Sean's 26th Birthday

I love the half year when Sean's the same age as me. So here's what we did to celebrate the onset of those six months:

We celebrated at Grimaldi's Pizzeria. Super awesome thing: they bring over pizza dough for the kids entertainment.

Dash was all about it. He ate it and stretched it and ate it and tore it apart and ate it.

Liam, on the other hand, gave it a few tugs when encouraged and that was that.

He was more focused on his outrage at the lettuce we place in front of him. How dare we give him something so inedible!

After dinner we wandered around the fountains and yard by the restaurant. Sean's such a lucky birthday boy.

This is what inevitably happens when you hold two one-year-olds.

So we let them wander. That's their favorite.

Here's one of my handsome men.

Another of my handsome men.

The last of my handsome men. Gosh do I love them all.

We finished off with birthday pie! Dash was too busy playing in the kitchen cupboard to sing to daddy.

Well, actually, we finished off by seeing Harry Potter after the boys went to bed. We thought we were giving the babysitter the easiest job ever but, lo and behold, the boys picked that night to wake up crying. They never do that at night (while home, they do it all the time on vacation). I don't know if she decided to go in right away or what, but she said she just went in there and rocked them and it was alright after a while. Um, I don't know how she did that, because whenever I've gone in there in that sort of situation, it just makes it worse. Whatever she did, they were asleep when we got home, so I guess all's well.

And Harry Potter was so awesome! So intense and so emotional.

I have a few thoughts about it to share and there's DEFINITELY spoilers.

• I cried: when we saw the Battle of Hogwarts victims (now having twins makes that so much harder!), Snape's memory of discovering Lily with a crying Harry in the background, Harry telling Ron and Hermione he had to go to the forest (Hermione's "I'll go with you..." oh such tears), and Ginny seeing the "dead" Harry.

• These kid actors have become SO GOOD!

• Some changes from the book were real improvements! Like the defenses everyone put up for Hogwarts- in the movie it was very impressive, in the books some of the spells seemed kind of silly. Also, I thought the way Neville attains the Sorting Hat felt more organic.

• I thought King's Cross was pretty darn good. I just wish they had talked about Voldemort taking Harry's blood, how it allowed Harry to come back to life. I mean, I experienced years of angst, wondering what that "twinkling" in Dumbledore's eye was back in book 4. I worried it was a hint that Dumbledore may be on Voldemort's side. But at King's Cross, we finally learn that Dumbledore had discovered a way for Harry to survive after all! It's an amazing connection to make as you're reading. The movie just wants you to accept Harry's "resurrection" blindly.

• I loved love loved the added scene of Harry talking to Ron and Hermione before going to the forest. These three are the heart of the story and it heightened the emotion so much.

• I don't understand why Harry and Voldemort merged as they were flying through the air. I also am not sure what exactly killed Voldemort. Was he so weak that Harry's expelliarmus curse actually did him in? Or did Voldemort's avada kedavra get sucked into him in a way that was not obvious to me? What do you guys think?