Farm Boy Turns Six

Happy birthday! Look at birthday boy! You want to drive this morning? Yeah. So I'm gonna do the pedals, you're gonna do the steering wheel.

Yeah.

Okay, ready? Yep.

Let's do it.

You're gonna start turning.

Back it up.

Good driving, Gideon. Gideon, you and Josiah go let out the chickens. I forgot their wheel was broke, so we're just gonna leave them in that paddock, fix that tomorrow. Uh, you guys go let out the chickens. Gideon, if I give you an Osmo A little camera. Will you kind of document? Okay, turn it on right here and it's on. And to record, you hit this red button. Okay, look until it starts blinking red. Joan and I are going to stay here and put up the nets. Boys, Gideon and Josiah will go down and do the sea monsters.

Step over. Now pet him.

Good.

I'll take some.

We're taming them. We're taming them to that alfalfa, getting them to be alfalfa addicts. Oh, are you putting the seat on him? Are you gonna milk today, birthday boy?

Oh yeah, I want to milk.

Milking time, Mr. Brown. Cute. He's cute on that bench. I'm not sure you need that bench. It might make you higher.

I knew you wanted to watch because you're so tall.

He's just sitting on the ground. This is great. Let me have this one, okay? You do that one.

So we are going to decorate for Gideon's birthday. Hey Teddy, hey, what's wrong? Daddy, look over here. Oh, is that full of helium?

Mr. Brown's breakfast, toast. Toast and cheeseburger. Toast was your idea. Hey, you guys did a good job decorating. Mr. Brown's sticking with the shark theme.

I like it.

We got some decorations. This is my favorite, the spinny fan. Good job, boys. What in the world? This is her little corner, isn't it?

It is.

Why you like this corner?

I don't know, because it doesn't— it doesn't like— it's, uh, extra space, I guess.

Yeah.

And like all that other space gets used pretty for like dining prep. It is, honey.

And what are you making?

I'm making— well, we're doing spice nut cake for Gideon's birthday. We have monster trucks to go on top.

Nice. What is this foamy stuff?

It's, uh, egg whites.

Oh, neat. Look, Mom, Lowe's is here for all your sheeshaw stuff. Hopefully this weekend Rebecca's got the cakes out. What are you working on over there?

I'm making this pizza crust that has mozzarella in the crust.

Ooh.

So—

That one will be mine.

Yeah, this is more for you because it's—

I've cooked bacon, so we're gonna have a meat lovers.

For you.

Meat lovers, which is Italian sausage.

Oh, you know what?

And bacon.

Oh, I don't have any cream. Because I could make the white sauce, but I don't want any cream.

That's all right, you're doing enough tomato sauce for me like everybody else. Although you can make carnivore pizza. There's, uh, there's, uh, pizza— there's a bacon crust, there's a beef, a grounded hamburger crust, there's a chicken-based crust, chicken and egg-based crust. But it's not, it's not the same. Well, no, we can have that on a non-cheese I know, right? I'm gonna go ahead and start grinding these cheeses. Mozzarella cheeses. Mucho. These pizza crusts are turning out nice. The sauce heated up. You making more pizza crust?

No, this is the frosting. And Teddy is in love with this balloon.

I know. What is it? What is it, Teddy? What is it? What is it? What is it?

Watch this, do this.

What is it?

Watch this. Teddy.

He's like—

He's all breathing hard. Look! Double, double layer spice nut cake. I think it's everybody's favorite.

It is. Well, I had ice cream cake. And I have— oh, Lily did have an ice cream cake.

Because you weren't carnivore.

Well, thank you. That was very kind of you.

Because I think ice cream is more carnivore than—

Well, she likes ice cream. I think it is, yeah. You are an ice cream girl. I think it's because you like it.

Well, she wanted a cake and ice cream, and she wanted them mixed together, and I was like, still not kind of feeling well, and I was like, I can do a cake or ice cream.

Hey, Gideon, what do you think about your cake so far?

Good.

Yes, and look at Mom, she's done icing it.

Yeah, and the icing turned out I'm so happy everything's turning out. I finally figured out a good ratio to cream cheese to butter and powdering maple sugar.

Teddy has picked up that we're about to go do the ice bath. You want to do the ice bath? It's your birthday, yes or no? All right, let's do it. Okay, we all gonna go in together? It's at 55 degrees. 55 for 5. 1, 2, 3. Come on in, birthday boy. 1, 2, 3. Come on, come on. Got one leg in. You don't have to do it if you don't want to. Okay, he says. All right, Gideon did end up getting both his legs in there and his head. You dunked your head?

Yeah.

You want to try it? You want to get in your whole body? You don't have to if you don't want to. Oh, he's gonna do it, he's gonna do it, he's gonna do it! Oh, good job! Oh, been a bunch of ice boys here. Good job, good job, ice girl! Meanwhile, homemade croutons. Yes, toasted gluten-free bun, just chopped up.

And I, I add some stuff in there.

