The great birthday season

Scene: My oldest is turning 1 - he is the first grandchild on both sides of the family and we are having a party. Immediate family only, so that makes 15 -20 people to cram into our small apartment.  I insisted on making a cake and cleaning the house - not particularly unreasonable, but in practice nearly impossible. See, I don't know it yet, but I am pregnant with #2 and the hormones have given me a split personality - and not a nice cute one either, think "Hulk SMASH!" Husband still shudders when we bring up that day. 

I think I gave him PTSD.

I kept trying for a couple more years, but eventually I just gave up on birthdays.  It isn't worth the stress it causes me. And my kids really only care about the presents anyway. If you are the mom who decorates and invites the whole class over and bakes the cake herself and hand-makes all the party favors... well, I'm quite sure good mother-hood is not measured by the pictures on your pinterest board, and I won't waste my time comparing myself to you or feeling bad that I don't measure up. If that kind of thing makes you happy, awesome.  Our celebrations are much more low key.  

By the way, I do kind of worry about birthday party etiquette. If my kid gets invited to your kid's birthday party will you feel bad if your kid doesn't get a return invitation? My boys seem to have gotten fewer birthday invitations this year than they did last year, and I'm not sure if it is because parents have wised up and stopped torturing themselves at all, or if they just quit inviting my kids because we didn't reciprocate. It doesn't change anything.  There is still NO WAY I am throwing a birthday party for my kids. But at least I would know which parents I should apologize to.

Husband, and children 2,3 and 5 all have birthdays within a three week period. So here are some pictures:

The four-year-old got princess pjs, a tiara and shoes.  Here she is dancing with her little sis.

And of course, a princess is supposed to keep her tiara ON.  Even in the bathtub.

Combined one and four-year-old celebration with Batman cupcakes and flower candles (naturally) 

Waiting patiently for presents.

Baby was full of spaghetti (her favorite) and upset that I put her back in her chair just for some yucky old cupcake.

And we went to the park, where they spent the better part of an hour ignoring the playground equipment to roll in the grass.

She is so beautiful.

 And the seven-year-old got to go to the party-supply store and pick out little alligators to go on top of his cupcakes, since the gluten-free ones don't come from Smiths with little toys on top.

 This made him very happy.

And he got Legos and a princess baby doll. Exactly what he wanted. He was SO excited.

I didn't even get a picture of Husband's birthday. Which involved date night and me NOT telling the waitress that it was his birthday.  And a marvelous time was had by all.

The end (for a couple of months)