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.