The Kickoff

The birthday season is upon us, with the kickoff celebration starting with Miss Paige, my lovely young niece, who had the first celebration of the new year. She is technically the second of the year, after Shea, but we celebrated her birthday 2 weeks early. Paige will turn 12 on the 21st.

In our family, we have at least one birthday (usually 2 or more) every month of the year except for December. In our household, we have a birthday every month from now until May. Shea's is in January, Nicholas' is in February, Taylor's is in March, Nick's is in April and mine is in May. It's pure craziness. Poor Isabella has to watch us all have a party one by one and she has to wait an eternity until August for her party.

I am not sure what other families do, but we always invite the whole family over to celebrate each of our days. In addition, I have always let the kids have a "kid party". Shea's birthday is this Friday, so we are having the family over on Sunday. Planning is in full swing. I'm making lists, planning the meal, shopping and cleaning. I also let the kids pick their special meal on their actual birthday, and bake a cake for dessert. Then, because I thrive on absolute and utter chaos, I bake cookies or brownies for the kids to take to school to share at the lunch table with their friends. Thankfully, Shea was gracious enough not to request her kid party this weekend. I think we're going to try to squeeze it in at the end of the month, before I start the plans for the upcoming 2 year old of the house. (Small sob at the thought of him turning 2.)

Lurking in the back of my mind is Taylor's 16th birthday in March. I can't just treat it like any old birthday. Aren't 16th birthdays a big deal? I don't have the slightest idea on what to do to make it more special and a little more grand. I have two very different personalities to contend with. Taylor has the more-is-always-more mentality. Let's rent the Rock Hall and invite the entire 10th Grade class, while I pull up to the red carpet driving my new pink Porshe Boxter. Then there is my ultra conservative, money conscious, super responsible, never impulsive husband. I am not being sarcastic, by the way. These are truly some of his best attributes, and I am very grateful that he is the way he is. His stand on the party will go something like this - Let's have the same party that we always do. Just because she is turning 16 doesn't mean that we need to spend more, do more, have more. The budget, the budget, the budget......It's going to be so much fun in this house over the next few months I can hardly wait. I may check into the local loony-bin for some extra special fun.

You think my posts are few and far between now? Hopefully I don't let an entire 5 or 6 month span go by before I write something. Until then, wish me luck with all my party planning.