Happy 9th Birthday Larissa, etc. weekend

Our family is not too much into throwing big parties for the special events. We give our kids an option to choose between a party and a bigger/better present. They always choose the latter.

This year Larissa's birthday fell on a Friday. Coincidentally, the same day aunt Sarah arrived for a visit. Obviously, we didn't have much time for a "formal" celebration, so Larissa's birthday kind of went on through the weekend.

Friday night I baked some cupcakes for decorating the next day.

On Saturday we had another great swimming session, came home and got to working on our special cupcakes.

I put a light layer of icing, gave kids some decorating tools and they went to town:

Right after that we went out on a "girls + Jon" day out. First stop was at a Thai Food restaurant for lunch. Everyone, but Jon, enjoyed their meals. He only wanted every one's shrimp and nothing else (that and a snack size bag of M&M's he found in his jacket pocket)...

Next stop was a Shopping Mall. As promised, Larissa was going to choose her Build-a-Bear toy and accessories. It took quite a while, and who can make a quick selection when there are SO many choices?..

A few more Mall stops and we headed back home. As per some one's request the rain stopped and a giant rainbow was greeting us outside.

Before Larissa's new puppy went to bed he was changed into pajamas (Thank you Mary!) and suddenly it was a girl ;-) Oh, kids' imagination!

On Sunday the whole family went swimming, and had a blast. Then, we took aunt Sarah to the Trader Joe's store, since there aren't any in Michigan where she lives.

At the store Larissa made a sad face and told me she didn't get a birthday cake with candles this year and "really, really wanted it"... pointing to a chocolate cake. Who can resist that?..

So, her birthday celebration continued on:

On, and here is a picture of Jon's way of eating an apple. He eats it like a cartoon bunny eating a carrot. In Circles, until there is nothing but the core left.