The seventh birthday

We went a little crazy and decided that since MJ had no school on his actual birthday and since we hadn't played with cousins or the Franzonello's in a long time, we would maximize play time together by having a sleepover. Tommy, Peter, Catherine, Tony, & Xavier made Mario's birthday SO special. They had dinner together Sunday night, went to bed with a 6 year old MJ, and woke up with a 7 year old! We hear this may have been Xavier's first sleepover.

Our guests made all of the usual birthday fanfare so much more special. We had pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast; ordered pizza (and had a few sides like blueberries which MJ loves) for lunch. The kids played well together - the weather was nice and they spent some time at St. Theresa as well.

Mario created another great cake based on MJ's request. The Kaza family was sure to bring 3 presents: a super bouncy ball, a soccer ball, and a super amazing water gun. The Franzonellos know our family well and got us some Cars 2 figures. By 4pm all of our young guests had left.

Our family party continued as MJ requested steak, rice, and broccoli for dinner. It was extra special that just as we were saying prayers and as Dad Mario was saying extra blessings for MJ, I looked at the clock and noticed it was 5:56pm -precisely the minute he was born. We all took a moment to enjoy that fun fact. Before we even cut into the steak, Joey had another greatly confusing line, "This pork looks like chicken?" Well, whatever it looked like, each person in the family licked their plates clean.

Thank you to the Franzonellos and Kazas for giving your kids to surround Mario on his birthday. Thank you for the notes on the blog and the phone calls. Mario really enjoyed giving the recap of his day and each time he shared his story it made him more excited about all that was done for him.

Now to get ready for our next birthday...