birthdays, shared

Because our girls' birthdays are a mere 3 weeks apart, it seems to work well to let them each pick something small and individual to do to celebrate their special day and then to hold a joint family birthday party at our house.

And, now that the big kids are getting so big, it seemed fitting to start the party off with some light helium sucking and "Follow the yellow brick road."  And Ella totally got the joke because she watched the Wizard of Oz for the first time when she was sick a few weeks ago.

Ah, another rite of passage.

Maya didn't need the helium to have the funny voice (and in fact we had to make her talk normal so that her voice could be made funny - she was using her cartoon voice which misses the point entirely) but she enjoyed the helium just the same.

It's pretty awesome to have the house bursting at the seams with love and laughter and family.

A new gymnastics leotard.  Long sleeves for winter!

Her very own Harry Potter Marauder's Map!

No party is complete without a Jack-in-the-box!

For our very individual girls: mini-Oreo cheesecakes for Ella and licorice people Sandi and I labored over past our bedtime the evening before.  Licorice is pretty much Maya's only adored form of sugar. And no birthday in our house is complete without the moms working on the celebration at odd hours.

Beckett scored one of his parent's iPhones and drew a crowd.

Guinness floats: Guinness with vanilla ice cream.  Have you had one?  They are amazing and have become an annual tradition (for the adults...).

The girls got tons of arts and crafts stuff for their birthday and they hit the painting as soon as the crowd thinned.

For the first and only time our girls are reversible ages.  They are 6 and 9 where one becomes the other when flipped.  They are incredible little beings growing and changing every day, challenging us to be more patient, to be better teachers, better role models and better human beings.  Our girls are talented, stubborn, creative, hilarious, thoughtful, eager, passionate, generous and loving.

We love them unbearably.