Let's actually start a few days before Tom's birthday. Lyla heard a noise in the chimney and was barking up a storm. Then Straub heard it, too. The kids guessed it was a squirrel; I was skeptical. Turns out it was a wayward bird. He seemed to stay in the chimney a fair bit, but by day two was firmly in the wood stove. We pondered how to get a bird out of the wood stove (in the cleanest, most humane way possible;) I took Lyla upstairs to close her in a bedroom and when I came back down Will was in charge of waving his hands to keep the bird from going in the back room. This didn't seem like a foolproof plan to me, but to be honest, I didn't have anything better. I did suggest that the bird had been in the wood stove for two days - perhaps he's weak and we could just pick him up and take him outside? Sounds crazy, but it worked! Straub put on the wood stove gloves and simply picked up the bird and we let him go. We gave him food and water outside to give him the best chance of survival - I think he made it. And hopefully told all his little bird friends not to wiggle into our chimney.
Now to the birthday pictures! I wasn't able to put much thought into Tom's party, so I asked Straub to plan it. Straub plans the best birthday parties! How could we top last year's rocket launching and tonka rides down the sand piles? With Hotwheels races and Nerf gun target practice. Due to weather conditions, it was all set up in the garage - yet ANOTHER reason I love our garage! (as if I needed more reasons?)
I like this picture: Tom's just released his car, Straub seems to be saying "nice one!" and Will's crying. Will did a lot of crying. I think it was overwhelming to have all those older boys at our house.
In one of his not crying moments, Will had fund racing the Hotwheels, too.
Here's what you get when you tell Tom to smile.
Love love love this picture. First of all, my mom made Tom's favourite cake for his birthday - chocolate brownie cheesecake. As a note of interest, my brother's favourite cake was an eagle brand cheesecake my mom used to make - Tom and my brother have a lot in common. Anyway, I found some VERY cool cake fireworks/sparklers. You're only supposed to use them one at a time, and outside, but three was way cooler. The smoke detector questioned our judgment, but it all worked out!
In the picture we have Christopher, Will (with his hand over the sparks) and Tom. A great threesome enjoying the pyrotechnics!
And here's Tom. What a sweetie.
We opened presents. I like this picture because Tom has personal space like I do - in a word, large. Apparently his friends have smaller personal space... (and Straub's head is reflective. Poor Straub.)
I think Straub said "EVERYBODY BACK UP" about 14 times in half an hour. Kids are like an amoeba enveloping it's food...
Then everyone went back outside to run tonkas up and down the yard. I think. I was inside - it was cold and snowing, so kids kept going in and out. Every 5 or 10 minutes Straub or Rob would come in and say "I've got 7!" so I'd do a head count to make sure I had 3. At one point Lyla took off (she saw the opportunity) but she was pretty easy to find and get back. Frankly, the last hour of the birthday party was the most stressful, just keeping track of all these kids!
Rob took this picture - Tom's getting in a little trouble I think. That's his "I'm in trouble" face. You can see the snow on his hair. It was off-and-on all day.
And here's Christopher, looking cute! Rob and Samm and Christopher were here for the weekend, so it was nonstop fun for all three boys!
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