Starting supper with a salad. You like salad? Gideon's been telling people all day he's having pizza and lettuce for his supper. Rebecca's got to build your own, so the kids have built their own. They're cooking. That's good. That's fun, Rebecca. Look at there, buddy. How you like it?

Good.

That looks so good.

Mm-hmm.

Time for presents.

Here's mine.

I see you already got some monster trucks from Mama.

Yeah.

What is it?

A watch.

It's his old watch.

It's my old watch.

Good. You're getting old enough for that now, buddy. You next, Lily?

Yes.

Okay.

I wrapped it.

Fancy wrap job.

Yeah, I just had to.

Oh, dollar bills! Oh my goodness, nice! Happy birthday, Gideon!

Yeah, that's nice.

Okay, Gideon, here's from Josiah.

Jonah, it doesn't have any bullets.

Oh, it's old BB gun. I have to be with you when you shoot that thing, okay? Gideon, I'm gonna give you an experience this year. We're gonna go on a hike and build a fire. We'll find a cave, roast a hot dog. Does that sound good to you?

Okay, have daddy time.

All right, this is from Grandma and Grandpa.

Okay, read it for me.

Found the same thing.

We thought we'd take you and the others for a day at the stables. Riding horses. Grandma and Grandpa are going to do something special for you. I'd say.

Oh, listen.

He's just caught up in the card. Next up, before cake. Birthday blessings. Lily, you got anything nice you want to say about Gideon?

He's a good brother. She's headed right to the cake.

Oh, we should have done this after the cake.

That's the exact word that came.

He's a good brother. He shares his things. He's nice. He's a good little brother.

All right, go ahead, Jonah.

Oh, well, Gideon's always been the wild child. He's a good brother too.

All right, it's y'all's 6-year anniversary.

I know, he wasn't even born yet, so can we really be celebrating? I told him, I said, maybe we should celebrate tomorrow since you're born at 9 o'clock. He said no, we should celebrate today, which is funny. I was telling Justin that we ate pizza, which was what we ate for dinner, um, when I— before I really went into labor with him, we had pizza the day— that day, and it was quite delicious. All right, Gideon. I was looking up, uh, I was looking up other names today, and then I stumbled across Gideon. And one of the meanings of Gideon means destroyer. Oh no.

I thought it was mighty warrior, then that's why we named him.

I am a destroyer.

He says that.

He says I actually am. I destroy lolos. I destroy the size lolo.

Yeah, you are a destroyer?

Mm-hmm.

Okay, well, we'll hope.

Well, you help your father and I have a lot of humility. In being parents. You've, uh, you've allowed us to see that you are very full of life. Whether you're happy or sad, it is very full.

He'll watch this when he's 20.

But he's just a very— he just has the zest of life in him, and I very much appreciate him for that. The last couple of months he's become very sweet and it's been, it's been fun being his mom and he's been very thoughtful in what he says and what he's been doing. And so I really appreciate him. And he broke the mold. He broke the mold, which is I guess why it took us so long to have another child.

Mr. Brown, have you ever heard people say he's the life of the party? You ever heard say that?

Nope.

Well, that's like the, the everybody's favorite. It's the guy who makes everybody happy and laugh and smile. You're the life of the party because you are full of life, and anybody's gonna have a great birthday, it's you. And I hope you use that destroying ability to destroy all the bad things in the world and make this a better place. And I'm pretty sure you will.

Grandma!

I like it when he asks me to sit next to him at dinner, and that's fun. And when he comes to my house, he always wants to play farm, so we have a lot of fun. We have two farms, and he always wants me to get that one down.

Big Daddy!

Gideon's just, uh, He's just all boy, and he's the only child I know that in the winter his clothes don't change. What he has on today, it doesn't matter if it's snowing out there.

That's your outfit.

But I, I, I was taken back when, uh, when Grandma came home from the hospital and she was sitting in there and he came in and, and he, uh, started rubbing her feet. I thought, that's very compassionate, you know?

Yeah, it's very mindful.

That's the change he did a couple months ago. He just like changed into like realizing that he wasn't the center of the world or something, and other people People have needs. It's amazing.

Look at that.

Now that's a quick and easy way to turn a cake into a monster truck cake. Yep.

He asked me for a monster truck cake.

You weren't about to form it, were you? Alright, you want to try to blow that out? Hey, if you get it in one shot, that's right. After we sing happy birthday, you can blow it out, right?

Oh yeah. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Mr. Brown.

Happy birthday to you. Woo!

You blow it out, you get a wish. Oh!

Yeah!

Now can I put them on? What's your wish? What's the wish? What's your wish, Gideon?

I hope I have a good birthday.

Oh, good. How is it, Mr. Brown?

Isn't it—

you like it?

Yeah, I'm very—

the best.

I feel like this may have been my best work yet.

These kids are being quiet. What do you think? You're already halfway done. Let's try it. That's a winner.

Yeah, the icing turned out really good too.