Two! Four! Six!

"Excuse me, excuse me!  Four year old coming through!" Steffen announced loudly as we went through HEB on his birthday.

He is four, and he knows that four is a VERY big deal.  He took his birthday very seriously this year.  What do four-year-olds eat?  What do they wear?  How much should they get for their birthdays?  These were all questions that he pondered in the lead up to his big day.  (He decided four-year-olds eat buttered noodles and wear clothes that say "4" on the tag, and they get LOTS of Hero Factory.)  At the end of his special day, he said, "This was my best birthday EVER!"

Evan sagely remarked that that was because he'd only had four birthdays and two of them he couldn't even remember.

But Steffen wasn't the only guy around here to have a birthday.  After Steffen's birthday on September 30th, Austin turned two on October 9th, and Carsten finally (he's been talking about his birthday since August) turned six on October 28th.  That's right, my three youngest boys have birthdays within a month of each other, and trying to make sure each one had a wonderful day kept us even busier in October than we usually are.

They all thoroughly enjoyed their birthdays this year, despite my failure to invite people over.  (I felt terrible when Steffen got up in the morning and said, "So when are all the people coming over?"  Next year, buddy.) They did get all their birthday perks, though.  I try to let the birthday child have all the choices that sometimes aren't available in a big family.  They pick breakfast, lunch, dinner, the Friday night movie.  Plus, my kids only get sweet cereal if it's someone's birthday.  Much negotiation, bribing, and suggesting goes on before the birthday child finally makes a selection.

Their official "party" was very low-key and combined.  It's hard to believe I'm the same mom who used to pull off huge parties.  That was another life.  Carsten, since he's the oldest, got to pick the venue, so we packed up and headed to the zoo.

There were cupcakes.

 And gifts.

Austin was especially impressed with the snazzy box.

And animals.

Everyone (except for Nathan, who was home sick) had a great day.

Happy birthday, boys!

Megan's Birthday

Megan turned 6! She loves American Girl, especially Samantha, so we modeled her party after Samantha's. That was quite an undertaking, but well worth it in the end. Each of the girls brought an American Girl or some other favorite doll, and they all had a tea party. I made Petit Fours- crazy, but quite tasty, and Megan wanted them so badly. And we even shaped the peppermint ice cream in a mold, just like Samantha's butler did for her. There was a reason Samantha needed a butler...and a cook...and a maid. Megan, on the other hand, only has a Mommy.

I found little white doll t-shirts online, so we decorated those with fabric markers. Then, I had some cute material, so I made simple little skirts for the dolls. And, of course, Hobby Lobby would have ribbon on sale, so I did matching bows for the girls and their dolls. All of this, of course, seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. I mean, it was so budget-savvy and fun. And it probably wouldn't have been such a big deal if I hadn't procrastinated everything until the last week, but I digress...

The boys, of course, were not at all interested in the fancy, shmancy stuff. They painted little wooden cars and raced them around. The dads manned their table handsomely, and even managed to clean up all of the paint. My hat is off to Bryan for that feat. The boys were at the kitchen table and the girls were in the dining room. The difference in noise level was comical. Even though there were 13 girls and ten boys, the boys were about five times louder than the girls. The dining room was quiet and calm- the kitchen was just rowdy.

Megan had a fantastic time- she said it was her "best birthday ever." Of course, the most telling part of the evening was something we unfortunately didn't get a picture of. Megan was in all her tea party finery- pink frilly dress and all- streaking around on her brother's scooter with the boys, while the girls inside wandered around looking for her.