Jane is 11!

True story -- I keep thinking Jane is still 9.  Hahahaha.  Seriously.  I don't know why I can't keep it straight in my brain that she's actually 11 now!  Especially since Alex is the one who is actually 9.  So strange, I know.  Jane's birthday was on Friday, however, and she is most definitely 11 years old.  :)

Since everyone was home on Friday (all the kids have virtual/online school that day), we decided to go ahead and celebrate Jane's big day that afternoon/evening.  Of course, things are never perfectly smooth around these parts and Jane had a bit of a rough start to her morning, but thankfully the day ended on a much higher note than it started.  {Unfortunately, she ticked off the WRONG person the evening before when first she hit Grace as hard as she could and then -- for some inexplicably CRAZY reason -- threw a cup of water at Grace.  It didn't go over very well, as I'm sure you can imagine, and there was some residual animosity present on Friday morning.} 

Jane was so excited about the Avatar necklace that Grandma sent...

...and she loved the new birthday outfit that Granny bought her when she was here a couple of weeks ago.

Things had begun to mellow out by the afternoon, thank goodness, and while Scott took Alex with him to Target to pick out some presents and I started making the requested Avatar cake, Jane and the others partied upstairs with the "Just Dance 2020" game she had been gifted earlier in the day.  Once the cake was done and the presents were all wrapped, we gathered 'round the dining room table and sang to the birthday girl and then she ripped into those gifts.  She was genuinely pleased with everything the kids picked out for her {or -- more accurately -- everything that Scott picked out for the other kids to give her}, and after everything was opened, they skedaddled back upstairs for some more "Just Dance."  Ironically, the Avatar cake -- which she LOVED -- didn't even get cut into or eaten until Saturday afternoon.  As Ethan commented, I think we've all OD'ed on cake since the quarantine started.  Hahahahahaha.  {If you'll recall, making cakes was an almost every day occurrence at the beginning of our lockdown.}

Getting their "Just Dance" on.

"Water, Earth, Fire, Air"

I accidentally put 12 candles on the cake.  It would appear that I really can't keep her age straight at all.  Hahahahaha.

Now that Jane's birthday has come and gone, we have exited our August birthday alley!  Maxwell's birthday is next week (our little pup-pup will be 2), but I don't think we'll be doing anything all that big to celebrate.  Hahaha.  The next family birthdays on the horizon are Grace and Isaac in November.  It's so hard to believe the year is beginning to wind down!  

We're in a Rubik's cube phase right now.  Hahaha.  Jane has mastered the 2x2 cube and is ready to move on to the big leagues with the 3x3.

These Airheads were a bigger hit than you would think.

This was probably the biggest hit.  She legit let out a shout of joy when she unwrapped it and saw what it was.  Also -- this is the one present that WAS actually picked out by a kid.  Alex got it at Target when he was there with Scott.

Stay tuned for a check-in on how school is going now that it's in session...