2012 Birthdays

So I posted about the kids birthday parties but I have a few pictures from our little family celebration on their actual birthdays.

First we have Orin's birthday on April 3. We have a tradition now that I must bring cupcakes to school on his birthday. I think I've done it every year since he turned 4 years old in Dallas.

I tried a different recipe for icing this time. It tasted great, but since our kitchen gets to about 100 degrees it melted in just the 12 hours before we brought it to his class. Back to the normal butter cream icing from now on.

Sora and Micaiah even joined the class fun.

Orin is still a bit wary of fire. :)

Mrs. Michelle praying for him.

Orin's teacher was great about making a big deals about of the kids birthday. They would sit in a circle with the birthday boy/girl in the middle. Then, for the last 45 minutes of class the kids could pick something to. Either watching a video, playing games or art. Orin picked watch a video.

She put on Dumbo. I'm sure none of the kids had ever seen it.

Then that night after school he opened his gifts from us and that family had sent.

Then it was Sora's birthday on April 16th. We went with our special friends (Uncle Ryan and Aunt Melanie to the kids) and ate Korean food. It was so yummy. Sora and the boys really liked everything.

Then we went to Bud's Ice Cream for Desert.

Lastly, we had Micaiah on September 16th. I brought him cup cakes to school, but unfortunately I had a meeting I had to go to and couldn't be there for the party. :(  He chose to go to McDonald's for his birthday dinner. Here they have a sweet plum sauce to dip the nuggets in. The boys love it.

Then he opened a few little gifts we had for him.

Mimie singing Happy Birthday to him on Skype. He also talked to Nina on Skype and Pops on the phone. Technology makes these days much easier.

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Legoland California

A while back Orin heard that there was this magical place called Legoland - he's been dying to go ever since. We had a plan in place for months and months and we were able to keep it a secret. On our way out of the US we stopped in San Diego to see Joel for a few days. The day we left we arrived we told the kids we had a surprise for them - they had no idea where we were going until we turned onto Legoland Dr and both boys freaked out. They couldn't believe they were actually going.

Miniland USA. It was really cool. I especially loved New Orleans.

One of their favorite things was being able to drive cars by themselves...and no track!

Then onto the Star Wars area. The boys were in awe!

Joel got the tickets on base so not only were they cheaper but we got a second day for free - which included the water park inside Legoland. We were all freezing so we only stayed a few hours. But I think the kids still enjoyed it.

Orin wanted to try on Uncle Joel's gear. It was SO heavy. I could barely lift it and I'm amazed that Orin could stand with it on! It was so great to be in CA with Joel, see his house and his life there. I hope we get to go back soon!

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