The boys turned 9! (two weeks ago)

Our family on the boys' birthday

I will write their individual posts, but wanted to reassure whatever few readers remain that my boys did turn 9, and I did celebrate them.  The celebrations began with a birthday party with about 20 friends from school, at a local sports venue. We had their party there last year with a nerf battle and a round of laser tag, and the laser tag was far and away their favorite part, so this year it was 2 laser tags with pizza and cake in the middle.

Benjamin got a Tiggy cake and Asher got a rabbit

Eric was hesitant about playing the first round of laser tag, but I made him. I stood outside and watched, and what did I see but one 6'1" child running around and shooting 3rd graders like it was WWII and they were Nazis. Laser tag ended and Eric proudly came out and told me that he scored the most shooting points of anyone. I was patting myself on the back- we had enough pizza and cake (unlike Charlotte's party in January), everyone seemed to be having a pretty good time.

Asher and his cake

We went to play the 2nd round of laser tag, and I joined in as well. About halfway through, one of Asher's friends came up to me and told me that Charlotte was crying and looking for me. I found her covering her eye, so I pulled her out of the room into the light to see what was happening, and saw that she had blood all over her face. She'd split her eyebrow on someone's laser tag vest. The party ended with me rounding up a ride to the ER from our synagogue's cantor (his daughter is in Benjamin's class), and going to spend the rest of the warm, sunny afternoon in the ER.

Blood around her eye, and chocolate around her mouth- when stressed, eat chocolate

I told Charlotte she was a pirate

Fortunately it seemed pretty quiet there, and even though we were a very low priority, we got out within 2 hours, and I went home to stress eat the leftover pizza and cake from the party. She seems to be healing fine, although the surgical glue that they used has yet to come off.

Birthday breakfast

On the boys actual birthday, I tried to make them feel extra special, even though they had school. I bought them birthday balloons, and Eric made them cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I worked only a few hours and then came home to make special birthday dinner- homemade mac & cheese, hamburgers, and a homemade ice cream cake.

Singing happy birthday

Homemade ice cream cake. I give myself 2 thumbs up.

They received lots of generous gifts from their friends, and their grandparents all contributed to new bikes for the boys, which we have yet to order or buy- that is Eric's responsibility!

A week ago we had their 9 year old well visit, and their current stats are:

Asher: 52.5" tall (2.5" taller), 65.8 lbs (9.2 lbs heavier)

Benjamin: 51.25" tall (2.75" taller), 62.5 lbs (7.9 lbs heavier)

The doctor said, as usual, that they look great, and have perfectly shaped bodies. Benjamin is clearly on the smaller side, but he still seems to be on his same curve. He eats perfectly well, so that is certainly not our concern. They didn't get any shots this time, but at 10 they will get their cholesterol checked and their first round of meningitis and HPV vaccines.

Lucky us, getting to celebrate another year of joy and good health. At this time of year, as spring begins and the trees blossom, I always remember the boys' first spring with us. Some of the memories are pleasant, like sitting in the glider in their bedroom with the window open and watching the trees blossom in our neighbors' yards, and some of them are unpleasant, like crawling into bed after a feeding just as the sun was coming up and the birds began chirping. This is my favorite time of year, and celebrating 4/5 of our family birthdays in spring only makes it more special.