To use up chocolate and peanut butter filling from last weekend’s birthday cake, I decided to make some dark chocolate cookie sandwiches. Fortunately we have a party to attend tomorrow, so I don’t have to eat these all myself! If it’s possible to die from pure deliciousness, you’re looking at it!
Then, for good measure, a strawberry rhubarb cobbler, with ingredients fresh from the farm!
It was a big day at soccer practice today. The long-awaited t-shirts came in!
I’ve got some weird angles on these photos. I’m not sure why they went with white for kid soccer shirts. I bet they will all be grungy soon! Eve wouldn’t put her shirt on. She’s a little grumpy with soccer lately. I think she is tired and ready for summer vacation. She keeps asking to go to the beach. :) Lex, on the other hand, LOVES soccer and is eager for soccer camp this summer!
On Sunday we had a little family party for Lex’s birthday. Family parties feel little these days with all of my siblings away and Grandma no longer with us. It was nice, but we were definitely missing some of the big personalities! :)
We had a quiet morning with just the four of us, then Mema and Grandpa Tom came over at lunch time. When the kids were getting too bouncy and Lex was barely able to contain the excitement of another day of presents, my mom had the great idea to take them out to fly kites. The sky was dark and the wind was whipping, but we had fun for awhile. Mema brought them each a new kite and they are very pretty. Lex managed to get his up in the air, but then he couldn’t get it down again! How’s that for an unusual kite problem. :)
Eve and her owl kite
Lex flying his space shuttle kite high in the sky!
It’s time for this space shuttle to come in for a landing!
“Mom, I can’t get my kite down!!”
Eve was SUPER proud that she had a great idea and was able to help get the kite down. She’s a smartie!
Back at the house Amanda and Rachel arrived, then Grandpa and Katie, and THEN the moment he was waiting for… presents! (yep, he’s reached that age!)
They both crack me up in this picture. Eve looks like she’s ready to dive in, and Lex looks a little disgusted at the books he just opened. As if he’s not going to have them read by morning! :)
Laser pegs! Always a good time!
It’s hard to let Lex choose his birthday dinner since his diet is sooo limited. We settled on pizza, garlic bread (which he loves), and salad for dinner.
Yummy dinner.
Then, of course, cake!!! This was a chocolate peanut butter cake. Not as fancy as the basketball cake from Saturday, but sooo much tastier!
Time for cake!
Did you notice the birthday banner on the wall behind him? Eve made it just for for Lex. She also bought him two presents with her own money. They are so sweet to each other.
One happy eight year old!
We ended the evening with a multi-generational game of Monopoly. Lex got a new version with gold pieces. Oh-la-la! It was fun!!
Real estate tycoons, hard at work.
The birthday boy!
Lex was very excited for his big day, of course. He brought cupcakes to school yesterday and was eager for his friend party today.
Cupcakes for school on Friday. They were a big hit!
He woke bright and early, as usual, and got the rest of us up as well for an early morning birthday celebration.
I was surprised and pleased that Lex mentioned the birthday morning table last night. He said he couldn’t wait to fall asleep so he could wake up and see the beautiful presents on the table at his place in the morning. I love to hear that my traditions are taking hold in their minds. :)
It’s 6:04am, time to open presents!
Me and Eve, when Alan has the camera. :)
I got him Twister for a present and we had a GREAT time playing!!
It’s fun when big and little people play together.
We took turns being the spinner and photographer.
Eve is in there somewhere!
Lex got creative with the photography.
When we were all done and laughing on the floor, Lex suggested a family picture on the Twister mat. What a great idea!!
Then Mema and Grandpa Tom came over with bagels and coffee. After awhile we packed up and headed to the Competition Complex for Lex’s friend party. He had five friends, plus he and Eve, and we had a great time!!
First things first, climb that rock wall… all the way to the top!
They have a mechanical bull that the kids all love. I think it’s a little weird looking, especially here with no horns (the kids kept pulling them off). Eve enjoyed her turn.
Happy Birthday Lex!! Not only did he endure the birthday song this year, I think he may have even enjoyed it a bit. :)
Blowing out the candles! (the candles are huge and the cake is small. funny.)
Party people
Cake smile! :)
It’s hard to take good “opening presents” pictures, but I love this one because of Eve in the background.
They played many rounds of mini-golf. This place has tons to do!
This is a blurry picture, but I loved the scene of the boys playing mini-golf while Mema and Grandpa Tom sat on the bench, waiting their turn.
We got home a little after 4pm and crashed! Lex immediately went to work on his new Lego sets. Eve and Alan settled onto the couch for some TV time. Mema invited us out to dinner but we ended up having dinner in the living room, watching Bill Nye the Science Guy instead. Bath, stories, bed. The usual.
