For the last several years he has worked for a fireworks company on the Fourth as a pyrotechnician, one of those guys that gets to actually shoot the the big shells at municipal fireworks shows. As usual, yesterday, he was at work. And we have the video to prove it. Enjoy!

We got home and wrapped up the gifts, and then the boys decorated the birthday cake.

“I know Daddy will wove his cake – it’s wemon, you know!!”

After Kevin came home, we had dinner, and then we had our cake and ice cream. Here is Liam putting the candles on the cake.

(Yes, we had a bit of a heat wave the last week or so – it’s been in the upper 80′s with humidity to match – but the heat finally broke today.)

Is this not a textbook picture of a “Made with love by young children” birthday cake?

A candle for each decade was about as close as we got to specifying which exact birthday this was.

And here is our birthday boy…

…and the loyal Casey, mooching around for fallen bits of birthday cake. The saddest day of his life occurred when the boys learned to eat dessert without spilling a bit, I tell you.

And then Kevin opened his presents, and we spent some time all playing together until the boys’ bedtime. Kevin loved his shirt, and the cap was a big winner, too, as he’s been feeling a bit strange without a baseball cap to wear around the house.

The rest of this weekend was a winner, too – since we live very close to Six Flags, we have always gotten season passes to the water park. It’s wonderful just to be able to pop over for an hour or two in the heat of the day and then come home again. This year, though, Liam has gotten tall enough to ride a number of the rides in the amusement park, and there is now a “Wiggles’ World” for the nursery-school set, so we decided to get the combination pass that is good for the water park, amusement park, and safari all together. So on Saturday we went over to the amusement park, rode a few rides, and had a pizza lunch before deciding we’d had enough of the heat. The boys loved riding in the Wiggles’ Big Red Car, and Liam and Kevin rode one of the intermediate roller coasters – it has a runaway mine train theme. Liam was thrilled and scared at the same time about riding it, and although he’s proud that he actually did it, I have a feeling it will be a while before he asks to go on another roller coaster. However, the big Ferris Wheel was a hit – the boys loved looking out and seeing all the places we’d been in the park, and even being able to see over to the water park was exciting for them.

Then today, Kevin took the boys back for a swim at the water park while I stayed home to enjoy some peace and quiet, pay the bills, and finish up some loose ends on some fundraising work I’ve been doing with Liam’s Waldorf school this winter. Liam’s last day of school is next Thursday, and so he’s quite excited about that. There will be a party, of course, and the kindergarteners will be putting on a puppet show for their parents and siblings. I’ll definitely post about that later this week.

So, all in all, it was a fun family birthday, and a great first weekend of summer around here. I always love summer – it’s nice not to have to be anywhere in particular most mornings, and just being able to do fun things with the boys is great. Hopefully I’ll get lots of blog material out of our adventures!

]]> http://menageriehouse.com/2010/06/06/birthday-weekend/feed/ 4 liesl OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA http://menageriehouse.com/2009/10/27/back-in-action/ http://menageriehouse.com/2009/10/27/back-in-action/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:57:22 +0000 lieslf http://menageriehouse.com/?p=682 ]]> I’ve been sick the last couple of weeks, so that’s behind the lack of cute kid stories over here. But I’m well and back to posting now, and hoping that the next bug gives us a bit of breathing room before invading. Nothing like back-to-back attacks of bronchitis to knock one out of everyday life for a while, and I’m hoping that it is good and gone and after two successive rounds of different antibiotics. I should be posting more regularly now! In the meantime, here are a couple of recent photos to hold down the page:

Kevin took the boys out to dinner one night last week, and they lucked out. Upon arriving at the restaurant, they discovered it was Family Night. Not only did the kids eat for free, but there was a balloon artist in the house, too. WooHoo!

That evening, I took Liam upstairs to tuck him in for the night. When I returned downstairs, I found this cozy trio asleep on the couch-tres cute!

See you in a couple of days with more Menagerie House news!

]]> http://menageriehouse.com/2009/10/27/back-in-action/feed/ 2 liesl P9290040 PA220356 http://menageriehouse.com/2009/08/14/a-big-fun-surprise/ http://menageriehouse.com/2009/08/14/a-big-fun-surprise/#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:46:23 +0000 lieslf http://menageriehouse.com/?p=628 ]]> Liam and Kieran have been in love with the Imagination Movers for about a year now. “The Guys”  music is sung by both boys off and on throughout the day, and several Movers’ albums are on the car playlist. Last Spring Kevin and Liam went to see the group live in a small theater in a Jershey Shore town, and Liam still talks about that concert as being one of his Best Times Ever.

They are touring again this Fall, and tickets for their November show near us went on sale this morning. Since I can never tell when I’ll be able to get on the computer, and we had a feeling the tickets would go quickly for this show, Kevin bailed out of a meeting and returned to his office in search of tickets as a present for Liam’s 6th birthday. He pulled out his trusty Disney Visa card, phoned the theater on two separate phone lines, and got online on three different computers. At 10:03 he emerged victorious after managing to snag four tickets up near the stage and about eight rows back. By 10:13 when he e-mailed me to tell me that he had the tickets, the going price for similar seats on Stubhub was $400.

We are so excited and can’t wait until Liam opens his birthday present in a couple of months. The look on his face will be worth his weight in gold, if not more. But if you run into him befire then, don’t mention anything and just act normal. It’s a big secret, ya know?

Kieran and Liam helped Kevin blow out the candles on his cake tonight.

Liam and Kieran helped me bake their Daddy’s birthday cake – lemon cake with whipped vanilla buttercream frosting. We mixed up the batter and baked yesterday, thus introducing Kiri to the fun of licking the beaters. We frosted and decorated the cake this afternoon. I did the writing and the boys did the rest of the decorating, including picking the colors. I was impressed with their color choices given that I have about 15 different colors in my baking supplies. Kiri picked the green, while Liam picked the teal and the pink.

The boys with their newly-finished delicacy. Kieran was all business about making the perfect cake, while Liam was more amused by mugging for the camera!

June holds many birthdays for our family. Kevin’s big day starts it all, and then my birthday is the 10th. Then come Kevin’s Dad and Grandma on the 29th and 24th, respectively. Liam’s last day of school is next Wednesday. Add all of those things together and it sums to a whole lot of partying going on around the Menagerie House this month. To quote Kieran, “Fun, guys, FUN!”