Birthdays!

Our family has two birthdays in November, Julie's in the middle of the month and Andy's near the end. Julie officially entered her mid-30's this year (she's no spring chicken!) and Andy hit the big boy 4-year-old mark. We had a great time celebrating with them and with everyone who came down to San Diego for Andy's party. He had a fantastic time and was very glad to see you! It will be hard to top!

Julie's presents. If you look at the top of the gifts, you'll see pipe cleaners tied into bows. It was Andy's idea.

Despite my earnest desire to put 34 candles on her cake and set off our fire alarms, I restrained myself and just put in enough to make the shape of a 3 and 4. It still gave off quite a bit of light.

Andy insisted that his gift to Julie be a Build-a-Bear. He picked it and it's outfit himself. He also came up with the bear's creative name of...Rainbow.

Lizzie was just happy to get her hands on something that she could chew.

Andy's birthday, as befitting a newly minted 4-year-old, was a bit more involved. Since his birthday was in the middle of the week, we celebrated as a family first and let him open his gifts from us.

Julie rigged his bedroom door so that he would have balloons falling on him when he opened it first thing in the morning. It was pretty entertaining to hear him open his door first thing that morning, followed by a confused silence, and then a question, "Why are there balloons in my door?" He quickly became very excited when he remembered that it was his special day.

Andy with his Spiderman balloon. He insisted that Julie buy it.

I had to include this picture of Lizzie. She's just so darn adorable!

That's right folks! He's 4 (and a pretty big Spiderman fan, if you can't tell)!

We decided to save his Spiderman cake for his weekend party and got his choice of doughnuts instead. He also got to choose dinner (we had McDonald's). He was pretty stoked.

Blowing out his candles...

...and they're out! He wanted to tell me his wish right away, but I managed to keep him from spilling the beans for at least 5 minutes.

My two November birthday peeps! I sure do love them!

Andy's big party was the following Saturday. We are very grateful that so many people were able to make it, including our family from Sacramento. Andy had a fantastic time and is already planning next year's celebration!

I'm convinced that Julie has a future in professional cake decorating. It makes me want a Spiderman cake for my birthday!

As part of the party entertainment, Julie and her sisters put together a superhero floor background and had the kids pose as superheroes. Needless to say, it was a hit.

This picture has a bit of background to it. Andy had gone to a friend's birthday party a couple of months ago, and noticed that Spiderman was there. He then promptly went up to Julie and informed her that Spiderman was coming to his birthday party. When Julie responded with, "Really?", he said, "Yes. I already invited him." That's right. My son marched up to Spiderman at someone else's birthday party and invited him to his own shindig. The kid knows no fear. As you can see in the picture, he was still very excited to actually see him.

The obligatory high five with Spiderman!

Spiderman was actually fantastic. He entertained a gaggle of 3-5 year olds for an hour, running all over the backyard, playing games, and putting up with them for much longer than I ever could have. If you're interested, give me a call and I'll give you his number. It was worth every penny!

Andy with his official Superhero certificate. Apparently, my son is now certified to fight crime!

A tug-of-war with Spiderman. Spiderman won (although he did let the kids win a second round).

Lizzie ate while everyone else played. A girl after my own heart!

Playing limbo with Spiderman. Andy's crab walk strategy was unconventional, but highly successful.

Blowing out the candles on his cake. He didn't even spit on the cake much!

Getting this many kids to pose for a picture is a bit like herding cats. All I can say is I'm glad I'm not that guy in the Spiderman suit!

Even Lizzie is a budding superhero. She just needs to learn to leave the buildings alone...unless she wants to be a supervillain!

Well, that's it for our birthdays this year. One more post and we're up-to-date for the year! Wish me luck!