I made Arlo a birthday cake yesterday for his birthday today. It was passably Canadian, relatively tasty, and frosted with delicious buttercream, which is all that really matters. If the last flavour you taste of your birthday cake is sweet, chocolate, and buttery, then it was a successful cake. And luck will follow you! I just made that up! Let’s see if it comes true.

Last night, Arlo tried convincing me I should put his presents downstairs, just so he could look at them. I declined. He still stayed up until nearly nine o’clock and got up at before six o’clock so we knew it was bound to be a fun day full of mood swings and chaos. But first, coffee.

Just call me “Angel of the Morning.” Everyone else does.

Then, presents. Arlo got some Zinkies from Eli, a ninja costume from his grandparents, a Lego minifigure encyclopedia, headphones, and a box of rocks from me and Saint Aardvark. The box of rocks was a huge hit. Hey, they were fancy rocks. I bought them at a rock shop. Fool’s gold! Crystals! My kid is wild about rocks. (this picture is not of the box of rocks.)

Yay, that book I wanted!

We went to my parents’ house for the day. It was really hot there, but they have a small pool, a big tree, and a hose to fill hundreds of water balloons. There was a lot of screaming. The good kind.

There’s a very involved battle going on here.

We ended the day wet, tired, hot, and happy. Some of us were a bit dirtier than others.

This shot captures the moment of water balloon impact at Arlo’s feet. Cool, huh?

The repeatedly-christened seven year old might smell dodgy but still remembered to say ‘thank you for the rocks, Mommy’ when I kissed him goodnight. And so, goodnight to you all.