The Batter Babies no more Bunch: Em turns 7 three times so far

Ben's birthday is in late January, most friends are in town and if he wanted, he could easily have 20 kids at his party. That being said, it is right after the holidays and harder for family to come visit and celebrate with him!

Emma on the other hand is our Summer baby = family comes to visit / she goes to FL and PA and has multiple family parties, BUT her party with her friends are a challenge because no one is ever in town! (We invited 10 girls to her bowling party this week and only two are available.) I guess the multiple birthday cakes make up for it a little, but I am a little sad for her about the friend party (she is more sad that they don't come and GIVE HER PRESENTS... hahaha)

On the morning of her real birthday, she requested pancakes:

Happy Birthday to ME!

Grandpa, Grandma Nancy and cousins Leah and Frank were enroute and she was so excited to see them. They arrived by lunch and the family fun began! She was excited for presents - Daddy and I gave her a mini-trampoline. Daddy was unsure about my choice, but let me tell you, she uses it non-stop daily, great exercise disguised as a birthday present!

I'll jump seven times because I am now 7!

As the rest of the fam was coming in on Saturday, we had "birthday brownies" for her first candle blowing session. She almost went from Rapunzel to a bald minion with all those flames.

Cha-cha-CHA!

She opened Grandpa and Grandma Nancy's gifts that evening. I love me an Amazon WISHLIST and I can generally count on Grandma Nancy to do her shopping there. She bought up the list and we had one happy kiddo!

That would be a pogo stick, a youth baseball bat, a new bike helmet, and a new swimsuit with rashguard.

Saturday morning as we awaited the arrival of Grandma Lou and Aunt Lisa, Mommy played short order cook. Ben requested a triple decker. What? "A triple decker, Mama." What's that, buddy? "A pancake on the bottom, then a waffle, then bacon on top." Okay, kid, promise you will eat it all? "YES!" And he did.

The before shot. The after is boring because HE ATE IT ALL.

We hung around the bungalow all Saturday afternoon and partied it up. Daddy BBQ'd, kids played with cousins, we played board games, and tossed the frisbee, played lacrosse, tossed the footbal - it was a lovely way to spend the day. I made a "Ninjago" cake at Em's request. I tried two new recipes (cake and frosting) and were very disappointed in the outcome - the cake was dry and the frosting was "meh". But Emma loved it so that is what matters, right??

Happy Birthday, again, Ninja-girl!

By the way, I love that she is more interested in Ninjas than princesses these day. Girl power!

Less fiery flames today! Hair remained intact for party 2.

She was very excited for round two of presents. Grandma Lou, Aunt Niki and Aunt Lisa pitched in and got her a Kindle Fire. I'm not sure how she felt about it. What do you think?

Duh, Ma, I LOVE IT!

Grandma Lou and I snuck a secret present for Ben. He spent hours building it and hasn't put it down. I love this picture, it tells so much about the day. 1) Daddy is passed out in the background after helming the feeding of 12 people. 2) The cousins are relaxing watching a tv after playing with my kiddos all day. 3) Ben is drinking his milk with my favorite Tupperware purchase ever. 4) Legos are awesome - I just wish he qualified for some kind of scholarship, because, DANG are they expensive. 5) The beads in the container on the table are ALL OVER THE HOUSE now...

We do get our monies worth, he builds them, plays with them, dismantles them, builds something else, dismantles it, build the original again, etc.

We wandered around our village Sunday and had lunch at C'est Cheese, our favorite sandwich and salad spot. We headed to the harbor and looked at all the sweet boats around the docks. It was a bit chilly and we were worried it may rain and ruin our beach plans. But alas, the sun came out and blessed us yet again!

Cancer, schmancer! My Daddy...

Obligatory cousin shot on the dolphin...

I love our little village, but you already know that!

We took advantage of the sunshine and spent Sunday afternoon at the local private resident beach. At one point cousin Frankie was tossing the football to E&B in the water, they were retrieving it and running it back to him. He accidently tossed it a bit over their head and Ben went to grab it and got a little over his head! I was a good 15 yards up the beach and saw him doing the tip toe I'm in too deep bounce in the water, and sprinted to the water to save him. Frank saw it after I did and came up fast on me, dove in and scooped him up. Ben was a complete stud - those swimming lessons are paying off, plus the fact that he has always been fearless / had good water instincts. He didn't panic, just kept bouncing up for air until he was rescued! I suggested he get right back in the water to prove to himself there is nothing to be scared about, which he did, and I am so proud of that kid (and grateful to Frank for saving him - I wasn't wearing a bathing suit but was ready to dive in fully clothed for the rescue. As a matter of fact, I am happy to report, that was the first time since I mangled my ankle at the end of March that I ran - and I don't know if it was the adrenalin or what, but I sprinted with no pain!) Ben came home to excitedly tell Daddy who stayed at home that, "Frank saved my life!"

Before all the life saving excitement!

Party three started out like this: 6:45am flight to FL to hang with Abuelita and Grandpop for the weekend which meant we were up at 4:45am to head to the airport. Daddy had the distinct pleasure of escorting these two cuties to FL this time while I stayed behind to man the office and the dog and the bungalow.

I'm smiling at such an early hour because I know I am going to get more PRESENTS!

Ben was again not left out of the present thang:

We are single handedly keeping Lego Star Wars in business.

Summer visits to FL always start out at the pool. The humidity is oppressive so they swim all morning then hang out inside all afternoon playing / watching movies waiting for the heat to break. Daddy texted me this picture with the caption, "Thank you swimming lessons, I actually get to relax on the side of the pool for a while as they swim!"