n had two more birthday celebrations: one on his actual birthday at home and one the weekend after, at my parents’ house.

Here’s a leftover picture from his Chuck E. Cheese party.

k made him a sweet card.

I know I say it every year, but I cannot believe that n is another year older.  He is still my little guy, and I love that he: still likes to cuddle and snuggle; is funny like D; is becoming quite a bookworm; is always a willing helper; has a kind heart.

I must admit, planning kids’ birthday parties stresses me out.  I worry too much about the details, that people won’t be able to come, that it won’t be fun, etc.  We told the kids they could have a birthday party with friends every other year.  It has been a good compromise, since k and n’s birthdays are only three months apart.  This was n’s year to have a party.  I had some gift cards to Chuck E. Cheese, and n had never been before,

Last month, I won tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters at the Honda Center.  I wanted to surprise k and n so I joked that they should put blindfolds on so they would not know where we were going.  They took me seriously.  Good thing no one thought we were kidnapping them.

With the help of our den leader’s husband and his garage/woodshop, n and D built n’s first Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts.  D never did this as a kid, so he really had no idea what he was doing.  I helped n paint it, but that was the extent of my involvement.  We really had no idea what to expect.

This was the first year that we had two scouts participate in Scout Sunday at our church.  The scouts helped pass out the bulletins and passed the offering  plate to the congregation.

It was nice that Valentine’s Day was on a Sunday this year.  Even nicer was that the kids did not have school the next day, and D took the Monday off.

Both kids are fortunate to have great room moms who plan fun parties.  It is always fun to volunteer for holiday parties and it brings back memories of how much I used to enjoy classroom celebrations.

One of the many reasons why I like Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts are the various opportunities they provide to volunteer as a family.   Last month we volunteered to help with an organization called Feed My Starving Children through k’s Girl Scout troop.  We put labels on the bags of food that will be distributed to children in various countries.  

We had tickets to Knott’s that expired at the end of the year, so we snuck in a trip just in time.  I like going around the holidays because of the decorations/shows, etc., but it is always so crowded, too.  I was also disappointed that there was no Snoopy on Ice show on the day that we went.

We had to postpone our trip to San Diego during Christmas break by one week since D was sick.  We ended up going after church on Sunday and staying one night.  However, by the time we arrived at San Diego Zoo at about 2 p.m. in the afternoon, it was crazy crowded.  We had to circle the parking lot for a really long time and finally lucked out when a bus was leaving, freeing up about four spaces at once!