The twins wasted no time sleeping this morning, they were so excited to turn 5 that they were up and in our bedroom by 5:40am.

The celebration for this year started Monday night. We had an early dinner with Grandpa and Auntie Doris before they flew back to Florida at the Rainforest Cafe.

Besides the special dinner and birthday cake, Adam also treated them to a toy at the shop.

This morning they got an assortment of donuts from FireCakes.

Then it was in the car to drop the older kids at school and off to the Chicago Children’s Museum.

They have been changing a lot of things around at the museum. They still have the Castle exhibit that the kids love, but they moved the art studio upstairs.

We also visited some of our old favorites like the dinosaur room and the bus room.

Next it was time for MacDonald’s happy meal. Followed by some Garrett’s Popcorn. (It was very hard to be good about eating today!)

They had their swim lesson too. Can you believe it’s only 2pm at this point in the day?!

We picked Jack up from school and came home to open the first of many presents.

This one was something they both asked for. Sam wanted a Yeti and Aaron asked for more Trio Blocks.

I love how they combined the two gifts.

For dinner the twins wanted breakfast. Luckily we live in Chicago where you can get just about any food you want. We ate at Eleven City Diner. And we got yet another cake to celebrate.

Then home for more presents. We opened many cards, some with money in it. We opened gifts Bubbie and Bill sent up with us from our visit. And their big ticket item – their own iPads. 

But it doesn’t end there. Many relatives gifts are still streaming in. Jack and Ben are going this weekend to pick out their own gifts to the twins.

So lucky to celebrate for so many days! It’s like they are having a birthday week!

This year was a bittersweet birthday for me. It’s the last year the twins will be at home with me all day. Although I joke about how ready I am to have all the boys in school so I can have more free time, I also know that it’s another stage where we grow apart a little more. Eunice Kennedy Shriver once said having a child is just one long, painful separation that starts at birth. Today I feel it.