Last birthday celebration for 2009 ( we think ...)

Grandma Peggy and Aunt Jill arrived about 5:30 p.m. (after 12 hours of driving from St. Louis) and brought birtjday gifts with them. Since they missed Will and Xan's actual birthdays, I went out and bought cupcakes so they could see them blow candles out, too. Here are some photos from the evening:


Grandma Peggy was pleased that Xan showed the proper enthusiasm for Aunt Brenda's choice in clothes for him.


Aunt Brenda's shark shovels were also a big hit. Weather permitting, we plan to go to the beach Sunday afternoon to try them out.


Xan liked the movie ... Will liked that there were five movies in one.


Grandma Peggy got will two items that he had seen on TV commericals: Bendaroos and Martian Matter. I might hide them in Jill's car's trunk so they manage to get back to Illinois for plenty of messy fun when the boys are out there this summer.


One of Xan's gifts was as big as he was. What could it be?


A SpongeBob guitar! Xan got the Elvis stance and the hairband flair down in no time and started screaming that he was a rock star. Maybe he'll be the next Ozzy Osbourne... "Ironman" IS his most requested song.


Blowing out the candles...


This evening, Jill griped about how many terrible pictures I have of people on this blog. So I made sure to take a terrible one of her, all sweaty and dirty from baseball practice, and posted it here. You're welcome, Jill.

Last, but not least, I thought this was a super cute picture of Xan and Jacob, a little boy we baby sat a couple of times this week. This is while they sat on the bleachers during Rodney's softball game yesterday. I have no idea what insight Xan was giving him, but Jacob sure was listening!