Just a quick post to share our quiet birthdays at home.

Ben celebrated his 43rd year with cake and presents.

And I did the same for my 42nd! We also went out to dinner at Red Robin - hot fries and burgers are a special treat! I busted out a puzzle gift and worked on it all week.

Here are lots of photos of other moments this year so far. Ugh, it loaded them in reverse-chronological order. Oh well! We'll go backwards in time, and I'll mix some up to match photo orientation, so it's totally out of order!

Sam has been working hard and growing his music skills. In orchestra, they had the chance to perform a song of their choice. Sam worked on the Godzilla theme for his cello. He performed it as a solo in front of a packed auditorium! I wasn't able to attend, so Ben took this video for me. He did amazing!

On the piano, Sam has been practicing a piece called "Village Dance:"

Lastly, his whole 5th grade had to perform a mini musical. It was a very corny musical about zombies. Sam did a great job! He put his costume together and did the choreography very well. He had a featured part where he "tangos" with his friend. I took some close-up videos of him:

If you want to watch the whole 30 minute show, his teacher uploaded it here: