This past weekend we launched the next big step in our movement for more birthdays by introducing 2 new powerful ways to continue our progress: art and music..

Famous artists and musicians, inspired by our work and the way cancer has touched their lives, have donated their talent and creative energies to strengthen our movement. Their voices, combined with yours, will help create more birthdays, save more lives, and inspire everyone to take action in the fight.

Today, we’re also excited to announce that we’re taking our Official Birthday Blog to the next level too

by moving it to our completely transformed Web site (morebirthdays.com) and giving it a facelift. You’ll now know us as the More Birthdays Blog, where you’ll find even more relevant information – from birthday tips and healthy recipes to the latest updates on what we’re doing together to create more birthdays.

We hope the new and improved More Birthdays Blog will become the collective voice of our movement, to keep us all inspired to fight together with everything we have to create a world with less cancer and more birthdays.

Check out our new and improved More Birthdays Blog today, and be sure to bookmark it at: http://morebirthdays.com/blog

Today we would like to wish a very happy birthday to M. Night Shyamalan. This talented director is celebrating his 40^th birthday today.

Shyamalan attended NYU and by the time that he graduated in 1993, he had already written, directed and starred in his first full-length film, Praying with Anger. In 1997, the talented young director was chosen to write the screenplay for Stuart Little, the story of a mouse adopted by the Little family.

In 1999, Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense was released, catapulting him into director superstardom. The Sixth Sense was nominated for no less than 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

Shyamalan has since gone on to release movies such as The Village, Lady in the Water, and most recently, The Last Airbender.

Join us in wishing this talented director a very happy birthday!

If you have a little one whose eyes light up every time someone mentions dump trucks, tool kits or Bob the Builder, then we have the perfect theme for him or her: a construction party!

We found some great ideas for party games on Amazingmoms.com to make your little builder-in-training’s birthday unforgettable! Take a look:

Build-It with Blocks: Children will use cardboard “brick” blocks to build a tower as high as they can within a designated period of time.

Construction Zone Obstacle Course: Set up an obstacle course with piles of dirt, tires, stepping stones, caution tape and any other safe items you can think of. To play, the children will go through the “Construction Zone” as fast as they can.

Dirt Mover: Provide each team or player with a kids-safe hand shovel, pail and a pile of dirt. Place the pail a reasonable distance from the pile of dirt. Each player will take a shovel of dirt from the pile to the bucket until the pail is full. This game can be played as a relay race with team players taking turns, or children will race against each other.

Before the party, make a big truck by painting a large cardboard box. Provide beanbags for the children to toss into the “dump truck.”

Today, Lost actor Daniel Dae Kim is celebrating his 42^nd birthday!

Daniel worked hard to establish himself in the acting world before he landed the role of Jin Kwon on ABC’s Emmy-Award-Winning drama.

Starpulse.com tells us how Daniel went from pursing a career in law to becoming a superstar! Take a look:

It was a fateful early-career appearance on an episode of Law & Order that spurred the burgeoning actor to ditch the courtroom and take to the stage, with subsequent roles in Romeo and Juliet and A Doll’s House providing all the encouragement Kim needed to continue developing his craft.

Increasingly prominent roles in Angel, Enterprise, ER, and 24 hinted at something big in Kim’s future, and with the turbulent descent of Oceanic flight 815 that something big came crashing down in a very big way.

A virtual phenomenon from the very first episode, Lost proved to be the kind of television series capable of literally starting its own mythology – and Kim was directly at the center of the firestorm from the very beginning.

Though Lost would indeed prove to be Kim’s bread and butter, the actor continued to appear in features (Spider-Man 2, Crash) as well as branching out into the increasingly lucrative world of video game voice-overs (24: The Game, Saints Row). Somehow, in the midst of his wildfire success, Kim has even found the time to keep his passion for the theater alive by appearing in a New York stage production of Chekhov’s Ivanov.

Did you know that today is Harry Potter’s birthday? Author of the bestselling series, J.K. Rowling has mentioned July 31^st as the date of Harry’s birthday in her novels (which, in no small coincidence, happens to her birthday as well!). We hope that the birthday of this wizard is a magical one!

In case you haven’t seen it yet, check out the trailer for part 1 of the final Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which will be released on November 19^th of this year.

It’s summertime and we figure that a lot of you will be heading to the beach at some point! But what about those of us who won’t be able to make it down to the shore? Our suggestion for this Theme Thursday is to create your own seaside getaway by throwing an ocean-themed birthday party!

Amazingmoms.com has some great suggestions to make it feel like you’re celebrating under the sea. Take a look:

Decorations:

• Your guests will feel like scuba divers when they arrive at the under-the-sea adventure you’ve created. Hang several strips of party streamers vertically from the ceiling. Cut streamers in varying lengths and shades of blue. We use “sticky-tak” to avoid making holes in your ceiling.
• Add paper fish intermittently with the streamers.
• Cover the party table with a light blue or white sheet.
• Make a festive party centerpiece by attaching a bouquet of balloons to an ocean-themed toy, such as a heavy plastic whale. Add other plastic toys as well. Use butcher paper or poster board to decorate the front door with an underwater scene.
• For added effect, switch out some of your standard light bulbs to colored blue and/or green bulbs.

