Hand In Hand with Sam: Quinn is now 7!!

Quinn turned 7 years old on Monday. It was a great day and what follows are some of the pictures we took throughout the day. The first few are of the bike he got for his birthday but we picked it up (and gave it to him) on Friday. He is so much like his mommy. He loved getting the bike but he wished he got it *on* his special day and that he wasn't there when we bought it. He is all about the surprise, just like me. Oh well, now we know and he certainly didn't mind having his new bike. He just missed the surprise.

Aunt Jen is in town (well, now she is in Toronto but she was here Sunday and Monday) for training for her new job and so we were able to have her join us to celebrate Quinn's birthday. He was pretty excited about that. Fergus persuaded daddy and I to give Quinn his gifts before the party on Monday so there are some pictures of him opening his other gift from us (Mariokart for Wii), from Fergus as well as the money from Grandma and Aunt Jen.

Then we had 5 other children descend upon our home and the games really began. Liam (5), Alex (9), Shelby (7), Ellie (7) and Sydney (7) joined us to celebrate Quinn's special day. They ran around, played hide and seek and spent time on our swing while they waited for Doug to return with the McDonald's food that had been requested.

After eating they gathered their communal brain resources together to work their way through the well-crafted (if I do say so myself) riddles of the treasure hunt. This has become a tradition in our house. Both of the boys love treasure hunts and solving riddles so this offers them the opportunity to enjoy both. The treasure at the end of the hunt was the beginning of the loot they would accumulate to take home.

Then they returned outside to beat at the pinata (Jen has those pictures and I will post them once she sends them to me). Quinn and I had done some traveling and calling around to find the Sun pinata that he really wanted. He would have settled for something else but his heart was set on a Sun. The pinata has also become a tradition for him. Last year we had one of them that sports the ribbons you can pull on to release the prize inside (after everyone has tried hitting it once or twice) but this one did not offer such easy access so we used a baseball bat and, honestly, it was not our brightest move ever. Some of the loot became more crumbs than candy. Oh well, live and learn.

After they had collected all of the well-beaten bounty from the Sun they returned indoors (while it was a sunny day, it was NOT warm) where they began working on their T-shirts. The original idea was that they would decorate T-shirts (as we had done for Fergus' 5th birthday party) and the shirts would be the party favours for Quinn's guests to take home. He convinced me to do the pinata again though and so there were sweets too. (I managed to include fruit leather and sesame snacks in there as well so I felt like I was offering less crap and therefore a little less guilty.)

All of the T-shirts were AMAZING! It was so incredible to watch these children put so much thought into their artwork. Wow!!

Fergus and Quinn were finally able to wear their artwork today. Fergus creates a picture of something specific in his mind and that translates to the material. Quinn just goes with the flow in a more abstract way. Both did phenomenal work though. I am honoured to know them both and know that they have inherited the creative genes from their Uncle Nath, Aunt Jen and Aunt Eleanor (as well as many other talented family members).

Finally, we had cake and presents. I think Doug opted to shoot video of the gifts and cake presentation however I still needed to share shots of the cake. It is "Bobby's Caramel Cake" recipe from Paula Dean. Quinn, Fergus and I love watching "Paula's Home Cooking" every afternoon at 4:00 on the Food Network. When Quinn saw the episode with this recipe he immediately declared that that was what he wanted to have for his cake. We worked diligently and created what was quickly labeled as being a wonderful cake! It was a hit with everyone but most especially it was a hit with QUINN!