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Birthday Buddies

Our kids' birthdays happen in pairs. Brooklyn is our January outlier. Other than that, we have two in February, two in May, and two in August.

The kids with winter birthdays celebrated over a few days each this year, so it felt like birthday season. 

Brooklyn had fun shopping with a friend, skipping school (which ended up delayed two hours because of snow), and eating delicious treats.



Sean also skipped school on his birthday. He hoped for snow for snowboarding, but the snow from the week before melted.
He stayed busy playing basketball. He likes it when his family and friends come to watch his games. One of his friends joined us during a game where Sean's team was behind at the half. She said she believed the team would turn things around and said, "If they don't, at least they have each other. It's the power of friendship." She was mostly joking, but Sean's team eventually caught up and won the game. Since his friend had to leave early, I texted her a picture of the score with the caption, "The power of friendship."

We tried a new frosting recipe for Brooklyn's cake. She requested white chocolate frosting and Oreos. It turned out so good that we also had it for Sean's birthday.


Brooklyn and I travelled to California to celebrate Makayla's birthday with her.
Oh yea. I got a haircut before we left. Brooklyn was in heaven with Axel and Apricot.


 She also had a ton of fun with Makayla, watching Hunger Games, reading, making jewelry, and hanging out with Nina, Ana, and Manolo.

Here are a few pictures of Makayla "Feeling 22."



Over the birthday weeks, I have felt so grateful for our sweet, funny, insightful children. Each of them is a treasure to me.

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