Birthday 2010

Well, it's official. I have a five-year-old and a two-year-old.

In just the last week, we've celebrated in six different ways.

The last seven days have been filled with cupcake baking, present wrapping, house decorating and birthday song singing. It's taken a few days, but things are finally getting back to normal.

The decorations have been packed away and the cupcakes have been eaten. The toys have been stripped from their twisty-tied-death-grip packaging and we've finally figured out a place for just about all of them.

This is just a brief recap of the madness that was Operation Birthday 2010.

We kicked things off with a party for Will at a local place that specializes in kids' parties with slides and inflatables. For about the cost of a month's worth of groceries, we threw a 90-minute party where everyone had their fill of jumping, bouncing and sliding. The kids feasted on cold pizza, fruit punch and ice cream cake. Will got to sit on his very own inflatable throne and he particularly enjoyed hurling the goodie bags at his friends and yelling, "THANK YOU FOR COMING!".

Before the actual day, Liam celebrated his second birthday at camp with his new friends. He chose the theme of "BUZZ!" for his cupcakes-- which is two-speak for Toy Story.

Liam's birthday was on the 6th and we celebrated with a small party at home for our foursome. We swam and dined on hot dogs cut up into little circles, french fries and lots of ketchup. As per tradition, we decorated the corner of our dining room...

And ate more cupcakes...

Liam got some great gifts. So great, in fact, that Will immediately started lecturing all of us on the importance of sharing. Then, he promptly took over as Liam looked on.

Will's birthday was on the seventh and he was thrilled that it fell on a weekend. We had told him that he could be in charge for the day, and he reminded us of this no less than two hundred times. We ate his favorites-- chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and ravioli for dinner-- and we spent the majority of the day at Hurricane Harbor. Bill and I won a small victory when we were able to persuade the birthday boy to take a short nap. This 'short nap' lasted about three hours and enabled us to do this...

And this...

The next day, we had grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins over for a bigger family party. And of course, more cupcakes. Like last year, we tried to get a decent family birthday photo. We are now officially 0 for 2.

Last year.

This year.

The last stop on the birthday express was cupcakes for Will's friends at camp. While making another batch of cupcakes sounded awfully tempting, I ended up ordering some cookie cups from Mrs. Field's. With the exception of the price, they were awesome and I'm definitely going to learn how to make them for next year.

So that was it. Just like this summer and these last few years, these birthdays came and went in a flash. This picture, in particular, makes me wonder where the time has gone.

But whenever I get misty-eyed and nostalgic for the time gone by, I am reminded that there are plenty of adventures ahead.

I have a feeling five and two will definitely keep me on my toes.

Behind the Scenes

This is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and relax today. And guess what. It's tomorrow.

In the past forty-eight hours, we've celebrated two birthdays. One for Liam, who turned two on Friday. And one for Will, who turned five on Saturday.

At my first OB appointment, when I was pregnant with Liam, I knew his due date would be near Will's birthday. It turned out that, due to my planned C-section, I had the option to have Liam on Will's birthday. They could be born exactly three years apart and always share the same birthday.

I thought that this was an awesome idea. Two brothers, one birthday. How very cool. Right?

Wrong.

From my husband to my family to my friends, not one single person was in agreement. I got some polite mmm-hmms and nods, but people mostly looked at me like I was crazy. The boys each needed their own special day. It wouldn't be fair to make them share. They deserved their very own birthdays.

I didn't see the sharing as such a big deal. But being the independent thinker that I am, I scheduled my c-section on August 6th-- the day before Will's birthday.

So now my boys have 'their own special days' and I run around like an insane person throughout the first week of August.

The kids celebrate their birthdays on two different days at camp. We have two different birthday parties here at home for our family of four. And then, we have one big family party for grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.

And even though we keep things pretty low key, there's a pretty good amount of work involved in putting all of this together.

I'll be recapping the week of a thousand cupcakes in a future post. But in the meantime, here are some 'behind the scenes' baking photos...

Mesmerized by the Kitchen-Aid mixer than gets

pulled out of the cabinet like four times a year.

Will digs in as Liam is still mesmerized by the mixer.

"What's this?"

Liam turns his attention to the wire beater.

Liam carefully studies his big brother.

But why lick the batter when you can instead fling it all

over the kitchen? A true independent thinker, people.

"You gonna eat that?"

Will is not about to let any batter go to waste.

Liam finally gives it a try as Will cleans the plate.

Is this the look of a kid who needs his own special day or what?

Pacing Ourselves

On Tuesday, we celebrated Bill's birthday and we ushered in the busy, party-filled four weeks that lie ahead.

All three of these guys have summer birthdays. We normally celebrate, as a foursome, on the actual day and then we throw a bigger family party on a different date. Add in the fact that Will is old enough for his very own 'kid party' and we've got a pretty big to-do list.

For Tuesday, we (Will, Liam and I) shopped, wrapped, decorated and cooked. We baked up some brownies for Bill to bring to work and we made his favorites (here and here) for dinner. Gifts included some clothes, a premium box of Topps baseball cards and a Wii, which was really more of a family gift. The traditional cake, that Bill requests every year, was a Carvel ice cream cake.

Mmmmm... brownies.

Joint effort.

It was a great night and we're gearing up for a bigger family party next week. Cue the additional cooking, decorating, cleaning, running around, etc...

Oh and speaking of running, ahem...

Tonight we headed to a park for a local running club's race meet-up. Will ran in a couple short races as well as the half-mile, while I ran the 5K.

The kids races were attended by kids of all ages, Will being among the youngest. He did really well in the shorter races.

"The 100-yard Charge"

And then we lined up for the half-mile... letting the kids run in front, while the parents ran behind.

Smallest guy out there.

He took off strong and fast, but about 1/4 of the way through he was struggling. He was red-faced and sweaty and the entire pack had passed us by. He slowed to a walk and started to cry.

He didn't want to be last. He was tired. He couldn't run anymore.

He wanted to turn around and go back. He wanted to quit.

The distance between us and the runners ahead was growing larger and larger.

There was a part of me that wanted to scoop him up and tell him that he had done great. That he had done enough. That it was too hot. That it was too far. That it was okay to stop.

But I jogged alongside him, encouraging him to keep going. Telling him that he could do it. That it was okay to walk, as long as he finished. That it was okay to be last, as long as he didn't quit. That he could do it. (Also, and this is key, that there were ice pops at the finish line.)

It sounds easy, but it's one of the hardest things I've had to do as a parent.

He gathered some energy for short bursts of running with lots more walking and more tears in between. I think it was a total of ten minutes, but it felt like forever.

Once the finish line was in view, things improved significantly. There was an elderly gentleman, who volunteers with the club, positioned at the final turn. He was cheering for Will wildly. Telling him he was doing great. Telling him he was going fast. Telling him to keep going. Telling him he could do it. I love this man. Seriously.

Will was exhausted and broken down. But he pushed and kept going. His face was streaked with sweat and tears, but I could see the corners of his mouth turn upward. He was sort-of-smiling.

Soon, we could hear the voices of Bill and friends and other kind spectators cheering us in. With every step, he held himself a little taller and broadened his stride.

And we finished. And he was smiling.

This is his 'trying NOT to smile eventhough he's wildly proud of himself' face.

He was smiling... notsomuch in this photo and it's the only one I got.

You'll have to take my word for it.

I know that I did the right thing in pushing him to finish. When it was all over, we praised him and told him how proud we were. Telling him how finishing was the most important thing and that there's more to a race than just winning.

And then, to really drive the point home, I came in 65th out of 80 or so in my 5K race a little while later.

But not to worry, that half-mile and 5K course haven't seen the last of us.