I had the good fortune to be cuddling with Lex at exactly 7:41pm, so we chatted about his actual day of birth for a bit. He said, “I can’t believe I waited eight years and right now I’m finally eight!!” He’s so funny.
I can’t believe he is suddenly eight. I am so fortunate to have been blessed with such a smart, funny, friendly, caring, rambunctious, sometimes obnoxious, always amazing little boy! Not a day goes by that he doesn’t make me smile. I am in awe of the person he has become and so proud to call him my son.
A few days ago Lex came across a Lego sticker book that he got for his birthday last year (or maybe the year before?). There were still tons of stickers left, so he decided to make a treasure hunt. The logical thing to do with lots of stickers, right? Just moments (or so it seemed) after I got all the blue painters tape off the walls that Eve used for a game last week, Lex proceeded to put Lego stickers all over the house. The treasure hunt didn’t make much sense to me, but it kept him busy so all was good.
After the sticker placement he grabbed a piece of paper and his clipboard and went to work. It took a few days, but this afternoon he said he was done and asked if I would do the treasure hunt. How can I say no to such an industrious boy just a day before his birthday?!
The treasure huntn – page 1 of 4
The treasure hunt – page four. Have Fun!
As it turns out, the treasure hunt was fun! Eve and I worked together and found the treasure at the end!
Eve, reading the clues.
Lex eagerly followed along every step of the way.
We found the treasure! :)
If you find yourself in my neck of the woods some time, stop by for a treasure hunt. :)
The water is on at the science museum! We went today, despite the lack of sun and heat. Plenty of humidity though!
Lex built a pretty cool “shower” with the pipes and fountains. It was actually a pretty COLD shower!
They sure are growing up!
Flashback – check out this post from 2008!
BEGIN STREAM OF CONSCIENCE: Sorry I’ve been pretty MIA around here. I’m trying to do it all and barely eeking by! I painted the bathroom and am now working on decorating (hopefully a blog post for that someday), I’m subbing a lot, trying to get my teaching placements worked out for next year, trying (and sadly not succeeding) to eat well and exercise. The kids are in soccer once a week and I always wonder how so many families do hockey and lacrosse and other 4-day a week sports plus games on weekends! Lex’s birthday is this weekend. We are making party plans and the baking will begin soon. :) I’ll be back around these parts again some day. These days I rarely even have my computer on! I took pictures off the camera tonight and found only five! I don’t even remember the last time I did it. I guess my kids are no longer adorable babies worthy of photographing constantly. :/ Sigh. I’ve got more to do tonight. Love to all.
The bread is soft, and warm, and round.
Grab some butter, let’s go to town.
One loaf for you and one loaf for me,
And we’ll be as fat as fat can be.
Happy Mother’s Day to me, and my momma, and all the other awesome mothers (and soon-to-be mothers!) out there!!
Today I got to sleep in and woke to the smell of french toast on the griddle. Yum! I came downstairs to a hot cup of tea, delicious breakfast, and a pile of cards from the kids. All week they’ve been scurrying up the stairs after school, squireling away some sweet note or another that they brought home. Today I got to read them all. Pure sweetness.
Morning snuggles
Then we hung out for awhile, read the comics, played some games, and read some stories. Alan got lunch from Panera Bread and installed a hitch and a bike rack on my car so we can now transport bikes places. Yay!
After lunch, Eve and I headed to King Arthur Flour for a baking class in their fancy new Baking Education Center. Double yay! It was a “baking with kids” class so the subject matter wasn’t new, but we had fun anyway. We made sugar cookies then decorated them with sugar frosting. :) Sugarlicious!
Eve checking things out.
A peek at the future when Eve is taller than I am. :)
We made these cookies without a mixer!
Check out the walk-in oven! That could be dangerous. Right next to the oven (behind the rack) is a giant walk-in fridge.
Time to decorate!
Cookies galore! We were a little heavy handed with the food coloring, so we have very bright cookies!
After class we had to do some shopping! Eve thinks we should start grinding our own flour for bread. I’m not sure I’m ready to go there just yet! I forgot to use my 15% off coupon though, so we’ll be shopping again soon. :)
Someone else was pretty happy with the cookies too!
When we got home Alan was mowing the lawn and Lex was lost in a book. I made soup and bread for dinner and we had a very nice family dinner, with cookies for dessert of course! Happiness is.
I hope your day was lovely as well.
Lex can do his spelling homework with his eyes closed. :)
We went to a birthday party today and the kid had a zip line! Talk about crowd pleaser! Everyone loved it.
Lex took a few extra turns while everyone else had pizza. :-)