happy birthday luke...

Happy 8th Birthday Luke!!! 

Our sweet, funny, lovable middle child turned eight on New Year's Day.  I'm sure I say this all the time but I can't believe I've gotten to be this amazing child's mom for the past eight years.  I'm pretty sure it was just the other day that we got his referral and then brought him home from Guatemala.  Actually, yesterday marked the 7 year anniversary of Luke's referral.  I still remember the day because Mark was at work when we got the email with his pictures and the agency Director called to talk with me about the baby.  She asked if I was going to wait for Mark to get home to open the email and I said "why would I do that?'.  Evidently, some couples liked to look at their potential baby's picture together.  Not me, I couldn't get to the computer fast enough to see him.

Click on these links to see Luke's birthday posts from years past, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and a second 2010 post.   I can't believe how much he has grown up, someone make him stop! 

We had friends over for New Year's Eve and this year we did not let the kids stay up till midnight.  Instead, we celebrated Luke's birthday about 9:30 and then everyone went home or off to see the mushroom drop.  It was so fun to have friends with us to celebrate the end of 2013.

Luke continues to be fascinated/obsessed with Spider-man so it was a very Spider-Man birthday.  Which coming on the heels of a very Spider-man Christmas, makes our house overflowing with your friendly neighborhood web-slinger.

I busted out my cake decorating skills and made him a Spider-man cake this year.  It's not the greatest picture but it was fun to make and decorate a cake.  I almost wish I could do it again, since now I know how to make all those stars that make up the face much better.  But John has asked for a store bought cake for his birthday next month.  So let me know if anyone has a Spider-man loving boy (or man) in their life and I'd be happy to do one for you.

Having a birthday this close to Christmas means that there is a lot of celebrating to be packed into a very short period of time.  We had hardly recovered from Christmas when Luke's birthday presents began showing up in the mail.  Thankfully, I have learned from years past and do his birthday and Christmas shopping all at the same time. 

Our kids went back to school on the 2nd, so Luke took Spider-man cupcakes and  Spider-man plates & napkins in to celebrate with his friends.  Because, you just can't have enough Spider-man in your life...

 

So for the price of a picture, the boys had cupcakes for dessert on Thursday after eating cake all day Wednesday.  I think it was pretty fair trade based on these fake cute smiles.  And, yes everyone gets a candle to blow out at our house.  That's just how a party should be, don't you think...