Happy Birthday Matt!

Today is Matt's 7th birthday. Wow! Seven years ago I became a mom. I can't really say that it's gone by quickly. Tonight Matt is having a sleep-over with a friend, and then tomorrow he's having a video game birthday party. He just wanted to invite over a couple friends from his class and have pizza, cake and ice cream, and play video games for 2 hours. Sounds more like a play date than a birthday party. Works for me! He's requested a light saber birthday cake this year.
I love how much Matt has grown up in the past year. He's learned so much at school. I love watching him pick up books and settling in a chair to read them. (he even reads in his head, so it's nice and quiet). I like having him read things and then ask questions about them. He really wants to understand more and more. A simple, "because" doesn't suffice anymore. He's becoming a good friend to his peers and his brothers. He teaches Thomas how to play video games and they are just about equals now. He loves to make Timmy laugh and smile. He really is very gentle with his baby brother.

He is a big helper and will gladly help with the laundry and gets excited when I let him help load the dishwasher. Someday when he's able to reach the faucet life will be great! (more for me than for him!). He's excited to move to France and we keep learning more and more french words. I think he'll adapt quite nicely.

Matt is becoming Dad's boy.He will sit by his side and play video games together. He is learning to love sports and will watch them with Doug anytime they're on TV. In fact the other day Doug was watching a soccer game, and then went out. Another soccer game came on and Matt recorded it for Doug (just in case he wanted to watch that one too). He loves sports and Star Wars. He is all boy.

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Thomas turned five years-old today. Five seems so old, but when I look at him I still think he's around 3 sometimes (not from how he acts but from how cute he is!) This past year Thomas has been going to preschool and really learning a lot. He's working hard to be able to write his letters and numbers to be prepared for Kindergarten.

This past year Thomas has become even more car savvy (if that were possible for someone his age). He developed a love for Ford Mustangs. He can also identify almost every make and model of car we see. If he sees one that he doesn't know then he asks about it and remembers it for the next time. He has a great memory for things. He still has a great smile and I love to see his little dimple. He is very theatrical and can turn on the charm (or the crying) at a moment's notice. He's been a great big brother to Timmy and he's learned to play quite well with Matt. Thomas has become quite good at playing video games with his older brother.

Thomas did not want to have a birthday party. The only person he wanted to share his birthday with was hos older brother. He did, however, want to go to IKEA and play in the play area. So we made the 45 minute drive and we ate lunch, played in the play area, got ice cream, picked up Doug at work, went to Pizza Hut for dinner and then came back and had cake and ice cream. We went out later and got some balloons as well. He requested a Monster Truck cake.

I made it by baking 2 loaf pans and cutting one of the loaves in half for the cab. I hooked them together with frosting and trimmed it a little. Then I made some fondant ( I needed to make it more red. Once again Thomas has a pinkish car for a birthday cake), and covered it with fondant. Then I cut out flames and painted them orange with food coloring. The final and most appreciated touch were the chocolate donuts for the big wheels. It was a huge hit.