Wednesday, September 19, 2007

There's no rest for the weary

This is a crazy week, but I don't know why that surprises me. The week leading up to my children's birthdays is always crazy. The age difference between the boys is three years and a day, which means their birthdays are one day apart. How's that for planning? Actually, it was just a nice little coincidence with no planning on our part. My husband and I have come to the conclusion that our particular month of conception must just be a very fertile time for us.

We've actually gotten off pretty easy with the boys' birthdays over the years because they're close enough in age that they enjoy sharing their special days with one another. There's only one celebration rather than two. Whether it's a party at the bowling alley, the indoor play place or at home, it's always done together. I can't handle back-to-back parties. I'd be willing to do two separate events if, and only if, we celebrated weeks apart, but they don't want to do that, and that's cool by me. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is definitely my motto. It's birthday mania only once a year instead of twice, and that works nicely for me.

This year the boys are having a sleepover with four other boys (They each chose two friends to invite). The theme is LEGOS, because these guys are obsessed with them. I downloaded lego invitations off the internet to send to their friends. Favors have been taken care of already (Can you believe there are sweet tarts in the shape of legos?) and the gifts have been purchased and wrapped. I've been asked to make a cake in the shape of a lego, which I think I can manage, but I sure wish Giant or Safeway would do it for me. Those people don't make lego cakes! (My tongue is sticking out!)

I'm also baking brownies for each of the boys to take to school on Friday. I thought I was going to be assembling these cute "candy kabobs," which translates to gummies on a stick, an idea I'd stolen from some very creative moms. I thought my boys would be all over that idea since they love gummies of all kinds. I went out and bought all of the stuff I'd need, so now I have bags of gummies sitting around everywhere. I was telling the boys about this ultra cool idea I had and asked them what they thought and they said, "We'd rather have brownies." Talk about bursting my bubble! Note to self: Next time ask the kids what they want first or don't ask at all and do what I want.

I'm also making soccer ball lollipops for one of the boys to take to his soccer game on Saturday because that's the day we were asked to provide a snack. Good grief! Can't kids get by for an hour without eating? Can I just tell you I'm "snacked out?"

At least my husband is around for the big sleepover this weekend, otherwise, I'm not sure I'd be hosting this alone. I'm reminded of the year he was deployed and I had the boys' party at an indoor play place. My oldest ended up getting punched in the eye by a kid who wasn't even among those invited and the result was a huge black eye, just in time for soccer pictures too. We now refer to that event not as the "birthday bash," but rather the "birthday bashing." Of course my son ended up thinking of that black eye as a very cool thing, a sort of "badge of honor" that we took pictures of daily for a week and emailed to Daddy. We were so proud!

I can hardly believe the boys are going to be 11 and 8 this weekend. Time flies, especially when you're busy planning birthday parties.

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