July 31

This is me trying to get this blog updated in random fashion. I wrote a few posts from the beginning of June, and now I'm writing one the actual day of, and I'll try to fill in the gaps as much as possible. Hopefully. I don't have any photo sessions coming up anytime soon, so I'm hopeful I'll have time to work on documenting and sharing the pictures that really matter!

Today was Harry Potter's birthday.

Yes, I know he's a fictional character, but his birthday plays a big role in all of the books. We have been working our way through the series as a family, and together we have read the first three books (of seven) and watched the corresponding movies. I'm also fairly confident that Caleb has secretively read the ending of the seventh book because he is totally my child. After book and movie 3, we decided to cycle back and start the series over again, because things start to get a bit darker in book 4 and the kids aren't ready for that yet. 

So. Today was Harry Potter's birthday, and in the first book Hagrid makes Harry his first-ever birthday cake. So you know we made our own cake for Harry's birthday.

We went to Target this morning to buy Caleb and Daisy's school supplies (YIKES! I am not looking forward to buying supplies for all four kids in a few years!), so we picked up a cake mix.

Daisy helped me make the cake during nap time.

This is very similar to how the cake looked in the movie. The book's description of the cake was a bit different, so Caleb, Daisy and I talked about why the movie people might have made certain changes, and how those changes contributed to character development. It probably went over their heads, but I can't turn off the teacher in my head.

Right? It was a chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream icing.

Daisy was really excited.

After dinner, the kids all put on their Hogwarts/Gryffindor pajamas (that's something I haven't covered yet in the blog! Caleb got a pair for his birthday, and Daisy and Lily immediately began begging for Hermione nightgowns, and now the older three all have matching, utterly hilarious, pajamas.) so that we could eat the cake in style.

Daisy even got out her tall soccer socks so that she and Lily could wear knee-high socks like the girls in the movies.

Oh, and Daisy found a washable marker so we could draw a scar on Caleb's forehead. I love that Eli totally thought he was in on the game. He had no clue that he didn't match the big kids. Two is such a funny age!

Then it was cake time, and these kids were excited.

It didn't disappoint!

Harry

Hermione

Also Hermione

Superman.