Birthdays

 Howie turned 11 in January

Howard and I were too lazy to wrap Howie's few tiny presents (video games, bluetooth ear piece) so we decided at the last minute to hide them. I left 4 clues for his 4 presents. He tore up the house and had a blast looking for his presents. It lasted a lot longer than the 30 seconds it would have taken him to unwrap a few things. I think we may have started a tradition for the older kids. He's in his pajamas, because as usual we open presents first thing in the morning.

 In the afternoon we had a small video game party for him and a few friends. They basically just played video games the whole time and were very content with that. When it was cake time I realized I didn't have 11 candles or two 1s, so Howie improvised with a math problem  18-7 =11. Brilliant! My angel food cake isn't pretty (I need a new bundt pan), but it sure was delicious! His birthday dinner consisted of a t-bone steak and steamed broccoli, his choice.

 Lucas turned 4 in February

 Lucas helped me make his cake (white boxed kind) and was very specific on how he wanted it. Blue on top and green on the bottom. For him it was all about the color, not the taste.

 

 We had a little birthday party for him. I was sad that not very many friends came, but he didn't know the difference and was very happy. It was a success for him even though it was a failure for me. 

 Luke was so happy to finally be a "big boy". He thinks 4 is the magic number for becoming a big boy. 

He ate the last piece of cake for breakfast this morning (the day after his birthday). 

 

 As far as presents went, he lucked out because I had bought some things a few years ago and forgot about them. Howard found them in the attic around Christmas time, so Luke got them all since he will outgrow them soon. His favorite was an Imaginext Pirate Ship (Black Friday sale). When he opened it he yelled excitedly, "I wanted this!" His presents were all wrapped, since that's still really important to a 4 year old. His birthday was on Sunday, so we had his party on Saturday and saved his presents for his actual birthday. For his birthday dinner he wanted McDonald's, so that's where we were Saturday night. I tried to talk him into sushi, but he wouldn't budge on his choice.