Six Years With These Kids

This time of year is when we remember the miracles that preceded the arrival of our twins. Last night, on the eve of the their birthday we invited a couple families over for a spaghetti and meatball dinner (their choice) with lots of green veggies on the side (my choice). With our guests we had a short family home evening lesson on the gifts we are given at our births (our bodies and our families) and we watched a short video of their life set to the song "Feel Again". I teared up thinking about how we came out of the numbness of those first day by feeling the joy of parenting.

Our friends gave the greatest gift by being a part of the Birthday Chorus, which is very meaningful on birthdays in the absence of our extended family. I didn't tell them how loud they would actually need to sing to rival those they were replacing, and so the traditional birthday song was quite lovely and in tune.

 The cake was almost gone within a half-hour. I was thankful I had gone with four layers, and I was glad that no one could really tell (or admit that they could tell) that I had run short on vanilla extract and had to improvise the night before at 10 p.m. Celebrations are pretty stress-less when our good, kind-hearted friends are the ones we're entertaining, and I wished it could go on for another hour or two.

 In recent family history, we have let our kids open their gifts from us and their grandparents on their birthday morning, but somehow we decided to let the kids do it that night, on their birthday eve, before bed.

 They were thrilled with their surprises and they went to bed giggling with birthday joy.

Today they shared celebratory snacks with their kindergarten class, wore birthday crowns all through the day, ate school lunch (a real-dream-come-true), and played with their toys all afternoon. The magic of a six-year old birthday is lingering on in our home, and we are all so happy to have these two in our lives.