Happy Birthday! And, Happy Easter, too!

All I want for my birthday is my two front teeth! Our six-year-olds had a really fun birthday, missing teeth and all. If you can't tell, Amanda is missing her two bottom and Josh is missing his two top. They are quite a pair.

This year they shared their birthdays and even gave in on the cake when they saw this one staring at them through the glass at Costco. It wasn't my idea. Really! It just happened to mean that I didn't have to bake and decorate two separate cakes this year. Win-win. They decided it was pretty fun to share birthdays because then they each got two days to celebrate and most people just get one. Well, unless you are Zachie who shares birthdays with everyone in the family. Here he is insisting that we sing for him and allow him to blow out the candles too. To quote him, "Zachie's birthday, too!" Yes, we lit the candles for him afterward. You should have heard the heartbreak!!

Josh loved the toys and the new sports clothes and shoes. He was sure the new shoes made him jump higher and shoot better. The highlight of his day was playing basketball with Daddy and showing him all the basketball skills he has acquired through his daily practice.
Amanda's highlight was being the princess for the day (two days). She loved her crown and her new Barbie laptop. She has been working diligently on it as any good princess would.
The only trouble we had was when the presents came out. Zachie picked out one wrapped in Cars wrapping and said it was his. Josh graciously let him open it, but Zach discarded it when he saw that it was a dinosaur puzzle much too hard for him to put together. Then Josh opened his Buzz Lightyear. Zachie attached himself to that Buzz and became his best friend. Poor Josh! Luckily, he spent most of the day playing outside. He was content to let Zachie tend his Buzz for him.
After a while we decided that Zachie was not going to give up Buzz, no matter how much we tried to reason with him. The caption to this picture reads, "It's my Buzz!!!"
Poor Daddy. He had to make a trip to the toy store at 10:00 Saturday night so that we could get through the weekend peacefully. Now each boy has a Buzz and they both sleep with their prized possessions each night. Some people might say that our kids are spoiled. What would you do if you saw this face?
Does anyone remember where we were about five years ago? We celebrated Josh's first birthday one week late when Brian and I went to Samara to officially commit to adopting Josh, for the second time. A month later, we brought Brandon out with us and these two boys met. Brothers forever. We also celebrated Amanda's sealing on her birthday. She's been ours for five years.

Celebrating our sealings seems like a really good way to celebrate Easter. Life is so sweet! Today we have been thinking about Paul a lot and feeling really happy and grateful. We learned so much from him and feel so much peace in knowing that he lives. Today we sang a song called, "My Savior Lives" that we learned in ward choir. Brandon, Brian, and I all knew it and we all sang out together. We felt it. It's really true. He lives! It is because of Him that we enjoy the blessings of family and the abundant life. We hope you feel it too.