The Birthday Boys

Jake turned 7 on January 23rd and Brenden turned 5 on February 1st, where does the time go? For some reason their ages now make them seem so much older. Like somehow going from 6 to 7 and 4 to 5 there's some magical transformation from little boy to young man. I'm sure a big part of it is that by the fall both boys will be in school. Whatever it is, they both seem so grown up and its making this momma a little sad.

Both boys had very nice birthdays that lasted much more than just the one day. Since Jake's Birthday fell on a Monday he had 5 friends over for his "party" on Saturday before. I say "party" because it wasn't much of a big deal. Jake only wanted 2 friends from school and 2 friends that live on our street to come over. The boys had pizza and brownies, played the wii, and played with Jake's new toys in the basement until it was time for everyone to go home. Jake had a wonderful time.
                                                                          

On Sunday Jake got to continue his celebration by spending some time at my dad's house for lunch, presents, and cake. Later we had my dad, brother (he was in town), Aunt, and Uncle over for cake. We all sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed Jake's cake. I also made Jake's favorite meal, chicken picatta, for dinner.

And his celebration finally came to a close on Monday on his actual birthday. We had hoped to bring a treat in for school, but the school has recently changed its policy to not allow outside treats, but Rylan and I were invited to come in to read a story to Jake's class and answer questions about Jake. It was very nice to see Jake in his class and I think he enjoyed having us there. After school he got to open his presents from us and my mom. We also skyped with my mom and talked with Chris and Grandman (Chris'sdad) on the phone. Unfortunately, Chris had to leave Saturday until Wednesday for work. 

Brenden can have a hard time waiting for his birthday with Jake's being only 9 days before his. I get a lot of "is it my birthday, yet? Is it tomorrow? The next day?" And this year was no different. However, even though his birthday could not possibly come soon enough he at least had his very first birthday party to look forward to that would be 5 days before his actual birthday.

Long ago, Chris and I decided not to have birthday parties for the kids until they turned 5. It seemed like 5 was something of milestone and we didn't feel like we needed to go crazy with parties every year when they didn't have a lot of friends. So with Brenden turning 5 this year it was time for his first real birthday party with friends and all of the hoopla. We decided to rent out Xtreme Bounce Zone, which I'm sure there's a variation of these everywhere. Anyway, as the name suggests its all giant inflatable bounce things and we invited Brenden's friends from DK. He had about 10-15 kids from class come and they had a blast. They bounced for about an hour and a half and then we did pizza, cupcakes, and presents. Brenden had a great time and it was so nice to see my middle child get to be the center of attention for once :)

Brenden got to continue his birthday celebration through the week with presents and cake on Wednesday for his actual birthday. We also made brownies to take into DK to share and celebrate with his class. He was so happy that he got to take the first bite since it was his birthday - he had been talking about this for what seemed like weeks. And like Jake, he also got to go to my dad's house for a few hours on Saturday for lunch, cake, and more presents. It was a very nice birthday week for the B Man.

                                                       Brenden Bouncing it up at his party

                         Rylan enjoying the bounce zone as well, she wouldn't stop going even for a picture!

And now I am very happy to be done with cakes and presents for a LONG time. Over the past 2 weeks we've had 2 chocolate cakes, brownies, cupcakes, candy, you name it in the house and my back side has had enough! And as much as I love seeing the looks on the boys faces when they get new presents, I am SO ready for the present explosion that occurs for a month from Christmas to their birthdays to finally end.