Birthday dinner, round one

We had our regular Lego League for the first time in six weeks. Our last two meetings were canceled due to snow. The kids were very happy to be back together. Bridget took this picture of the finished project for the day. It is the dog. He wags his tail up and down, his eyes move up and down, and his jaw opens and closes. The boys enjoyed playing with him very much. After Lego league, we had our usual play date.
Around 3p, we all got dressed up nice and headed out to E's chosen restaurant for birthday dinner. It is so nice that he has these Fridays off so we can beat the crowds at places like this. We went to a favorite German restaurant. We've never taken the kids there before because it is expensive and not really kid friendly. We wanted to respect the kids' choices so we gave them the option of going with us to a 'not kid friendly' restaurant or staying with Grandma. They both chose to go to dinner with us. I never would have dreamed that they would be able to sit still for an hour and a half without crayons! They did so well. We all had such a lovely dinner. They got to try new foods, resisted the expensive temptation to order cheese sticks as an appetizer, and got to sample all four homemade desserts. The gift of their pleasant presence was better than anything for which we could have ever asked. Even though we had an amazing time, we plan to return for our anniversary without the kids. :-)