Happy Decade Birthday, MS!

Ten years this month (8 February, to be exact), ML and I became parents (okay, life begins at conception, but you get the point). It feels like just yesterday, and it feels like forever ago. I'm sure you understand, if you have kids.

One year, we did back-to-back birthday parties when MS and MA's birthdays fell on a Friday and a Saturday. One year. Just one year.

They pretty much alternate who gets the party closest to their birthday, and this was MS's year to have his the next week. He didn't mind. Much. Okay, so having to go to a little girl's fourth birthday party on his birthday was not exactly his idea of how to celebrate, but he survived. :-)

We're so grateful to have MS in our family. He adds humor and insight and not a little bit of help with everything from corner store grocery and bakery runs to dish washing.






The cake was all Webkinz all the way. After a brief hiatus, Webkinz once again reigns in our home, and it (both the stuffed animals and the on-line play) is the activity of choice for all three Bigs. He wanted the cake to also somehow reference his being a decade old, so we worked that in there, too. The cake itself was French Vanilla with chocolate chips, and the icing was chocolate. We finished it the next morning for breakfast (with eggs), of course.

All of MS's ex-pat friends who live in town were able to come to the party, as were all of the boys in our building around his age. Homeschooling friends in the capital had to miss due to other plans, and the English-speaking cousins of one of our neighbors were also not able to come.







Presents at the party* included a Webkinz (appropriately), the ever-popular money, and...two water turtles! The McB family gave MS a turtle bowl, rocks, turtle food, the turtles themselves, and the promise to care for them while we're gone to America. They were quite a hit.

For fun, the kids had sword and finger rocket battles, played Wii, and even learned a bit about playing guitar, thanks to Uncle J.

*On his actual birthday, MS received his family gifts, which included a Didj from Mommy & Daddy, a Star Wars Didj game from Nanny, and several Webkinz (well, the promise thereof upon arrival in the US) from other family members. He now has 10 Webkinz. :-P