Conor's 9th Birthday

Yesterday, Conor celebrated his 9th birthday and proclaimed the day to be a hugely great day. 

One of the fundraisers at the kids' school is purchasing the message on the reader board for a week. Both kids asked for us to buy this so we could publicly wish them a happy birthday (Conor) and happy half birthday (Annika). 

The night before his big day, Conor and I baked chocolate mint cookies for his classroom treat. Conor toiled over which treat to bring as he thumbed through our Duff cookbook, but finally opted on a tried and true option that Conor knew he'd succeed at making and were quite tasty.

Conor awoke at 6:05 and proclaimed that he wasn't quite 9 years old  yet... he had few more minutes to go. Hello, Mr. Precise! True, he was born at 6:13 AM, but Eric and I were perfectly happy to still wish him a happy birthday and call him 9... even if we were 8 minutes early. Ha!

Because it was his birthday, Conor got to wear free dress to school. Bonus!! He also dug up the "Birthday Boy" pin that I bought a few years ago and insisted on wearing it all day. Hey, why not??

For his birthday dinner, Conor requested pasta carbonara and grasshopper pie for dessert. (I threw in some green beans as a side dish during dinner, just to round out things a bit.)  I'm pretty sure this is the third year in a row that he picked carbonara and grasshopper pie as his birthday meal. The boy knows what he likes!

Speaking of things that he likes ... he likes opening presents!! He received some very generous gifts from our extended family members (thanks, all!) and loved every moment of unwrapping them. After the paper finished flying, he and Eric got to work assembling the Lego robot that we gave to him. (I'm not sure who had more fun with it, if I'm being completely honest!) It was really fun to hear their conversations while building the ever-evolving robot, not to mention their reactions to the robot's abilities as its skills developed with each new task/set of instructions provided by the kit. 

To everyone who has had a hand in this little guy's life so far, thank you for your love, support, and energy. He's a silly, busy, inquisitive, and imaginative little guy and we are excited to see where this next year takes him. 

Happy birthday, Conor!

Batman Fluxx card game and Hex bug

Cold hard cash, a Taco Time g/c, and a wallet, baby!!
(one $ for each year... clever!)

Woot woot! Remote control toys are awesome

Future scientist!

Lego Robot kit

Blowing out his candles

Do you think he'll let me take his birthday sign photos even when he's a grown up?
I sure hope so! :)

Annika's 9th Birthday

On Saturday, our little girl began her last year in the single digits. Nine years ago, she decided enough was enough ... and surprised us 3 weeks early. Nine years ago, she made us parents. Nine years ago, we realized only idiots make plans and believe they will pan out as expected. Nine years ago, we learned how instant and fierce the love of a parent can be. Nine years ago, we were blessed with a little girl who is brimming with creativity, spunk, intelligence, empathy, energy and love.

Nine years down ... first steps toward 10 (eep!)

Yes, I really do make our kids hold a birthday sign every year. :)

Annika woke up to balloons falling on her head as soon as she opened her bedroom door and the day continued up from there. To be accurate, she also walked into a wall of balloons in the middle of the night when she got up to go to the bathroom and her amazing engineer of a father rigged a new balloon drop system when he woke up in the morning. (Thanks, hon!!)

For the most part, the day was very low-key, which was ideal in many ways considering our recent and non-stop go-go-go pace. It was lovely to simply stop (or at least, pause) to take in the fact that our baby girl is quickly growing up and readying herself for life's next adventures. It was also nice to catch up on a few to-do items while the kids had a MARVELOUS time playing with the plethora of balloons almost all day long. They even created a balloon pit using a bunch of blankets, pillows, and ... yes, the balloons. They created games and stories that were detailed, funny, and downright silly. What more could a parent ask for?

Eric and Conor hanging the family's "Happy Birthday" banner

The balloon pit

Annika decided that she wanted chili for her birthday dinner (yum!) and red velvet cake for dessert. The kids donned their proverbial chef hats and jumped in to help make the cake ... and they did a great job! (I did the frosting solo, but had plenty of offers to lick the bowl and utensils when I was done ... they are such team players!)

All day long, Annika awaited the blessed moment when we told her she could open her presents. I'm pretty sure she thought making her wait until after dinner was our form of child abuse, but she survived the wait and gleefully opened the items from us and a few out-of-the-area family members.

Reading her card from Conor
(who lovingly decorated the envelope with all sorts of curly/fancy letters to spell out her name)

What 9-year-old girl doesn't need a unicorn shirt, I ask you???

Modeling her new mermaid swimming fin

Admiring the microscope from Uncle John & Aunt Wendy

Happy scientist

Pretty sure she would live in this mermaid tail from
Aunt Kajsa and Uncle Jeff full time if we let her

Reading up on her new Jenga from Auntie Suzanne and Uncle Randy... let the games begin

She was a weeee bit excited to see we gave her the wireless headphones she's been longing for

After presents and cleaning up from dinner, the four of us piled on the couch for cake and to watch "The Little Prince" on Netflix. It was a marvelously cozy way to wrap up the day... lots of snuggles and chocolate to go around. :)

Eric lighting NINE candles

Make a wish, birthday girl

Annika's Birthday Nails

This year (partially to save my sanity, partially to scale back and reduce the expectation that every year will include a big birthday bash), we (mostly I) decided that Annika could invite two friends to go out for mani/pedis and lunch.

Oh ... my ... goodness, did the girls have a great (and loud!) time. I picked up the kids on our way to the nail salon and it was quite evident they've missed seeing each other as often as they do during the school year.

We started off by hitting the nail salon for manicures and pedicures. The girls were full of giggles and chatter as they soaked their feet and enjoyed a little pampering. They did their best to act like grownups.... very silly, goofy grownups! The gals doing their nails were incredibly fast and even painted flowers on the girls' big toes ... really impressive, especially considering how small their canvas was!!

After their nails were painted and beautiful, I realized the nail artists were REALLY speedy and finished with the girls much faster than expected. Normally, that would have been great, but the restaurant we were going to have lunch at wasn't open for another 1/2 hour! So, we popped across the street to kill a little time at Starbucks... that and I definitely needed to refuel to have any chance of keeping up with the girls! The girls had cake pops .. I had a venti coffee... win/win!

After much more silliness and laughter, it was time to journey back across the street and have a bit to eat. I'm pretty sure that the highlight for the girls was each one ordered a drink that came with fruit on a tiny plastic sword. They came up with fantastical stories and creative uses for their swords. (I did put a stop to them trying to eat refried beans with the swords ... if I hadn't, we'd probably still be there trying to finish lunch!) The staff at the restaurant overheard that we were celebrating Annika's birthday, and surprised her with a sundae and rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday' in Spanish. She was all smiles and relished in the birthday attention.

Once again, I found us ahead of schedule (quite a shocker, considering I'm usually running late), so I opted to let the girls run off some energy at Carkeek Park. They ran to and fro, climbed trees, and came up with fantastical stories about mermaids, magical super powers, gems (or was it candy?) that gave people the power of mental telepathy, and more. I loved being a fly on the proverbial wall as they created a new world and roles for themselves.