Lucky 7 on 11-11-11

It has been a BUSY day and I am ready to veg out now, but since a birthday on 11-11-11 is likely to happen only once in a lifetime, I had to post about Alex's birthday before the date changes.

Since it is an odd year we stuck with the family only tradition. I almost broke the rules and had a friend party since it was such a cool date, but decided to stick to tradition. And even without a party, Alex got plenty of celebrating in and, as always, he says it was the best day EVER! Gotta love people like Alex who just love life every day.

So this is how the "best day ever" went down.

Celebration 1- I woke Alex up with what I'm sure was a winning rendition of Happy Birthday, shoved all three kids into clothes and whisked them off to McDonald's for breakfast before school. We went super early but McD's took 20 minutes to make Alex a breakfast burrito and we still ended up being 10 minutes late to school.

Celebration 2- Alex took Lofthouse Sugar Cookies to school to party with his classmates.

Celebration 3- Seth left work early and got home at the same time as the kids so we opened presents.

If you have been paying super close attention over the years, you may recall that Alex got an Imaginext bat cave on his 5th birthday, and since then a Trio bat cave, and the Joker's fun house, and about every vehicle and villain in all of Gotham City so I was a bit surprised when he asked for the new bat cave. Since he does still play with his batman stuff all the time I figured, why not and forwarded the request on to Grandma Susie.

I was trying to get candid shots but every time Alex saw my camera up he would look at me and pose so I got a lot of pictures that look just like this next one.

All done....

Until Daddy went and pulled this little ditty from the closet.

Just the other day Alex asked when he could get a gun. Shocked me to the core. I admit that I HATE guns and have never even bought toy guns. Alex is my super passive, indoorsy type so a gun? Totally didn't see that coming. Since Seth is from Wyoming, you can guess how he feels about guns. He grew up hunting and fishing and the works and he jumped at the chance to teach Alex the ropes. It is just a beebee gun but of course I still don't love it and I am still hearing you'll shoot your eye out in my head over and over again. I have always thought that Alex was the most like me in personality and mannerisms, but perhaps he is his daddy's child after all?

Celebration 4- We went out to dinner. Alex went back and forth for 30 minutes about where he wanted to go...Olive Garden or Texas Roadhouse. He was still waffling during the 20 minute drive over but at the last minute decided on Olive Garden. He hates pasta, but for some reason he thinks Olive Garden is fancy and likes to go there on special occasions. In fact, months ago when he was trying to explain how much he loves me, he told me he was going to take me there, just the two of us, on my next birthday. So cute!

Ummm...nice of you to join us Alyssa.

We told our waitress that it was Alex's b-day and she just looked at us like whatever. No free dessert or anything. We had told him they would sing and give him a treat so we bought one piece of cheesecake and they did throw a candle on top of it. Should have gone to Texas Roadhouse where they make you sit in a saddle and have everyone look at you. Oh well.

Celebration 5- We gave Alex the option to skip taekwondo for the night, but he loves to go and he wanted to bring a treat for the class. I was a little worried about that because I know his teacher is not a fan of junk food. How do I know? Because once Alex said something about drinking root beer and the whole class received a lecture about soda, and then the parents received a lecture and were put under oath to NOT give their children soda. I used to allow soda once a week but now me and the kids are afraid to let them anywhere near the stuff. We decided that a rice krispie treat and a bottle of Gatorade would probably not be horribly offensive and thankfully we learned that that is his teacher's favorite treat. Phew! Turns out another kid in class had his b-day today too. Poor Alex. There are 4 Alex's in his class and then he had to share his b-day too. Oh well, didn't bother him in the least. They sang to him and he got lots of birthday wishes from kids and parents alike. He left a very happy little boy.

Celebration 6- By the time we got home we were junk fooded out, but I had been working on his cake for 2 days so we had to sing and have cake, or I might have cried. Plus, Alex loved having one more chance to have everyone look at him and sing to him.

This cake looks simple, but I am not good with cakes. I usually stick to cupcakes. Between making, rolling and cutting out fondant and then piping 10,000 windows on, it took way longer than it should have.

I didn't think the cake looked as bold as it should have so I added these starburst things from Batman. 80's kids...do you remember these from the cartoon?

After cake we decided that Alex's birthday had been sufficiently celebrated and sent him off to play, past his bed time incidentally. He did request that I come look at his two bat caves put together, which he now calls the Ultimate Bat Cave.

Now I don't know if there is really any magic in this unique calendar date, but I do know that something magical happened to me the day Alex entered my life. I am so blessed to have him. He simultaneously drives me crazy and brings me overwhelming joy every day. At 7 he is still every bit as much the Alex that I have always known as he ever was. Still can't sit still. I mean, really physically, CAN'T do it. Can't keep his mouth quiet. He has to be doing 8500 things at once and he can really wear a person out. But I still believe he is the kindest, most loving soul in all the world. And he still loves his mama, who really loves to be loved. If I say I look tired, or sloppy, he will quickly rebuke me and remind me that I look beautiful. He still gets excited every time he sees me. Just a couple weeks ago I was walking past his bedroom door after he had gone to bed and I heard him gasp and tell Alyssa, there she is, she is so beautiful. I tried not to laugh and kept walking and then a little while later when I passed by again I heard him say my mama, I love her so much I could die. I don't deserve it but it is an amazing gift to have someone who looks at you and thinks you are perfect. And Mr. Alex, you are perfect to me too.

Thanks to everyone who sent gifts, cards, phone calls....It made his day.

And Valerie, I have to tell you that he totally thinks he talked to you and Luke. He is not too good on the phone so when I gave him the phone to listen to your message he kept talking to it. I kept telling him Alex, it is a message but he didn't get it. It was hilarious. He kept responding to Luke, and then when you started talking he started responding to you and then he thanked you both for calling and said goodbye, fully believing that he had just engaged in a live conversation. I wish I had been recording it, because it was so funny.