Birthday Boy

 Ezra turned seven on February 13, 2014.  He chose to have his birthday dinner at Chuckarama.  We were delighted.  Chuckarama always reminds me of my mother, who took her grandchildren there on important occasions.  As she hobbled in behind her walker, with a trail of scruffy-looking family behind her, she always sniffed, "The only thing I don't like about this restaurant is the people who come here!"  I laugh every time I think of that, and I beg Heaven that I can recognize my own blindness!

 

These days Chuckarama has delicious, fresh salads.

It also still has the scones, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes that led Camille, several years ago, to instruct her children that they had to have something green on their plates before they added all that white stuff.  Annelise added green jello.

 What a cute family!

After dinner, we returned to our house and showed the Eberts the demolition of our upstairs rooms.  We cleared away some dust and lit candles on Ezra's birthday cake. Ezra and I picked it up from Schmidt's Pastry Shop earlier in the afternoon, on our way to Toys'R'Us to choose his birthday presents.

Ezra waited patiently to blow out his candles.

Afterwards, he opened his presents.  He chose the gifts I gave him, but he pretended great surprise and excitement!  He also unveiled the nine guns which I had permitted him.  On Camille's explicit instructions, I had steered Ezra away from the video games.  "I don't want your mom to fire me as grandma," I explained. "She'll take one look at a video game and say, 'That Gretta Spendlove, she's got to go.'"