Birthdays

I don’t know what Danny and I were thinking in September, but having back to back birthdays in March is tough. You’d think I’d have it down to a science now, but as a lifelong procrastinator, I can assure you that I do not. Seven years (well, six really; I watched Ellie’s 7th birthday from the computer screen in the hospital room while holding newborn Caleb) of planning two days of celebrations in a row, saving time beforehand for buying, then wrapping presents, and cake decorating, and hoping they each feel special enough on their own days leaves me wondering why I don’t have a personal chef or maid.

This year was rather different since Caleb came down with a fever the night before his birthday and was almost too sick for any type of celebration. Combining that with Danny flying home from a work trip that day, we had to split Caleb’s day over two days, which meant that some of his ‘partying’ stretched into Ellie’s day. He was allowed to open up the traditional meal time presents but opted to wait until Saturday to find out what the rest of the wrapping paper was covering. He also chose to have his cake on Saturday, when the whole family was together, which was fine because we knew Ellie wasn’t going to be home for supper on her own birthday and we had to push her cake/singing off to Sunday.

Since Caleb had to endure so much waiting, I thought I’d take him to Chick-fil-A for a midday treat. Once we reached the drive-thru window, the employee recognized me as Isaac’s mother and called him over for a quick hello. When Isaac saw Caleb, he shouted, ‘Happy birthday!’, which caused several other employees in the area to yell out the sentiment as well. A manager who was standing there decided to gift Caleb with a free ice dream cup, drizzled in chocolate syrup. After pulling away from the hullabaloo, Caleb declared, “This is my second best birthday!” Imagine turning seven and you can already rate each birthday you’ve enjoyed?!

Though she is still a baby teen, Ellie says she doesn’t feel fourteen yet but is very glad not to be thirteen anymore. She was a tremendous asset in the cake decorating aspect of her birthday as she came up with the design, stenciled it on top of the dessert, and helped pipe frosting. Normally, I cannot creatively design anything and look to Pinterest for most of the ideas and then copy them. After Caleb requested a ‘surprise’ cake, which actually gives me more anxiety because of the whole ‘not being able to creatively design anything’, it was so nice to have Ellie’s idea come to life by her own hand. It took all the pressure off of me and I just did what she told me to do! Caleb told me, “She was the Pinterest for this cake.” 🙂 

Now that the birthdays are over, we have nothing between us and our much-longed for vacation. I have been in packing mode all week, and while we don’t need very much, it is still like trying to wrangle an octopus into a onesie! This kid has no shorts that fit, that kid has only one bathing suit, everyone needs laundry done, and where are the flip-flops you wore last year?! But the bags have been officially zipped closed and everyone is ready to go. I’ll close with an appropriate quote by James, “right here, it is like summer (we’ve had some milder weather again), but there I’m gonna get hugged by the sun!” Oh, I cannot wait for that hug!