I had asked him a few weeks back what type of cake he’d like (when will I learn?!?) and he said he wanted a Captain Rex head.  Terrific.

It wasn’t too hard to find 3-D (’cause it HAS to be 3-D) Captain Rex cakes, but almost all of them used fondant.  No way am I going there.  I dug a little deeper and managed to find someone who made one with butter cream frosting.  It really looked pretty good, and not too hard, so I set out to copy it.

Jack, thankfully, was thrilled with my efforts:

He was equally thrilled with his gifts:

As were his siblings:

The fish’s name – a Betta – is aptly named… Captain Rex.

This says it all, no?

We celebrated Andrew’s two-ness with a rocket ship cake and some great presents.  Then a few days later, Gran took him to Build-A-BearDog where he made “‘Night’Night” and dressed him in overalls.  Once he got the hang of that animal-stuffing machine, it was hard to pull him away!

Andrew has been practicing his new age by throwing a couple of colossal fits, and he’s talking more and more.  But mostly he’s still my sweet baby boy… for a little bit longer, anyway.

Last year when Luke was learning to ride his bike, he’d get frustrated and VERY angry.  Every. Single. Time. He’d try and fall, he’d rip off his helmet and throw it down the sidewalk in anger.  Sam, having clearly learned this trick from his brother, has done the same thing a few times this spring while trying to learn to ride his bike.  While it’s been quite entertaining for the neighbors, it has been frustrating for him.

Until now!!!

Is there enough blue here for you?  THIS is the first day of school picture.

I know you wish you were me.

Dan’s race was first.

In the usual fashion, we had no solid plan, so I ended up standing around the 4-mile finish line with five kids, searching for a sweaty Dan.  Although we were plenty early, it did us no good.  We were still searching for Dan (who had Luke’s bib) five minutes before the 1K was to start.  When we found him, he had no bib.  “It’s in the car, where I told you I’d leave it for you,” Dan told me.  Arrrggggghhhhh!  I do not remember that being the plan, although it makes sense, as we did agree to park in the same lot.  Which was no where near the starting line.

Dan took off for the car to get the bib, while the panic set in.  Luke was refusing to run if Dan or I wouldn’t run with him.  He wasn’t that concerned about the bib, but I couldn’t run with him, as I had everyone else with me and Dan was off to get the bib.  Starting time was drawing near.  The kids were all lined up.  The emcee announced that the race would commence in 15 seconds… and here came Dan, bib in hand.  No time to pin it, and no time to trade off parenting, so Dan ran (again) with Luke.

I’m so proud!

Yes, we just did this last year with Jack.  But, girls are soooooooo different!  I mean, they have to have the dress.  And the vail.  And get manis and pedis and updos with their friends.

Along with Grandma, Grandpa, aunts, an uncle and several cousins, Maria’s wonderful Godmother, Julie, was able to come help us celebrate.

I remember that Jack had been excited, but not nervous in the least.  Maria, however, was nervous.

“What if I mess up?” she asked me.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”  I asked back.

“Well… I could trip.  I could fall.  I could drop the Host.”

Okaaaaaayyyyyy….

Of course, none of those things happened.  She was beautiful and it all went perfectly.

I called my friend Julie and wished her a happy birthday (happy birthday, again, Julie!) and then Dan and I turned in for the night.

My water broke around midnight and Jack Bentley was born at 5:55 a.m.

We liked him so much, we had four more in quick succession.

But, he’ll always be my first.

I was nervous about the crowd, the weather, making it across the finish line, making it across the finish line alive, the crowd, humiliating myself, the crowd…

But, it was great!  It took more than 30 minutes for our group to even reach the starting line after the race began, but once I was running, I didn’t stop.  And, I even did pretty well, finishing in 50:58.

Hot Moms (I'm in the middle, dark pink hat).

**********************************************

My first 8K came the day before my 5th baby turned 1.  Almost impossible to believe, isn’t it?

Birthday crown

To celebrate, today he crawled down all the stairs by himself; and later he took one, teeny-tiny step.

Then…

He made a wish:

He ate cake:

And (after I beat his sister and brothers off with a club), he unwrapped his own presents:

Exhausted after all the excitement, he fell asleep immediately tonight… just like he did a year ago:

I was SO EXCITED!!!  Not only do I love it (and, well, anything Apple), but my husband came up with it ALL ON HIS OWN!  I was shocked, surprised, thrilled.

I got this, because I have this:

And, because I have him, I have these:

Thank goodness, I didn’t get this:

(Which is what the running store employee suggested Dan get me since I’ve signed up for an 8K).