birthday, but something different than last year.  Bouncing ideas off of each other we remembered that we had a partially full helium tank and balloons.  We sent balloons off for loved ones with Mr. Z one summer (a tradition he carried on with his siblings for their step mom), and decided it would be appropriate.  Since it would be dark, we decided to hook glow sticks to the ribbons so the kids could watch them float away.  I hurried and baked a cake for treats, and we were all set.  We explained to the kids what we were going to do, and they were so excited!  Mr. Z will always hold a special place in our hearts. :)

Once all the balloons were blown up and glow sticks hooked on, we went outside and had a quiet reflective moment.  We told the kids to remember their favorite times with Mr. Z, and tell him they missed him.

And then it was time to let them go.

We watched until we couldn't see the glow sticks anymore.  We were laughing that the neighbors were going to think there were UFO's flying over the neighborhood. lol

We came back inside and had cake and ice cream, and sang 'Happy Birthday'.

All the kids got to help blow out his candle.  We shared our favorite memories while we ate.  I am glad we didn't let his birthday go unnoticed. We miss you Mr. Z!  Happy birthday! September 9th, 2013