Middle Birthday

It's been a helpful tradition of ours that we have only held "friend parties" for our kids' odd birthdays. If you are a crazy planner like I am (with a mother who did fabulous themed parties for many of your growing-up years), then you know that birthday parties can be a lot of work and expense - even when the honoree is only a year old. Make that especially when the honoree is a year old: I'm pretty sure the largest party I've ever thrown was for Luke's first birthday... in my defense, he was the first grandchild on one side and the first-in-a-while on the other, as well as one of the first babies among our close church friends... and we have a lot of family and friends who like to party (in a one-year-old party kind of way, of course). 

But then Sarah was born just a few weeks before Luke turned two, and so we decided it'd be a good year to skip the big party altogether. By the next year, of course, we needed to celebrate Sarah's first in proper style, and then it didn't seem fair to leave Luke out, so a big family/friend party for Sarah and then a smaller Pirate Party for Luke went on the books.

But last year, when birthday time rolled around again, we managed the unthinkable and skipped the party thing again! It helped that our kids had not yet developed lasting impressions of their own parties, so they honestly had no idea what they were missing. And I'm afraid we won't have that sort of luck ever. again.

It seemed only fair to plan a nice party for each of the kids this year, since (as I told them a few times in the hopes of sealing the tradition) this was a "party year." And knowing that I would be (a) pregnant, and (b) unable to restrain myself from going "all out" nonetheless, we decided that combining their parties would go a long way towards making the experience greater parts joy than pain. It helped that most of the kids' friends are also siblings. (I like to think that I did a favor for all of those parents who only had one party to attend rather than two in a row...)

And so the Middle Birthday was born.

As I carefully explained to the kids sometime in early May, we would have a quiet but special family party for each child on his or her actual birthday, but then we'd have a big party with their friends in between their birthdays. (Luke latched on to the idea of the party being the "middle birthday," and so it will ever be called.)

As I may have mentioned before, Sarah has been asking to have a "Bwide Burfday" ever since Christmas. I kept thinking she'd change her mind, so I asked her every so often, but it was always the same; that is, until late in April - after I'd already started thinking of fun ways to celebrate "bride" style (there may have been a Pinterest board). One morning we passed the bakery at Sam's Club, and once Sarah spied a large tray of "Hello Kitty!" cupcakes, the bride theme was out the door. I was a little disappointed, I must admit - until I realized how easy it would be to find Hello Kitty plates and favor bags and whatever else a party might need...even without a Pinterest board! Anyway, by the time the Middle Birthday was near, Sarah had gone back to the bride theme, and thankfully, I'd already decided that we'd just celebrate with a mish-mash of all the random things that currently please this bizarre little child: pink, Hello Kitty, and brides - complete with Pinterest-worthy (maybe) homemade bridal veils for the guests. It worked perfectly.

Luke's choice was a superhero party, so you can imagine how easy that was - at least until the night before, when I was desperately trying to make what looked like a incredibly simple Superman cake - and discovered that making a Superman logo with M&Ms on an iced cake is not as easy as it may look! However, we pressed on, and I didn't hear any complaints from the birthday boy about my lopsided "S"...

The party also involved hot dogs (ironically, a food my children won't eat - but an easy one to prepare en masse and generally loved by normal kids), pink and blue table cloths, and several water activities, including a snap-set pool and water guns. We had a great crowd, including a small set of friends as well as my mom and sister, and the party seemed to go off without a hitch. As long as you don't count my daughter's disrobing entirely midway through so that she could change from a bathing suit to a bride costume. 

Our sweet friends Jessica and Frank took charge of our camera, and I was so thankful to have so many great photos of the day (without having to stop and take them myself!).

I have decided that no amount of "teenage posing"
can make up for the basketball-sized belly.
Thankful for the bride masking my legs.

The girls are telling on Luke.
Just as they should.

Chef Vickers, so pleased to be photographed.

Gram and Bwide

After lunch, we pulled out the superhero capes that my sister and I had made for each of the guests, and the kids had some fun using water guns to "erase" the bad guys that we had drawn on our dry-erase board. And then they just shot at each other, which was less thematic but just as exciting.

You see now why I don't do a food blog.
If there was ever a more tragically iced cupcake, I'd like to see it.

Birthday Honorees, ready to receive their gifts!
New games, new books, new super heroes, new outside toys, new costumes -
they could not have been more excited (or perhaps more spoiled!).
We have some truly thoughtful and generous friends.

Sarah had a tough time deciding which of her new costumes to wear.
And so she wore each of them in turn. Naturally.

As you may have guessed, after the party Luke immediately began to make plans for next year's Middle Birthday. We shall see. We shall see....