Matthew is now a strapping young seven year-old. And, yet again, his birthday experience was a rollercoaster ride as he was devastated to realize that despite it being his birthday, he felt no different what-so-ever. Seven years old in the morning felt very much like six years old had felt the night before. Thankfully, we worked through the drama and he had a great, special day in the end.

We spent Labor Day weekend at Port Ludlow with my parentals, my two big brothers and my mom’s youngest brother – my Uncle Phil (aka “Uncle Phuzzie”). Uncle Phuzzie – who the boys quickly adored – taught the boys useful things like how to say “Good morning” in Japanese, “Where are my shoes?” in Spanish and the fun little classic ditty: “Miss me, miss me, Now you gotta kiss me.” He also chanted, “Matthew and Emma kissing in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…” to which Matthew blushed fiercely and then, giggling, asked him to do it again. (Despite his reaction, Matthew claims to no longer have a relationship with Emma. That was SO Kindergarten).

We, along with my brother Tim, took the boys swimming on Sunday afternoon. All of a sudden, Zachary has no fear of the water and (clutching four swim noodles) he launched himself off the side of the pool at his Uncle Timothy. When Tim asked him if he wanted to do it again, Zach, said, “Um, maybe not, that was actually kinda scary.” Matthew did an awesome job swimming on his own, though it’s possible he also drank about half the pool in the process.

After swimming, we returned to the bumpin’ condo for dinner and birthday cake. Mom had decorated the cake with little green army men and Matthew was THRILLED. He announced, “This cake is SO COOL.” He’d gotten to open Aunt Jamie’s and Uncle Dan’s gift early on Friday and was thrilled to get to open a few more from the rest of us on Sunday. He got some birthday cash, some books (including audio books of Robin Hood and Black Beauty), and of course, we got him a couple of Legos that made him squeal with glee like a little girl.

All in all, it was a great three-day weekend and birthday celebration and once again, returning from vacation made reality all the harder to face. We’ve got nasty colds – Mike’s is actually the worst which is ironic as he’s usually the one that avoids getting the bug all together, and with only three weeks until the Convention that we’ve been working on for two years, things are going to be CRAZY for a bit. The. Count. Is. On.