Xander at 17

Xander’s Birthday 2016 from Michelle Lehnardt on Vimeo.

Unless you’ve met Xander, you’ve probably never met anyone like Xander. He’s the kid who salvages old skis and bikes to make a ski bike, the kid with the quickest wit and the kindest heart, a friend to everyone, but happiest with his own family.

And every year we celebrate his birthday the same way– six pounds of dry ice, mentos and diet Coke fountains, sparklers and pellet guns.

If you’ve never bought dry ice just to play with, you really should.

I love how everyone takes dry ice very seriously.

Admittedly, making dry ice bombs are the main attraction.

For his birthday Xander asked for four things: a unicycle, a recurve bow, a snare drum or a ukulele. He only expected one, but since we ended up sending back his main Christmas present (a viola pickup), we spoiled him with two. We thought it was interesting that everything on Xander’s list represented a learning opportunity. That’s so Xander. He loves learning– school, TED talks, science videos, books, etc.

Ben and Sammie bought him this book  Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words. The author uses only the 1,000 most common words in English to explain everything. It’s hilarious, slightly educational and you probably need it.

The ukulele is easy to learn, the unicycle– not so much. But five days later, he’s getting pretty good.

Happy, happy birthday Xander dear! You always make us happy.

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1 Comment

  1. ellen patton

    February 12, 2016

    Your videos are delightful.

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