13 years old!!

christopher's 13th birthday was monday, crazy that we now have a teenager in the house!

the kids love it when their birthday falls on a day off school, 

so this year was perfect since monday was a holiday.

he had a fun-filled day:  krispy kreme fresh donuts with his grandma and siblings,

then lunch with his other grandma, grandpa, and uncle,

and a big family dinner with pizza and a ping pong tournament.

one of the gifts we gave him was this game: mancala.

the kids play it at their piano teacher's house and he has been wanting it.

here he is playing it with his great-grandfather - so glad i finally have a picture of him :)

and it makes me so happy that he is still so into legos -
he got a big set he had been eyeing at christmastime...

and here we go with something i have been wanting to do for awhile on the kids birthday:

13 things i love about christopher:

1. you are funny, you really have a great sense of humor
2. you read the comics every single day, and point out some of your favorites to me
3. you are responsible - you juggle so much: band, sports, student council
4. you make your bed every day!
5. you are kind to everyone- you get along with all different kinds of kids at school
6. you never complain when i ask you to do something
7. you are an awesome basketball player
8. you never forget to feed lady and often feed her when it is not your day
10. you laugh a lot with your friends
11. you are very competitive, you always strive to do your best
12. you read the sports every day and are passionate about what's going on
13. you are an awesome oldest brother, and are a great example for your siblings

Happy 13th Birthday Christopher - we LOVE you SO much!

sunday, january 6th

well, last week flew by and i am now just getting back to posting on john's birthday.

we had his party on saturday, so we were able to really enjoy the day with the birthday boy.

we all slept in and then gave john his birthday present...

the darth maul double light saber he has been wanting.

love those morning faces and that morning hair...

then, we got ready to go to breakfast with all the grandparents.

the boys all got the idea of wearing mustaches and hats - 

john had be gifted a set of mustaches from his godparents.  they looked pretty cute...

they were a bit nervous to walk thru the entire restaurant like this.

of course, they sat us in the back room so they literally did walk thru the whole place.

they got lots of smiles and sweet remarks.

we went to mass at the church nearby, where chris and i were married.

then walked across the street to the coffee house we go to every year on john's birthday.

since it was a sunday, all his siblings were able to join him this year.

they tried some italian sodas - it was really warm in there and really cold outside.

they've added a bar outside so we went out there since it was so hot inside.

we watched the trains go by as we have done for years on john's birthday.

then we came home and had a nice warm fire.

we helped john build some of his new legos and played candy land by the fire.

this was his reaction to barely beating me at candy land.

i love that smiling face...

we took down our tree and all the ornaments and lights,

and had planned on getting take out to eat by the fire.

but john wanted to actually go to pei wei, you know that great soda machine they have?

he wore his new shirt from nani and new shoes from uncle matt and almost aunt fallon...

we came home and the kids ran around out back with the light sabers for a long time.

we finally had to call them in since it was back to school the next morning.

the birthday boy lit his own candle as he had done the day before at his party.

and we were entertained by him as we sang to him, he was sure happy.

it was a wonderful day, and a fun weekend.

i have spent many a kids birthday getting ready for a party - rushing, busy to get ready.

and the kids are always so excited for their party but it was so nice to be able to spend the actual day with the birthday boy himself- not cleaning, decorating, baking, for a party.

i had done all that in the days before his birthday-
we had 30 kids here for his party, a fun celebration for him-
glad i decided not to have it on his real birthday though.

he's already asking if he'll be six soon...don't rush it, son:)

happy 5th birthday, john john

john's birthday was sunday.
we had a weekend full of fun celebrations that i will be posting on.
but for now, here is a funny video of his actual birthday night.
it just cracks me up, and i can't stop watching it.