January, Part 2: Peter's Seventh Birthday

The day before Peter's birthday, Jeremiah took Peter snowboarding for his very first time. Peter was a natural. He's an athlete like his Dad, that's for sure.

Above: Peter was pretty tuckered out after his snowboarding trip with Dad.

Above: Peter wanted a Pokemon cake for his birthday. I looked up some ideas on Pinterest and they were all ridiculously hard...pretty much for a professional cake decorator. Not only am I not an artist or professional cake decorator, but I am a pretty sleep deprived mom these days who is pretty low on energy. I needed something much easier than the ideas I came across on Pinterest. So, then I went to Amazon and found some cute little Pokemon toys and an edible Pokemon cake picture...and voila. I was going to make a white cake with yellow and blue frosting on the edges, but Peter really wanted a chocolate cake, so that's what we did. Good job, Pete. It was delicious. The boys surprisingly gobbled this baby up in only a matter of days. I usually have to throw the cake out to avoid temptation because the boys lose interest in it...that was not the case this year.

Above: Pikachu!

Above: One of the boys' favorite things to do is to wake up on the morning of their birthday to see their birthday cake. Peter was so excited, in fact, that he woke up at about 4 a.m. and had to be put back to bed because it was definitely not time to get up yet.

Above: Daniel thought the cake looked delicious! Too bad he can't have any cake or chocolate yet! :)

Above: He was a smiley good sport anyway though!

Above: The boys woke up early enough that we had a little down time before it was time to get Peter dressed and ready for school. Jeremiah took the day off so he could spend some time with the family too, which was very nice.

Above: The bag of Pokemon toys I bought came with more toys than I could fit on the cake. The boys had a fun time dividing the toys between the two of them before it was time for school.

Above: Dad stayed home from work and went sledding with Johnny while Peter was at school.

Above: They had some good times, and there sure are some awesome places to go sledding in our neighborhood right now with all of this snow!

Above: Time to head home!

Above: That's the hill they sledded down! Crazy!

Above: Once Peter got home from school, it was time to open presents!

Above: Peter got a Kylo Ren voice changer mask.

Above: Peter also got a Star Wars Kylo Ren costume. He got a Kylo Ren lightsaber as well, but it was late arriving in the mail, so Peter had to open up a picture of it. He also got some Pokemon cards. After we opened presents, we headed out to have dinner. Peter picked Pizza Pie Cafe. It was a good choice. Very family friendly. The boys ate a ton. Then Daniel had a little meltdown because he needed an evening nap, so we had to go. We took a short drive so Daniel could get enough of a nap...and then Peter and Johnny ended up falling asleep too.

Above: Cake time!

Above: Johnny was a little cranky (as he usually is when he wakes up from late naps), but after some cake and ice cream, everyone was in good spirits.

I can't believe that this sweet and sassy Pete of mine is already 7 years old. Here's the birthday message I posted for him on Facebook:

Seven years ago at 12:35 a.m., I became a mother when Peter David Washburn was born. I was so sick of being pregnant that when I was given the option for an induction, I jumped at the chance.

I arrived at the hospital bright and early on January 18th and everyone assured me that in only a few hours, I would have a new baby. I filled out my paperwork stating the date of birth as January 18th...but Peter had other plans...15 1/2 hours later--just long enough to ensure his birthday would be the 19th, not the 18th--Peter finally arrived. I should have known it would be a sign of things to come. smile emoticon My sweet Pete is incredibly strong-willed and no one can *make* him do anything he doesn't want to do!

Peter is fun-loving, adventurous, curious, imaginative, a natural leader and yet also a team player, strong-willed, mischievous, kind, funny, and very sweet.

Years ago, when Peter was three or four, I packed my boys into the van and said, "Let's have a little adventure." Pete said, "No, mom, let's have a BIG adventure!" That pretty much sums up my Pete. I sure love him. Happy seventh birthday to my sweet and sassy boy.

Above: I love this big guy of mine!