Birthdays Galore!

I'll play a short game of catch-up before posting anything Christmas.  :)  And of the catch-up, birthdays are the best highlights!

There are so, so many in the late summer through fall.  Mine, Superman's, Munch's, Little A's, Big D's, Baby G's, their mama's, AND Daddy's...(and most of those are within just a couple weeks of each other).  Some we celebrated in party-style, others we didn't, but all of them of course had some special moments.

My birthday fell on a Saturday this year, and we decided to spend the day downtown.  I love having a summer birthday.  We can walk around outside and enjoy the sun, the people, the wind off the lake...which is exactly what we did.  We went down to Navy Pier and walked all over (Munch in a stroller, of course).  Then we thought we'd head over to the Hancock to take in the view from way up top...but got sticker shock when we realized that one person's admission was nearly $20.  That's WAAAAY more than it was only a few years ago.  We opted out, but enjoyed some time wandering the Mile and watching water in a fountain...and eating Ghiardelli's ice cream.  :D  That stuff is GOOD.  It was a much needed rest in the middle of our frantic go-go-go of house stuff.

My and Superman's birthdays are only a couple of days apart, and this year his birthday happened to fall on a day I was at his house.  Big D and Baby G's mama also happens to share the day with him, so we decided to hold ourselves a little party during our morning playdate.  It was a small affair--Little A's mama baked a treat for us, and we sang happy birthday and enjoyed each other's company.  It was fun to be able to spend the actual day with Superman, as their birthday parties are usually just for family.  And it's always a fun time when more than one person can be celebrated on the same day.  :)

Next came Little A's birthday.  Her parents held a gathering at their house on Labor Day, and it was a day made for grilling and party games.  I helped the little Trio (D, A, and Munch) to make paper lanterns and cereal necklaces, and it was sheer delight to see their little personalities pop out in such unique ways as they crafted.  When it came time for 'official birthday stuff', Little A had trouble blowing out her candle...she tried about 3 times, but never got to the actual blowing action.  It was pretty funny to watch...she'll have it figured out by next year though!  So her mama asked if she would like help from Big D and Munch...and almost before she had said yes, D had done that flame in!  He moves fast, that boy.  We had lots of treats at that party, including tiramisu--all baked by Big D's daddy.  I am not a fan of tiramisu myself, but it was hugely popular with the rest of the crowd, and I very happily contented myself with chocolate cupcakes.  ;)

I LOVE this picture.  It turned out so nice.  Notice how they each chose a lantern color to match what they were wearing?  SO funny!

Then came the Munch's birthday, which fell on a Sunday.  It was a special Sunday at church where the kids were formally moved up to their new class levels--5th-graders into junior high, Preschoolers into Kindergarten, Nursery into Preschool.  We'd been preparing the Munch for a few weeks about the fact that she would soon not be a nursery kid anymore, and she was excited...and all the more when they did that special celebration about it.  She loves her new classroom, and has become reacquainted with kids she knew in the nursery but who had aged out sooner.  After church, we hurried home to finalize preparations for her birthday party, which we combined with an open house celebration.  It was a pretty crazy afternoon, as we had been going crazy getting everything prepared, and there was always 'one last thing' that we wanted to do.  We prepared tons of food--fruit, veggies, treats, etc, and had just bought a grill so Daddy could cook the main course, burgers.  Our friends generously contributed as well, so our table and plates were full to overflowing, with lots left over.  Most of our guests showed up during the later portion of our party, when the dinner and cupcakes and gifts would take place.  We had about 40 people there!  It was little overwhelming at times--my friends started answering the door because I had to keep running around to see to one thing or another, but it was such a joy to be able to share our home for the first time, and to celebrate our child's entrance into official 'preschool-dom'.  The Munch could hardly contain her excitement when I brought a cupcake with lit candle to her in the living room.  SHE knew what to do with THAT!  And she didn't waste a moment, either.  That flame didn't last through the second line of the happy birthday song, and the cupcake almost didn't last long enough for a family photo.  ;)

A special moment with Little A's daddy at church.

I made owl cupcakes at her request--yellow and brown, with oreo cookies.  They were a BIG hit.

Baby G and Big D celebrated their birthdays quietly with family, but it was still fun to mark their entrances into new years as well.  G is no longer 'zero' as some of my kids have called the pre-one-year-old stage, and Big D is right up with the rest of our growing preschoolers--who cares if his birthday is technically a month later?

Then suddenly, Thanksgiving was around the corner...time for Daddy's birthday, and an end (for now) to the big birthday season.  We weren't sure at first what to do for the day, but the night before, Daddy hit on the idea of taking a car trip.  He hates driving around!  But he wanted to visit and take pictures of as many of the houses and places he had lived in as he could.  We got most of them...and it was not a small number.  I was very, very tired of driving by the time we finished.  When we got home, he used googlemaps to get the rest of the homes we couldn't drive to, and he put them all into order.  It was quite the list, and he was really pumped.  He'd just revisited his history, traced his steps from childhood, in a way.  It meant a lot to him, and for that, all that driving was worth it.  That evening we held a quiet celebration for him with a homemade lemon meringue (the best I've made yet...I'm learning!).  Then after that we headed over to church for their traditional Thanksgiving service followed by a pie fellowship.  This year our church joined up with the Chin church (an ethnic group from south asia) that meets in our building on Sunday afternoons, and they brought some of their traditional dishes to share...so it turned into a full-fledged dinner and dessert event, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all...although Daddy was *much* more excited about their spicy foods than I was.  ;)

I didn't have a number 7 candle...so I got creative.  ;)

But Daddy had to count just to make sure.  :)

We now gear up for the most important birthday celebration of the year!  But that's another post, soon to come...