Jason's Birthday

The kids and I always have so much fun planning and preparing for Jason's birthday. When we started planning it triggered a daily question from Atticus - "is it Daddy's birthday YET!?". They were just so excited to spoil him with all of our surprises we had planned. Then we made a fairly last minute decision to go away for the weekend of his birthday which threw quite a bit of our plans for a loop, but it did seem to entail Jason to a few extra days of birthday surprises (how he manages to swing that nearly every year still puzzles me ;). I'll post more about our trip weekend trip to Holland another time, for now the focus is on the little birthday celebration we had for Jason on the Monday following our weekend getaway.

Of course, we kicked the day off with our favorite blueberry buckwheat pancakes topped with plenty of fresh fruit. Once we finished eating, Atticus announced that he was "BERRY full!". Jason wasn't sure if he had really meant to say it that way so he asked him, "do you mean, VERY full?" to which Atticus replied, "No. I am BERRY full because I just are lots and lots of berries so they filled my tummy.". That gave us all a good little laugh. Creative kid. And funny.

After Jason headed off for work we got to work ourselves with decorating, grocery shopping, dinner and birthday cake. Atticus learned how to use an airpump for the balloons which was great because he took over the balloon blowing up while Milayla and I handled the birthday banner.

Following a brief time period of concern that Jason may have to work late (which would have certainly put a little damper on the birthday events), he made it home in good time which was great because the kids were rather anxious to play the birthday games they had picked out for his birthday. Hide&Seek and Triominos. Classic, right?

Naturally, the birthday boy picked Greek for his birthday dinner - greek salad, bread, vegetarian Moussaka, grapes, veggies and Tzatziki. Pretty tasty stuff!

Then it was time to open up presents. The kids could not wait to give their gifts to Jason and Jason was such a great sport (even donning a pair of the kids' bunny ears from an egg hunt that we did in Holland). The kids and I all went and picked out one gift for Jason together and made a special big birthday card for him (loaded with all the sweets he loves that we never have around the house) but they were concerned that it wasn't enough for Daddy so they loaded up a gift bag with all sorts of goodies for Daddy. I'm not sure how they decided on their selection process, but there was no shortage of books, blocks, and straws in that goody bag. I think my favorite part is that they hid it in my closet a week in advance so that Daddy wouldn't find it. They are seriously awesome kids. We love them and absolutely love their creativity and thoughtfulness.

 We were all pretty excited to give Jason his Candy bar card, and he was pretty excited to get it too.

 And while Jason was busy reading his big birthday card, Milayla was busy helping Jason open up his next present.

I love those little smirks, chubby cheeks, long lashes and the incredible personality that beams through this little girl.

 There is certainly no shortage of help when it comes to getting gifts open around here. The part I love the most is that the kids really are doing it our of the excitement to give the gift and are on the edge of their seats about how happy they hope it makes the receiver of the gift. Jason's excitement for his brand  new wallet definitely put a smile across these kids' faces, too.

Then it was time for cake. Ever attempted to make a gluten-free, double-layer, brownie cake with two energetic toddlers? I hope not. Though, with a lot of patience and the acceptance of a chocolate-covered kitchen, I think we made a pretty good team and produced some great results! 

 It was a fun day that we all enjoyed. We feel pretty blessed to have Jason as the head of our household. He's awesome :). We love him.