birthday week breather.

Phew. I LOVE celebrating. But I'm a little exhausted. We're in the middle of an eight day stretch of November we affectionately refer to as Birthday Season (also known as The Mother of All Birthday Weeks).

November 9, 12, 13 & 17 are special days for the Terps. I try to strike a balance between proper planning and keeping it low key, but it can be hard to maintain the necessary amount of positive birthday spirit for this many days in a row.

Here's the highlight reel (because who can resist the happy smiles, the surprised faces, and the pretty cupcakes?) For everyone's benefit, I left out the parts where I yelled.

Matt starts out the birthday bonanza each year. Poor Matt. Once upon a time he had a birthday of his own. Now he shares it with these three adorable little ones who totally steal his thunder.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal at his parents' house, and the kids were delighted with their gifts including remote control cars (we're not sure who had more fun - Dylan or Papa), a Barbie swimming pool, and puppies, puppies, and more puppies.

On Monday, our celebrating centered around our sweet, blue-eyed girl, the one and only Ella Jeanne. Her after-school activity of choice was the oh-so-fun, oh-so-potentially-germ-ridden Playworld. We played hard with some friends and then headed down the road for another six-year-old pick: Steak n' Shake!

I went the easy route and picked up the cupcakes from our favorite bakery. Ella eagerly unwrapped girl Legos and "workout" clothes from us, and a special color-it-yourself purse picked out by big brother. These Lego Friends are where it's at - she loved them...and fortunately for them, the Lego gals have a little more shape to them than the boxy Lego guys.

This girl holds our hearts. She's smart and sweet, kind and caring, feisty and fun. She's growing up before our eyes and despite our repeated requests not to turn six, she went ahead and did it anyway. Partly because she was such a surprise (it's a GIRL!) and partly because of her semi-traumatic delivery, I remember many of those first moments in the hospital room with her so well. She came out screaming...and then those beautiful blue eyes seemed to settle down while her daddy held her and held her and held her. He was already thinking of the day he would one day have to let her go.

One short sleep later, and it's the birthday boy's turn. Dylan was revved up to go bowling after school so that's just what we did. Matt was working so that meant a three-on-one bowling session. Luckily it was nearly empty in there and the kids held it together. And we only had to call a bowling alley employee over once to dislodge a ball that was moving so slowly it actually got stuck.

Dylan requested Jet's Pizza (music to this mama's ears), followed by the cupcakes I picked up yesterday for Ella's birthday (will he need therapy later for that?), and another round of present opening. He unwrapped Legos...it's just where we're at right now, plus a real biking jersey just like Daddy's, and some tiny little Cars drifters from the sisters.

Sometimes its hard for me to believe that he's not a chubby cheeked little toddler anymore. He is positively with a doubt, a full-fledged boy. We are so proud of who he's becoming. His teacher told us at conferences that all the kids love to be around him and everybody wants to be his friend because he's such a great friend himself. He gets along well with everyone and treats them each the same. This is one of the things we are most proud of him for and I know it will serve him well in life.

One more birthday to go, with the littlest Terp closing out this year's Birthday Season. (More birthday cake? She's not complaining). We're going out with a bang with a special getaway coming up...not officially part of the birthday-ing - but you had better believe we're selling it that way. We'll either win an award for Best Parents Ever or we're creating the perfect storm for a spectacular meltdown.

We'll see. Stay tuned.