Birthdays, Birthdays, and More Birthdays....Too much birthday!

Wow! Did we ever celebrate their birthdays this year! Here is a recap of our crazy birthday week. On Thursday Olivia brought cupcakes in the shape of ice cream cones to preschool. I made these last year for her and she remembered and asked for them again. The one tricky part is that they can get soggy if they sit out for too long, so I got up early and made the cupcakes. I then brought Olivia to school while the cooled, came home to frost them, and returned to school to be with her class as they sang to her. Soren loved being in school with his big sister. We got to go down the hallway to the bathroom with her class, which he just loved. He held her hand and they skipped happily down the hall together, very cute.

Friday, the actually day of their birthdays, was pretty uneventful. We cleaned and marked some stuff for a garage sale which we had at a friend's house. Another family brought homemade pizza and I brought a pan of brownies that we used to put candles into and sing.

Saturday, my parents picked up my two nephews and then came down for the day. We had a busy work day and replaced some boards in our fence, planted perennials, and the kids favorite, watched Grandpa build a sandcastle! All this hard work was rewarded with a Hawaiian Luau supper once Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jody arrived. We once again had cupcakes and ice cream...are we getting sick of cake yet...oh no, just wait, there's more!

Monday Olivia had requested for a Fancy Nancy birthday party. For those of you who don't know who Fancy Nancy is, she is a book character that loves to use fancy words and dress up fancy. Sometimes these popular series books, like Junie B. Jones, has the character a bit too naughty of overindulged, but this author has done a really great job of keeping the character well behaved with a vivid imagination. My favorite part has been the explosion of vocabulary. For example, Olivia named her new doll "Sparkles (which she pronounces Farkles...still working on that sp sound) Iridescent." Olivia LOVES dressing up any day, but she really loved piling on the accessories and getting ready for her special day. I even hit the 25 cent bin at an Avon lady's garage sale and got some lipstick and blush for the girls. We made some fancy purses and had a fancy show. The girls had a good time!

Fast forward to Thursday...I had debated about whether to do anything for Soren that would be just for him and not shared with Olivia. I decided to invite 3 other two year olds that we see often over for a play date. When you add in the older siblings and the other children that the mom's were watching the day, it got to be a bit crazy. The kids played, made puppy puppets, and played a game that we learned while living in Dubai, pass the parcel. I had planned to sing some songs with the puppets but things were a little crazy. We had a snack of fruit and crackers...and in all that craziness and this one tired Mama somehow forgot completely about the puppy cupcakes. After everyone left and I picked up Olivia from school, I opened the refrigerator to start making lunch and there they were. I was so sick of cake that I had to get them out of the house. Good thing each guest lives within a few blocks of us, so we got in the car and delivered them. So after our lunch Olivia and I sang, "Happy Birthday" to Soren.

Phew...what a week! I feel like I am still trying to figure out how to handle this double birthday. I want each kid to feel special without being overindulged. I feel like we crossed over into the overindulgence territory this year. After this week of too much birthday, Olivia was what my Grandma would say, "Too big for her britches." She started being defiant and just plan naughty. After a few days of having TV privileges taken away and then finally losing the privilege to attend another friend's bowling birthday party, I feel like she is back down on humble ground. We went over to the little girl's house and Olivia gave her her present and apologized for missing the party because of her bad choices. That got Olivia's attention and I felt like a "Mean" Mom for a minute or two, but the reward of having a well-mannered Olivia back was well worth it.