The Birthday Boy Turns 7!

The birthday boy rose bright and early, styled his hair into a mohawk (which I then sprayed with a boatload of hairspray so it would stay "up" throughout the day), and put on his birthday badge. "Someone" had a difficult time accepting that it wasn't also her birthday, so after breakfast she put on her birthday badge as well. I didn't fight it.

In keeping with our "cookies for school, cupcakes at home, and cake for party" tradition, Will brought these fabulous karate ninja cookies - courtesy of Sugar: Cookies, Cakes, and More - to school for snack.

Meanwhile, I spent all of Will's birthday (while he was at school) working on his cake and cupcakes. I kept both the cake and cupcakes simpler this year, primarily because I wanted to try working with fondant for the first time. Thankfully Will loved the finished products and I now feel considerably less intimidated by fondant.

Tom had been out of town the entire week leading up to Will's birthday, but he arrived home shortly after Will's school day and in plenty of time to share in the festivities. Both kids were thrilled to see their daddy, but I think Will's excitement when Tom walked through the door had more to do with finally being allowed to open presents (I must have said, "you have to wait until Daddy gets home to open these!" 25 times that morning) than it did missing his daddy.

Will's birthday happened to fall on his elementary school's Family Movie Night, so after school we enjoyed dinner and a movie with a couple hundred of his closest friends and their families. The highlight - at least for Tom and me - was watching Will do push-ups in the gym to impress a girl.

After Family Movie Night we headed home for cupcakes and candles.

On Saturday morning Tom assembled Will's biggest present...a brand-new bike with gears! Will looked as huge on his first bike as he looks tiny on this bike, even with the bike in it's "smallest" position. Tom had to teach Will how to start riding from a standing position (Will can't touch the ground if his bottom is on the seat), and though Will crashed a few times at first, eventually he got the hang of it and can now ride the new bike like a pro. And because he's too smart for his own good, Will also now seems to understand gears better than I do.

Just for fun, here's a look back at the day Will finally learned how to ride his first bike without training wheels.

We held Will's party at the same location as we did Hallie's birthday party: Hallie's gymnastics gym. All the kids - and the grown-ups - had a great time.

And here's a link to Will's birthday post, which I put up on Chasing Roots.

Happy 7th birthday, Will!