Part I: Jack's Birthday

Waiting for our party guests to arrive

Little boy blue turned five years old yesterday! Stephanie and Tim wanted to celebrate with us in the evening, so we did not do a whole lot during the day except hang out and clean up for their visit. I had to make a grocery run (for the second cake, since Sophia planted her whole hand  in and screwed up the first one, for helium balloons, tulips to add some cheer, and eggs for dyeing).

You're a real pistil, you know that?!

My first-ever (I know!) attempt at making deviled eggs - not *too* bad

Sophia doing... well, I really don't know what!

When S&T arrived, there was not much time before I had to pack and leave for the hospital, so we had another quickie birthday for Jack. On the one hand, I feel bad that he had two such rapid-fire parties, but on the other hand, I don't mind since he doesn't seem to care, either!  We'll go with the second emotion, I do believe.

*Can I just stop right here and interject a totally irrelevant aside? I miss mystery shopping, and it has been very tempting for me to go back into it! Not the restaurant ones, actually; I have washed my hands of those and won't do it again, lest I blow up another ton and a half. But the fun ones, like taking the kids on the carousel rides or to the waterpark, and the services that we use, like getting oil changes and eye exams, those are the ones making me wish I hadn't said I was completely quitting for good. And I could really use an oil change right now!*

Back to Jack.

The first thing we did was go outside, before we lost sunlight, and do our annual Balloon Release to Robby. You can see a video of that here. [I could embed a video of it here, too, but it takes forever for me to upload them to YouTube, and I'm too impatient.]

That brought up a lot of discussion about Robby, between yesterday and today, and it's mostly Jack asking the questions now. Finally. I have been waiting for these days to come for five years, and it's kind of a relief to know that he is now interested. At first he was mad that someone else had to share his birthday, but once he realized that someone wasn't even coming to the party, let alone getting his presents and eating his cake, the questions started coming about where he was, why he was there, what happened to him, when he was coming back, and so forth. No tears on his part or mine, just frank discussion. He is not quite sure whether to accept yet that Robby is his brother, and he really doesn't understand the concept of twins, but there will be plenty of time for that later and I will not force it.

So back inside we went, and he insisted on opening his presents first. Well, you only turn five once, so why not?

A bouncy hopper thing from Daddy and me, which was blown up today and loved!

And a Cars bouncy ball - sense a theme forming?

Lots of cool books from Grandma and Aunt Gail !

A new outfit, including (what else?) a Cars t-shirt, from Steph and Tim

New games from Aunt Stacey!

He also received cold, hard cash from his aunt and grandpa, and was particularly excited about that. I told him we needed to get him a wallet, but he shouted, "NO! I just want to put it in my pocket!!"  I explained to him that he would not be wearing the same pants every day, and the money would probably get lost, blah blah blah. He agreed to sit on my lap and look online for a cool wallet.  Well, I thought we'd choose a, oh, I don't know, Lightning McQueen one, but he said he wanted a plain, black one, like Daddy's! So we shall go to the store and get exactly what he wants. Should be easy. We'll see. 

And then, with his money, he wants to buy lots and lots of candy! Ha! His eyes were so bright when talking about that. We have decided he can start getting an allowance now, too, so we're going to give him two dollars a week. But no, he can't buy all candy with it. ;)

Time for upside-down cake! Both cakes were virtually identical, except this one had two Maters and one LMQ, and vice-versa on the other. See the LMQ candle? I dont know why it has a tree on it... but was with me when I bought this candle and has been asking for it ever since. For like, four months! The boy has a long memory when it comes to things he wants.

Did you make a wish, my darling?

If nothing else, we are teaching our kids to use impeccable manners.

Stephanie's neice, Caroline, peeking up from her Bumbo seat. She's gorgeous, now at 8 months old!

Caro loves balloons!

Caroline says "bye-bye! Now wait while Part II is posted!"

Fin.