Happy Birthday Claire and Jacob!

April 18, we celebrated Jacob and Claire's real birthday.  The day started with a yummy breakfast of a Mickey Mouse pancake, sausage, and fruit in their room.

For dinner, the birthday kids requested shrimp, salad, and mangos (a step up from last year's shrimp and hot dogs!).  We had birthday cake (singing Happy Birthday, since it was actually their birthday), and we opened presents from Nana and Papa and from one another.

The next day, they each invited a friend from the neighborhood and we went and saw The Croods.  I can't say the movie was anything special, but it was hilarious watching the 4 kids' reaction to the movie.  At various points, all 4 were literally on the edge of their seats and looked very nervous.  At another point, both Jacob and his friend (who are kindred spirits) were covering their ears.  And at another point, we could see little tears on Jacob's friend's cheeks, and Jacob looked like he was about to join in. In the end, all was good, and they were all talking enthusiastically about the movie.

We went and got pizza at a little place in town.  They happened to have an extremely old arcade, where the kids took turns playing bowling, millipede, and other games.  Claire was sure to inform one of the people working at the pizza place that it wasn't actually their birthday.

We came home to have Princess Leia cupcakes (they looked awesome!).  Jacob and his friend are huge Star Wars fans, but they weren't sure about the Leia cupcakes, so they took off the Oreos and proclaimed them to be Luke Skywalker cupcakes, which, I guess works since Luke and Leia are twins (fitting for Jacob and Claire to be obsessed with them!).

It was a pretty low-key birthday party, but it was a lot of fun to take our kids and their friends to celebrate, and we are happy they have friends who are good influences and they share interests with.

This last year has seen a lot of growth academically, personally, and spiritually.  We are so proud of the strong commitment both kids have to choosing the right and to treating others kindly.  We look forward to what the next year brings.  

Happy 7th birthday kiddos!!!