birthday bonanza (light on content...heavy on pictures)

Hooray! it is with great relief and a little sigh of joy that i can say...all the birthdays are over! Jacob is 5, Edison is 3, Saren is 1 and I am timeless and suspiciously pale skinned. We have had lots of parties and cakes and gifts exchanged in the last few weeks.

Jacob woke up the day after Christmas and said "I can't believe it's my birthday TODAY!" I had to agree. We had a quiet, little birthday lunch at Chucky Cheese. Jacob may have a future as a skee ball olympian.

Then, off to Grandma Nelson's house for more Christmas partying. Jacob made this cute face when we sang to him.

We had the annual Christmas "gift" (I use that word loosely) exchange...


...and a fun, new tradition - ghetto pinata!

On to Edison. In the mother of all random requests, Eddie had his little heart set on a "Master Crane" cake. I know, right? Could you pick any character more annoyingly obscure? Templeton maybe? Master Crane is a character from "Kung Fu Panda", although in Crane's defense he is surprisingly Bad A. I tried to dissuade Eddie by describing a cool a "Hot Wheels"cake. He would have none of that. Master Crane could not be moved from Eddie's Kung Fu grip. And so, I made this sorry cake. The picture doesn't do it justice...it was much uglier in real life. It was the best I could do. Ace of Cakes, I'm sorry.

Eddie tried his best not to like it, as he is determined to be contrary at all times, but I know he was excited. Edison spent the rest of the day trying to keep Jacob from running off with his birthday gifts and the rest of the week singing "Happy Birthday to Eddie" with me so he could re-enact blowing out the candles. He has grown up a lot since last year, when the fire on his birthday cake sent him into a terrified cry.

Saren was her laid back self. "Ok, let's go out for dinner! Presents...sure I'll rip the paper off. Everyone is singing to me...I'll smile. Cake...yeah I'll eat some. You want this new toy Eddie? Here you go!".

Jacob spent much of the afternoon making little gift tags for all of Saren's presents and taping them in place.
I can't believe she is 1!
Since Saren hated this (being stuffed in a gift bag), we didn't repeat it on her birthday. This picture cracks me up.

And I went on a date with Dave for my birthday. So wierd and lovely to be alone. It was fun anticipating a night out all week, I only wish I would have had time for primping like I used to before a date. But I wear my hair much smaller these days and I have forgotten how to fix it anyway.