Aaron is FIFTEEN

Look at this cute little guy! It's Aaron and yesterday was his birthday. So this post is dedicated to our firstborn son...Aaron Jackson Kelley! Aaron was born in Texas and had his first birthday there too. Unfortunately, that was before digital cameras and I don't have any other of his cute baby pictures with us. Aaron turned 2 in Jordan and when he turned 3 (in Jordan too) he was a big brother to a newborn brother. He turned 4 in Sudan, 5 back in Jordan (because his second little brother was born there just a month earlier), and 6 in Texas. Aaron turned 7 in Sudan and now...finally, a picture. Aaron's 8th birthday in Sudan. Here he is with two of his buddies, one from Kenya and one from Finland/Germany.

And when he turned 9, well, same house, same table, same friends, same cups! Ha! Good to see that at least I had different plates! 

Aaron turned 10, same house, yes, same table and all of that, same friends...so I chose a different shot...the trampoline :)

OK, Aaron turned 11, but I'll spare you the picture. Actually, you should know that we branched out that year and had his party at a park! But I didn't have a good picture to put here, so I am adding a picture taken a few weeks later at the church Christmas program where Aaron was a shepherd and his brothers were angelic angels :)

Here is Aaron with some of his bestest friends in Sudan...

Aaron turned 12 back in Texas and before you know it...we were moving again! This time to Indonesia. Aaron turned 13 in Bandung.

And turned 14 in Palembang because...you guessed it...we moved again.

And to keep with the theme, Aaron is celebrating his 15 year birthday in a new country. We are SO happy to get to go to Malaysia to celebrate with him! Woohoo! We are so proud of this guy and so happy that God gave him to our family! Happy 15th Aaron!

Happy 10th Joel!

TEN YEARS ago our precious Joel joined the family! Happy Birthday JOEL!

We were living in Sudan at the time, but we went to Jordan for Joel to make his grand entry. He was welcomed by his two big brothers!

Joel has added smiles and laughter to our lives ever since!

What a fun three-some we have!

Big brother Seth, who is often mistaken as his twin, is helping to babysit!

Joel and his daddy!

Joel and his cousin Shelby!

Joel and his Aunt Michelle!

Joel spent his first birthday in Texas and his second birthday in Sudan.

Joel celebrated his third birthday in Sudan too. 

And when he turned four, he got to celebrate with his preschool class.

Happy Fifth, Joel! 

Joel often sports a Koolaid mustache

Aunt Julia took Joel for a special ice cream treat when he turned SIX. 

That's also the year he broke his arm. Brave kid!

How's that for a cool hair-do?

At birthday #7, Joel got to celebrate with his cousin Carl in Texas!

And got to spend time family...like Papa!

And got to learn the piano. Nice piano attire, huh? That's Texas-style!

Joel and Aunt April!

Then we moved to Indonesia and Joel got to celebrate #8 with friends in Bandung.

And #9 with friends in Palembang.

And this year, he turned 10. Wow! He got a Robo Hamster named Hammie. You can Google "Roborovski Hamster" to see how tiny these little guys are. Our cat Eddie likes Hammie too. Eddie would like to rename him "Snack".

Happy Birthday to our 10 year old. We love you, Joel!

Happy Birthday Seth!

Today our middle son, Seth, is TWELVE YEARS OLD! It seems like just yesterday that we welcomed him into our family of three! We were living in Jordan back then, so Seth was our "Arab" baby, although he didn't look very Arab!

Seth was supposed to have his first birthday in Sudan. But because of 9/11 our plans were postponed and he had his first birthday in Jordan. Not long after that we moved to Sudan.

Just before Seth turned two we went back to Jordan because the next month Seth became a big brother! So Seth celebrated his birthday with a Blues Clues party in Amman, Jordan.

After spending Christmas in Jordan, we went back to our home in Sudan. 

The following summer we returned to Texas for a year. Seth turned three there and had a Clifford the Big Red Dog cake. He did NOT want to open presents and I had to take him to the other room during his party and tell him, "You WILL open these gifts and you WILL be happy about it!"  He was so happy when his brother Joel had his birthday the next month and I found Seth saying, "I don't have to open gifts this time."  Haha! It is funny now but it wasn't then!

When Seth turned four in Sudan, he handed out Alphabet Cupcakes to all his classmates in pre-school.

Then there was Seth's 5 year Spiderman birthday party. The infamous spider pinata  was my very first pinata to make and I did not know you should NOT make it tough, but rather easy to break. The kids tried and tried to break it and finally Kris had to beat the spider to smithereens with a broom handle while the mothers looked on in horror! Funny memory!

In spite of the spider fiasco, I love the picture of the party-goers. Seth is American. Behind him are an Afghani, Sudanese, Indian, Italian and two Dutch boys! 

When Seth turned six he wanted a computer cake! So that's what he got! Those of you who know Seth know that a computer cake is very "Seth"!

The following year Seth had a Batman cake for his seven year birthday.

Seth's class at Nile Valley Academy sang happy birthday to him before he handed out cupcakes.

 Seth turned eight with a party for all his friends with cake and games. Later that year we went to Switzerland. Here is Seth freezing in Wilderswill!

And speaking of freezing, we spent seven months in the States that year and Seth got to enjoy snow! He had a small family party in Texas when he turned nine.

By the time Seth turned 10, our family had moved to Bandung, Indonesia. He had a party for all his friends. But later in the summer  he had a special "Ten Year Old Camp Out" with friends from Sudan and he received his 10 Year Old Sword from Kris.

On the day Seth turned 10, he got his glasses! Also a trip to Dairy Queen. Yum!

And the very next year, when Seth turned 11, we had moved again. Seth loved the show "Wipeout" so that was his cake that year.

This year we are in Bali for Seth's birthday.

Happy 12th Birthday to Seth! He is such a blessing to our family!