7 is SO Much Older than 6

As very wise and learned adults, we enjoy teasing children about how much bigger they suddenly become on their birthdays.  Wow! Look how much you grew!  Well this year the trick was on me, since Audrey really did seem to get so much bigger and older overnight.  She was really looking forward to turning 7, and she did a great job. :) 

We let her choose a place to go out to dinner (doing that this year instead of throwing parties) and her first choice was the small Indian restaurant we like to go to...but she ended up changing her mind so that she could bring more family along.  Gramps, Tutu, Grandma Barbara, Uncle Jon, and cousin Drew were able to join our small celebration.  She was thrilled to be with her family for her birthday.

The Ruby's staff sings Audrey a Happy Birthday.

Audrey loves her goofy brother!

She's opening presents, but if you ask me, she's the real gift.

She had a thing with cards this year...kept reminding me to get
her one to go with each gift.

Audrey designed her own cake.  It went
through many shapes, forms, and colors
during the design process, but she ended
up with mega-chocolate.

My Almost Driver

All of a sudden I realize the terrified look in my parents' eyes when we finally approached legal driving age.  This stuff is scary.  This is the age when The Hardest Part is Letting Go really kicks into high gear.  Timothy is now 15: the countdown is in full swing.

It has actually been a fabulous adventure--seeing Timothy grow and mature.  He has a brilliant sense of humor and a great big loving heart.  This year was the first (in quite some time) that he not didn't plan out (months in advance) which presents he wanted from whom.  Not only that, but he didn't want a huge party (which worked out quite well considering the fact that I'd declared 2011 to be a non-party year).  We went to a restaurant for his birthday dinner, and then came home for Key Lime Pie and some Lime Sorbet.  A simple night, but spent with some of the best people around.

Lime-a-licious

Cue the crazy singing!

Lime and Fire: 2 of Tim's favorite things.

This guy has a great smile and laugh!

What a goof. Isn't he great?

No complaints from Andrew.

nom nom nom

Serious thoughts? or serious dramatics?

Andrew Turns Twelve

Andrew couldn't wait for his birthday to become his birth-night...that's when the real fun happens.  Dad gets home from work, allowing presents to be opened, dinner to be eaten, dessert to be enjoyed.  The most important of these being the presents, of course.  The first thing he opened was a quilt I'd just finished making for him that morning.  Last minute projects are not an unusual thing for me, but unlike some last minute projects, this one went surprisingly smoothly and I'm not real sure why. It was fabulous.
Andrew tends towards sentimentality in some ways.  I've always found this to be an endearing quality of his, so I had made a point to save some of his shirts and other clothing so he could look back at them some point in the future.  I decided that the best way to hold onto some of these things that would never be used again was to turn them into something that would be used: a quilt.  T-shirt fabric is much too stretchy to be an enjoyable fabric to sew, but it all went together quickly and easily.

Andrew was really pleased with it.  He had no idea that it was coming, and I think he's slept with it every night since.  The best part is that all the T-shirts are already broken in--what a comfy quilt!



Audrey created an audience (of horses, of course) to watch Andrew open his gifts.  Andrew received books: Artemis Fowl #6 (which he'd completed by the next morning) and some classics (Call of the Wild, The Jungle Book, Treasure Island, Sherlock Holmes, Shakespeare, Wind in the Willows) since he's recently read The Lord of the Rings series, The Hobbit, and Robinson Crusoe (have I mentioned that he amazes me?)  He also received some video games and Pokemon cards.



After presents, we took him out to Ruby's (his choice of dinner, super yummy chicken strips) where he ended up with another audience, although this one wasn't comprised of horses.  In this case, it was his Nintendo DSi XL that was being ooohh'd and aaahhh'd over.



When dinner was over, we swung by Krispy Kreme Dougnuts to get the makings of a birthday cake.  Andrew designed his Holey Tower, and Chris inserted the candles.





We had an extremely lively rendition of "Happy Birthday" sung, and then Andrew made his wish.  One year from now, I'll have two teenage boys in my house!  (If I keep repeating that, it is simply in hope that I will come to believe it.  Who was it that said "There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it."  William James?  I'm hoping he's right.)  I really don't understand how it takes them 10 years to get to their 5th birthday and then the next 8 years pass overnight.  I guess I'll be working at savoring this year with my 12 year old.  Happy Birthday, son.

Bowling for Birthdays

I officially declared 2011 a Birthday Party Free Zone...no extensive lists of guests, no invitations and party favors. Instead, the kiddos get to take a friend to a place of their choosing. Andrew chose to take his friends Shawn and Ryan bowling followed by Yogurtland.

Andrew was pretty impressed with his bowling shoes. If they had offered to let him keep them, I'm sure Andrew would have jumped on the opportunity.




They all bowled for an hour, ate pink birthday cake leftover from a birthday party happening in the next lane over, and then dumped some money into the arcade. Andrew kept commenting on how much fun he was having--it was so great to see him really feel special.






Yogurtland was nuts--busier than I've ever seen it--but all the kids did good. Andrew's friends spent the night, though I'm sure they didn't get much sleep. All in all, it was a very successful non-party.