“Now Elijah is seven and he can read big books and write books and letters to his friends. He can saw and split wood with a hatchet and knit an entire scarf. He can “conquer” a baseball and do tricks on his bike. He became a big brother again when Màiri was born and rocks her and takes care of her. Elijah has grown strong and beautiful, smart and kind and we are happy to be here with him on his 7th birthday!”

~from Elijah’s Rainbow Bridge story

Iain’s 7th birthday inspired a rather long-winded, picture packed post, so it seems only fitting that Elijah’s should do the same. Don’t worry, you’ve got a few years before you have to sit through Galen’s 7th birthday post.

My Mother was visiting on his actual birthday, which was a special treat for him. In the morning we hiked to a friends house to buy some more plants for our garden; sungold tomatoes and a variety of sweet peppers, yum! We were in the woods for a long time, most of the day really.

Since Steve had to go to work, we waited until the evening for our official celebration. We did a reading of his rainbow bridge story as well as the marking of symbols as blessings. I’m so glad that we managed these things. I hate the stereotype of doing all the special things for a firstborn and then not bothering for subsequent children. I’m hopping that this just becomes the things we do for a seventh birthday. We’ve got at least a couple more shots at it, so I suppose time will tell. We did the Wonder Book thing as well, though I will admit that I didn’t write a poem for him, mostly because I was busy working on his baby book. Perhaps I’ll do one for when that first very wiggly tooth finally drops out.

And, as with Iain’s birthday, there was a bit of younger sibling involvement too.

And there were presents of course. He received lots of art supplies, very pleasing to my little artist boy. Iain knitted him a teddy bear. Elijah named it ‘Blackberry’. So very sweet!

From Mama and Papa, he got that which he has been coveting most; a guitar of his very own (a chance garage sale find on our part). AND the beginnings of a baby book. Finally. It’s not done, but I did manage to put together 12 nice pages before gifting it.

We had carob cake with the Carmelly Carob Topping from this recipe as icing. We really like that frosting. I add vanilla to mine and I think it’s an improvement on the original.

The public celebration:
When I asked Elijah what he wanted to do for his birthday party, without hesitation he replied, “I want to go biking with my friends.”

How cool is this kid?!?

After a bit of brainstorming we came up with a plan to meet at park at the beginning of a bike trail for a potluck lunch, followed by biking and then back again for the fabulous build-your-own-sundae desert table (we obviously set aside our low sugar restrictions for the party!).

Elijah’s requested potluck contributions were veggie sushi (I told you this kid was cool! And I’m chuckling to myself now because in looking back at the Iain birthday post, I see that he had veggie sushi for his 7th birthday too) and chicken salad in lettuce leaf wraps. No arguments from me on that one! My sushi always turns out looking sloppy. I blame my dull knives. But it sure tastes good!

The sundae thing came about when the subject of sundae’s came up (don’t remember how, probably from a book?) and I had to explain to the children what exactly they were. Elijah wanted to know if he could try one for his birthday and thus the build-your-own-sundae birthday buffet was born.

We had both regular and diary-free “ice-cream” options. My theory on the toppings was to offer a large selection of healthy things and then a couple of less healthy options to make it feel like a very special treat. There were banana slices and cherries, sliced strawberries, crushed pineapple, shredded coconut, sliced almonds, walnuts, raisins, dried apricots, violet syrup, and whipped coconut cream. Also cut up lara bars, apple sauce (this was the one topping that seemed to see very little action) AND much smaller bowls of chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, mini marshmallows, jelly beans, sprinkles and colored sugar*; all organic, gluten-free and colored with fruits and vegetables. It was FUN!

I could just kiss the inventor of the helmet.

I honestly have no idea how it is that none of my children has ever broken a limb.

Galen even got to practice some of his new mad tric-ing skills.

That’s my dad with him!

*I found out the my local health food store now carries these decorating sugars by India Tree. A whole new world of holiday baking has just opened up for us!