Nine. Years. Old...

Can you believe it??? Wow, time has gone fast!

July 2002

Today...

So, today we celebrated...

Notice the odd-ly placed baseball. For the first time in 9 birthdays, they could not agree on a cake. And actually, it was only Jack and Drew that were with me. Jack wanted the sports cookie-cake and Drew DIDN'T! I try to be sensitive to the whole triplet-sharing-a-birthday thing, but we already had 20 left-over cupcakes at home and I was not about to buy 3 cakes. To further complicate the matter, this all took place **this** morning, as in 4 hours before the party. Fortunately, the nice lady at Jewel added a baseball and everyone was happy enough. Whew.

Having a birthday around Memorial Day in Chicago means that you never know what you are going to get. But, today, we switched the "heat" over to "air-conditioning" and enjoyed 90 degree weather for the party, which seemed to make everyone happy.

Charlie looks happy.

Aidan and Liam look happy.

Connor too...

Ben definitely looks happy hanging in the hammock after a long weekend of soccer.

I know that Grandpa was surely happy, but that was because he beat us all at Pentago, after getting "humiliated" on Mother's Day.

Happy Grandma's...

And, a Happy Charlie at the "Little Kid's Table", where the little cousins hang on his every word.

And, here is a funny story to hopefully make you happy too...

Here are the boys looking so excited about opening the ping-pong paddles and balls that they got from Grandma and Grandpa. I'm sure they are thinking "but, we don't have a ping-pong table!". They were good sports as everyone was suggesting how they could play with them, even though they don't have a table.

Since it was strongly suggested that they give them a try in the garage, they did. And, since that nice big box was leaning against the wall in the garage, they decided to use it as a ping-pong back board.

Apparently, "observant" is not a skill that kicks in until past 9 years old...at least I hope so. There is a new ping-pong table in the box. It was finally pointed out to Ben, Jack and Drew, because they never noticed.

Ok, after re-reading that funny little story, I realize that it does not translate very well for people that were not actually here. But, I'm leaving it in because it makes me chuckle. Sorry for those of you that missed it. It was really funny in real life. :)

Happy Birthday to my favorite NINE year olds, in the WHOLE WORLD!!

Love ya!!