Happy 7th birthday, Jack!

The birthday celebrations continue at the Campbell home today!  It's quite the festive season with so many birthdays and Mother's Day packed into just a couple of weeks. 

Jacks started his 7th birthday with a special breakfast with David at Bob Evans.  He enjoyed the meal and their shop talk about Star Wars Legos.  He came home and we took a special field trip to DC today -- just me and the boys.  Jack wanted to see the Natural History museum, and there was a special butterfly exhibit we've never seen before that he really wanted to see.  So, I took my first solo trip to DC with the kids.  It actually went very well!  The boys were all well behaved and we got to see some neat exhibits at the museum.  The butterfly exhibit was pretty cool -- we've never seen so many butterfly flying around us before -- and we were able to see some beautiful butterflies up close (some landed on us!).  We saw a few other exhibits, although there were 2 that Jack really wanted to see that were closed today, unfortunately.

We headed home and the boys will enjoy their cake and ice cream for an afternoon treat since Jack has CCD class tonight.  His requested birthday dinner is homemade pizza, fried shrimp, and salad with raw spinach, so we'll have that a little early so he can enjoy it before heading off to class. 

Seven years old is typically called "the age of reason" by the Church, so I'm looking forward to the year ahead.  Jack has a definite sense of reason already (although it doesn't always line up with reality!), so we'll see how/if that continues to develop this year.  He is very bright, intense, and assertive -- which are excellent character traits that are a joy (but also keep us on our toes!).  Jack is also very sweet, and many times a day will start out a sentence with "Mom!..." and lets a dramatic pause hang in the air (meanwhile I'm wondering/bracing myself for the last half of the sentence!) and then finishes it off with "I love you!".  Jack also tells it like it is.  One morning recently, the boys had woken up early and they were making so much noise that it literally sounded like a herd of elephants.  David stumbled out of bed to discover Peter jumping on the bed and Jack and Thomas stomping around the room.  Later on, I asked Jack and Thomas what they were doing while Peter was jumping on the bed, and if they had thought about asking him to stop.  Jack quickly replied "No.  We were too busy marching."  I like that directness!

It's time to serve some afternoon cake and ice cream (I'll be a celebrity for a few minutes!), so I'll wrap up.

Happy 7th birthday, Jack!