Happy Birthday Andrew - 7 years old!

It's both strange and super exciting to watch your kids grow older. Andrew turned 7 this week.

On Saturday he had a bunch of his friends over for a "Mario Party." He'd played Mario Party on the Wii and loved it, so he wanted to do something like that. So Lynette and Karla used sidewalk chalk to outline our yard with a big game board complete with Koopas, Goombas and Coin Boxes. Each kid rolled an oversized die and wandered around the game board trying to reach the castle at the end.

There were two types of coin boxes. One just had a bunch of gold coins inside that went into a Team holding bin. The other coin box type had slips of paper identifying a type of relay race that the teams would compete in.

The kids had a riot running back and forth across the yard for the relay races. The wildest was the "suitcase race" where each team had a suitcase with fun clothes (feather boas, vests, hats, etc) that they had to unpack, put on, repack and hand to the next player. They got into a great rhythm on the "follow-through" game where they stood with their legs spread into a tunnel that the back person would crawl through and then hop up and become the front of the tunnel for the new back person.

I'll post some pictures and video of the games once I get them on the computer.

After the games, they traded in their coins for "1-up" mushrooms (cupcakes frosted to have a green & white spotted mushroom top) and then did presents before playing in the backyard for a bit. I don't get a lot of chances to sit and watch my kids play with their friends, so it was fun to sit in the backyard and watch Andrew and his friends running all over the yard, playing on the swings and the trampoline and just having a ton of fun.

Tonight we had family over for some cake and ice cream and more presents. The kids got all hopped up on sugar and were all over the place (though Oualid definitely helped keep them riled up). It was a lot of fun.

Overall, I think Andrew had a good birthday. He seemed to have a lot of fun and he's been smiling a ton, so that's a good indication. :)

I've noticed lately that he just "feels" more mature to me in many ways. Last night at dinner, Lynette was pouring grape juice for the kids and she noticed that the pitcher was almost empty. Andrew remembered Lynette saying she wanted some and he offered her his glass and said he'd have milk. It was so totally sweet. There was enough for them both to have juice, but it was so cute to see him sacrificing for his mom. He's done other similar things for her and for Jason and Julia lately. It's so great to see his kind and loving spirit grow. It's nerve racking sometimes to watch them grow up and lose bits of their youthful naiveté and innocence, but at the same time, it's awesome to see their personalities develop and grow even more prominent and profound.

I love my family!!!