Nine

 A little grainy but the only picture of the twins at wake-up on the morning of their ninth birthday.  Jacob was so excited the night before the big day that he went to sleep long after I hit the sheets.  Nevertheless, he was still the first one awake and kept up his energy level until 9pm.  Hannah, on the other hand, fell asleep at her normal time, woke at her normal time and went to bed again at her normal time.  This is a personality pattern that was recognisable in the womb and has carried through for the past nine years.

 Jacob fully outfitted in denim thanks to both sets of grandparents.  He is reading through a package of Mensa secret code cards given to him by his godparents.

 Hannah modelling her new outfit while Jacob deciphers secret codes.

 Dave and I saved our gifts until Dave came home from school.  I was too pooched to wrap the gifts so I asked Jacob and Hannah if it would be OK if I just put their gifts in pillowcases.  They were unfazed by my suggestion and Ben and Joe (a little grudgingly) brought them their gifts.

 Hannah asked for Lego and Lego she got.  Amazing to think that this box of Lego is the first box of Lego ever in our house.  Funny that it was Hannah who asked for it.

 Jacob asked for a detective kit for last year's birthday and, despite my best efforts, it was so back-ordered that it never came.  I had better luck this year.  As you can see, he was very happy.  You might also notice the difference in the red eye in his two eyes.  His left eye had the lens removed when he was 17 months old as the result of a cataract; so the red-eye effect is never the same in both eyes.  Red-eye and what it can tell us about eye health is something I never fail to notice whenever I look at pictures of my children.

 The ice cream cake.  It was very good and, unlike Dairy Queen, much more chocolate than vanilla.  The NET team arrived for supper the next day and the entire cake is now gone.  Sigh.

 Isaac and his first experience of ice cream cake.  In his words, "Mmmmm."

 Joseph:  always pretty cheerful.  This is one of his lesser smiles as his eyes are still visible as more than just slits.  In fact, he asked me today, "Why can't I see anything when I smile?"

 Another view of Hannah.  She discovered how to cross her eyes at supper and demanded that a picture be taken.  And, what also becomes clear is that none of the kids have Dave's blue eyes (nor my brown).  They all have eyes that are far more green than blue; I think that they are from my maternal grandfather.

Ben and Joseph showing off their moves after supper.  I have a video that needs to be loaded and I will do that asap.  Night night.

Easter Octave

 The other night I went downstairs to bless the boys before I went to sleep.  Jacob was asleep in his top bunk and Ben was sleeping down below.  Normally, Joseph sleeps in a futon bed in the same room with his brothers.  However, his bed was made and I couldn't find him in either of his brothers' beds.  I looked under the beds, in the closet and around the room.  And then I saw a little hand hanging over the side of the third drawer of the dresser.  And there was Joseph:  fast asleep, curled in a ball in Benjamin's  drawer.  I asked him the next morning why he had chosen such an odd sleeping arrangement and he answered that his bed just wasn't comfortable that night.

 Hannah and I had haircuts on Wednesday night.  I got a trim and Hannah had layers put in.  Our hairdresser also curled and hairsprayed Hannah's hair.  This is day three after the haircut and some of the curl remained despite two full nights of sleep.  She is growing up.

 Ben was very excited about our egg hunt on Easter morning.

 Joseph finding one of many tiny chocolate bunnies.

 Four of the five with their loot.

 Isaac also had his haircut on Wednesday along with Hannah and I.  I have never brought any of our children to a hairdresser at such a young age but I just didn't want to cut his blond locks myself as I knew that I would inevitably have to buzz his hair since I am no good with scissors.  So, he sat on my lap and wept bitter tears as the hairdresser snipped.  Our salvation came when the hairdresser's dog began to bark from the other room.  The barking provided a perfect distraction and he immediately stopped crying and began to bark which we all encouraged by barking along with him.  Amazing how one haircut can turn a baby into a little boy.

 And here is me at 32 weeks. (Mom, that is the shirt that you bought me when pregnant with Isaac.)  My hair seems to be growing increasingly curly with each pregnancy.  Funny, I once had poker straight hair and now it is frizzy and very curly.  I am feeling OK at this point but I am wondering how I can hack another 8 weeks.  This is the first baby who is leaving me very short of breath and increasingly tired at the end of each day.  Last night I actually had false labour that was quite painful.  I have never experienced this before even with the twins.  The solution was easy:  I lay down on the bed and then moved to the Lazy Boy where I watched Episode 3, Season 2 of Downton Abbey.  I think that I could get very used to taking it easy.