Birthdays Part 3

October is a whirlwind of birthdays in our family. We have mine, my nephew's, my mom's and my brother-in-law's. This year I celebrated my birthday for three days straight, so it was an extra special time for me.

The day before my birthday Steve and I went to the Art Institute (one of my favorite things to do) and then went out for lobster and crab legs for dinner (my ultimate favorite food). If you've never been to Miller's Alehouse in Lombard, please check it out. I had a combo 1lb snow crab legs and lobster tail for $16 - and that wasn't even a special. It wasn't the most fabulous seafood I've ever eaten, but the food is definitely worth way, way more than $16.

The next morning I woke to presents and cards from Steve and the kids. Then we headed to Blueberry Hill Pancake House in LaGrange  for a wonderful breakfast (another great place to check out).

Even though it was technically my birthday, we celebrated my nephew's birthday later that afternoon. My sister wanted to rent out his gymnastics room at the park district, and she could only do this on a Saturday.

The kids had a fabulous time playing with the gymnastics equipment. When they were in their six week gymnastics class through the YMCA, Jared didn't want to go after the third week. I've already written about that experience before, but I'm sure most of what he didn't like was the extreme structure of the class. This day was all about free play on the equipment, and he was all about that. In fact, he asked me several times after this day to go back to gymnastics again. I found another gymnastics class, this one specially designed for homeschoolers, at a different Y, so I signed them up. Its should be more about free play and exploration instead of strict drills and waiting in line. I'll report back soon on how it's been working out.

After an hour in the gymnastics room, we drifted to the party room for snacks, dinosaur cupcakes and to watch O open his presents.

The next day after church we went to my mom's house where she hosted my birthday party for the rest of the family. We mostly just hung out and talked, while Steve BBQd chicken quarters on the grill. Alexa, Jared, Amy, and my mom and I went for a little walk to check out some grape vines.

The next weekend it was my mom's turn for a birthday celebration. We reversed houses and held it at ours since the weather was nice. We have a small house, so we don't host many events where both sides of the family will attend unless it's warm and we can mostly hang outside. We played a little badminton, talked and then ordered pizza. We ended the evening watching the new Karate Kid movie with Jayden Smith. We all really enjoyed it. It's basically the same as the original movie, even down to the same lines in most places, but that's what make it fun for us. Jared was all over the place showing us his karate moves. I asked him if he'd like to take a karate class, thinking it would be fun for him, and he said, "I'll let you know when I do." Well, ok then.

About a week ago we celebrated our last October birthday, Uncle Z. His birthday is actually on the same day as my mom's, but Z and Steve's sister were doing their own celebration that weekend. It was a relaxed, laid-back time, eating pizza and hanging out talking. Grandma picked up costumes for the kids to play in, and they spent hours exploring stuff in the attic. Of course, the favorite activities of the night were eating cake and helping Uncle Z open his presents.