Party Games:

• Shark or Whale Tag: The birthday child begins as a “shark” in the middle of a large playing area. All other players are “fish,” who must try to run past the shark to the other side of the playing area. If a fish is tagged, he or she holds hands with shark to build a bigger shark and help tag more fish. The last fish left wins!
• Minnow, Minnow, Shark: Children will play this game just as they would “Duck, Duck, Goose.” Replace the fox player with a shark.
• Fishing for Treasure: Explain to the children that an old sunken ship is rumored to hold valuable treasure. Their job is to find clues that lead to the treasure, which is a box filled with their party bags. Before the party write and hide your clues. Attach the clues to items you would find on a ship… silverware, candlesticks, teacup, personal items, etc.

Today we’re celebrating the birthday of beloved children’s author and storyteller, Beatrix Potter.

Beatrix grew up in London but spent her summers in the English Lake District and Scottish Highlands exploring the countryside with her brother. These explorations developed her deep appreciation of nature and her fascination with plants and animals.

Years later, Beatrix began writing short stories and greeting cards that reflected her love of nature for the children of her governesses. One such story would become the basis of her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The book was a huge success and Beatrix soon acquired a publishing deal with Warne & Co. Beatrix went on to release 22 more books before retiring to a life devoted to looking after her farms.

Her writing style has proven to withstand the test of time and her books continue to be read by children throughout the world. Happy birthday, Beatrix Potter!

Today is birthday of Academy Award-winning actress, Sandra Bullock. This versatile megastar is celebrating her 46th birthday today.

We found a biography on Who2.com that gives us more information about this talented celebrity. Take a look:

Bullock had been a Hollywood favorite since starring as Keanu Reeves’s plucky love interest in the 1994 bus-gone-crazy film Speed. The film’s success made her one of Hollywood’s go-to actresses. The honeymoon was brief, but Bullock moved into making light comedies and romances as a solid lead, usually playing klutzy girl-next-door types. Her films in the era included While You Were Sleeping (1995), Forces of Nature (1999, with Ben Affleck), Miss Congeniality (2000) and Two Weeks Notice (2002, with Hugh Grant).

After a few years away from the screen, Bullock married Jesse James, the star of the reality TV show Monster Garage, on July 16, 2005 and settled in Texas. After her big hit with Miss Congeniality, Bullock stayed busy appearing in The Lake House (2006), Infamous (2006, as author Harper Lee), Premonition (2007), The Proposal (2009, with Ryan Reynolds) and All About Steve (2009, with Bradley Cooper). Her 2009 film The Blind Side cast her as an upscale interior designer who adopts a struggling black high school football player; it was a huge hit and won her the Oscar.

However, her marriage to James fell apart at almost the same time…. Bullock filed for divorce in April of 2010, while announcing that she would complete as a single parent the adoption of a son, Louis Bardo Bullock, begun before her break with James.

Have a happy 46th, Sandra!

We would like to wish a very, very happy birthday to everyone’s favorite sandwich-loving, soap opera-starring, lady-chasing “Friend,” Matt LeBlanc. Matt is best known for his role as Joey on the long-running and extremely popular TV series, Friends.

We found more information about Matt’s rise to stardom on Starpulse.com. Take a look:

LeBlanc dreamed of a career as a professional racer after receiving a motorbike at the age of eight. His mother’s vocal objections voiced concern over the youngster’s safety on the track, and the aspiring king-of-the-course and momma’s boy soon began training to become a professional carpenter.

Later graduating from high school and finding money in short supply, LeBlanc took his friends’ suggestion of becoming a model to heart and, after selling his truck to pay the way, he headed for New York and began appearing in print and, later, commercials.

A role in a Heinz ketchup commercial, which won the prestigious Gold Lion Award at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, brought the aspiring star more recognition, and it wasn’t long before he began proper thespian training.

Scoring a role on the television series TV 101 found the fresh-faced actor relocating to sunny Los Angeles, and although the show was quickly canceled, LeBlanc continued with appearances in television’s Married With Children and in such short-lived series as Top of the Heap and Vinny and Bobby in the early ‘90s.

LeBlanc attempted to solidify a cinematic career with roles in such features as Ed (1996), Lost in Space (1998), and Charlie’s Angels (2000). Though hobbies such as parachute jumping and car racing suggest that his thrill-seeking habits didn’t die with the end of his motorbike racing aspirations, LeBlanc opted out of performing his own stunts after his double was injured during the filming of All the Queen’s Men in 2001.

Have a safe and happy birthday, Matt!

Today we wish actress, singer, and dancer, Jennifer Lopez, a very happy 41st birthday. Who2.com provides us with some information that tells how Jennifer went from being “Jenny from the Block” to a bona fide superstar. Take a look:

Jennifer Lopez was a dancer (or “fly girl”) on TV’s comedy sketch show In Living Color before landing the title role in a 1997 biopic of the singer Selena. Appearances in the films Blood and Wine (with Jack Nicholson, 1997) and Out of Sight (with George Clooney, 1998) made her a bona fide movie star and the highest-paid Latin actress in Hollywood.

Lopez also launched a music career, and her albums include On the Six (1999), J.Lo (2001), Brave (2007) and Como Ama una Mujer (2007). Her engagement to actor Ben Affleck in 2002 resulted in the of-the-moment combined moniker “Bennifer.” The pair never married, and ended their relationship in January 2004. A few months later, on June 5, 2004, Lopez married singer Marc Anthony.

Her movies include Anaconda (1997, with Ice Cube); the animated feature Antz (1998, with the voice of Woody Allen); The Wedding Planner (2001, with Matthew McConaughey); Angel Eyes (2001, co-starring Jim Caviezel); Maid in Manhattan (2002); Gigli (2003, co-starring Affleck); Shall We Dance (2004); Monster-in-Law (2005, with Jane Fonda); and The Back-up Plan (2010).

Have a great one, Jennifer!