Everything is special when it's your birthday

Well another Birth-o-ween has ended.  And it was another success.  Each year I try to see how little money it takes to make the girls happy.  We have some really great thrift stores around here so it's not hard to find great bargains.  I think we spent around $50 total on the girls - and that's counting the stuff to decorate the cake.

The girls are at the age where pretty much anything makes them happy.  Add the fact that it was their birthday AND Halloween and suddenly EVERYTHING was the best thing ever.  I heard little exclamations of happiness all day long.  

So here is a rundown of all the "special" things we did today.

Both girls migrated into my room during the night last night.  I think it's cute that they want to be near me.    

We all slept in until 8:00.  When we finally got up the girls were so excited to see balloons in the living room.  They kept running around saying, "it's my birthday!"

They piled all the balloons on the couch.  Later they started sorting them by color and making balloon families.

They don't remember last year's birthday, but they have seen pictures.  So they know that they got their pretend sink along with a lot of balloons last year.  They asked me to bring it out into the living room so they could play with it.

I made German Pancakes for breakfast while they were occupied with the balloons.  The girls love "Journal Pancays" and they always pretend to make them.

Then we hurried and got ready for story time at the library.  The kids all wore their costumes.  And they got candy at the end of story time.  One of the girls said, "this is like Trick or Treating."

After storytime we went to Walmart so we could pick up the present that my parents had ordered online and had sent to the store.  (It's a smart way to avoid paying postage.)

And of course we had to go see the fishies.  I was nice and let the kids out of the cart for the first time EVER at a grocery store.

At home we opened the present from Grandma and Grandpa.  Both girls were really excited and yelled, "Cinderella!"  About 30 seconds passed and then realization hit.  "This is OURS?" Charlotte yelled.  She was so happy when I said yes.  And then we all sat down and watched the movie together.

After the movie the stars aligned so that all the kids were awake and happy enough to go to the park.  It was a beautiful day.  We all went barefoot.  Texas in the Fall time is AMAZING!

Derrick swung in the baby swing for a long time.  

I was busy watching the girls play.  Then I noticed that I'd swung Derrick to sleep.  He woke up again once the swing stopped.

Charlotte and Lydia played around on the slides.

Brandon came home from work as we were walking to the mailbox to check the mail.  He hurried and pulled the girls' presents out of their hiding place and put them in the living room. When we walked into the house the girls noticed this little kitchen and ran right to it.  They didn't notice the present bags at all.

They were so funny about their presents.  One bag had a whole bunch of books in it, and all Lydia cared about were her ratty old Phase 10 cards that were somehow also in the bag.

We also gave the girls "new" shoes.  The first thing they did with them was put them in the kitchen's oven.

But they did know how to play properly with somethings.

We also gave them each a Barbie doll.  And Brandon's parents sent a package with a little Princess Sofia doll for each of them.  The Barbies immediately became the Mommies and the Sofia's were the Babies.  The girls even had the Barbies nurse their babies once they discovered they had boobs.

Brandon and I made pizza while the kids played.  It was a good pizza.

Then it was time for cake.  Everyone wore birthday hats - even Vin wore one.

Here are the girls blowing out their candles.  Lydia still hasn't learned how to blow air down so Charlotte had to help her blow out her candles.  

Then we dismantled the castle cake.  The spires were my favorite thing to eat.  Lydia collected a lot of pieces from her cake and built a second cake around her plate.  Charlotte sang Happy Birthday to Lydia and then Lydia pretended to blow out her candles again.  I love how they interact and go along with each other's imaginations.

Then it was time to get ready to go Trick-or-Treating.  Derrick's lack of nap caught up to him.  So I put him in his crib and he fell asleep with his foot sticking out between the bars.

Charlotte and Lydia decided to switch dresses so in this picture it's Charlotte in the green one and Lydia in the purple one instead of the other way around.  I had fun doing the girls' hair.  We put glitter hairspray in it.  And I even let the girls wear some of my make up.  They thought that was so cool.  

Brandon took the girls trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  He said they got lots of complements on their dresses.

I stayed home and handed out candy.  This was the first year in our 6 years of marriage that we've actually had trick-or-treaters!  Yay for being out of apartments!  I sat out on the porch with Veronica and enjoyed the perfect evening while handing out candy.  Giving out candy reminded me of this funny story about treats that my dad's family gave out at Halloween. It's in three parts but it's definitely worth reading.

Brandon and the girls came home after being out for about an hour.  They started eating the candy right away.  Derrick woke up and joined in on the fun.

The rest of the evening was spent eating candy and playing with toys.  We opened up the girls' birthday cards. Charlotte saw the money that my Grandma had sent her.  She held it out to me and asked, "is this 'portant (important)?"

The kitchen turned into a doll house of sorts.  The girls were so funny with it.  The separate compartments were the rooms.

Here is a video of the girls playing together with their dolls.    

Eventually tiredness won out over sugar induced energy.  The kids all started falling apart.  We put them in their room and they were asleep within minutes.

Yes it was a very good day.  Too bad we have to wait a year for a chance to do it again.

Two completely unrelated Birth-O-Ween events

For any of you who haven't figured it out yet, we call this time of year Birth-o-ween because it's a big mash up of things for the girls' birthday and Halloween things.  Wednesday had both - a doctor's visit for the girls' three year old check up and then pumpkin carving at night.  

The doctor's visit went really well.  I took Derrick in for his 18 month checkup on Tuesday.  He'd cried a little bit while the doctor examined him.  And then he really cried when he had to get three shots.  The girls didn't cry during their exam which showed one of the many ways they have grown up.  They used to start crying from them moment they entered the examining room until we left.  (And Dr Black and I would chat like there was nothing out of the ordinary going on at all.)

Waiting for shots

They girls weren't scheduled for any shots this year, and in the days leading up to the appointment I kept telling them that.  And then at Derrick's appointment I remembered that I wanted them all to get the flu shot.  So the girls did end up getting one shot each.  They were very brave, but they both ended up crying.  I kept telling them that getting a little shot was much better than being sick.

  

As a little side note: Immunizations are important to me.  I think about all the Mamas throughout time who watched their children suffer and even die from infectious diseases.  I'm sure they would have given anything to have access to a way to prevent those diseases.  If I didn't immunize my kids I would feel like I was slapping those mothers in the face.  End of rant (for now).

After shots, but before lollipops

The kids handled the after effects of shots pretty well.  Derrick was grumpy and needed a little bit of extra sleep, but other than that he was fine.  Brandon was a different story.  He had to get the flu shot on Tuesday.  After he came home from the fall festival he was trying to send an e-mail.  He could hardly stay awake to push the send button.  Once he accomplished that he laid down on the floor and took a 2 hour nap.  He didn't wake up even when Derrick started crawling on him.  He's like this every time he gets a shot.  He got the pertussis/tetanus shot before the girls were born and it hurt his arm so bad he couldn't open doors.  I tease him and say that he's like Superman when he's been exposed to Kryptonite.    

Anyway, in the evening we carved our pumpkin.

The kids had lots of fun watching Brandon scoop out the inside.  Derrick laughed hysterically every time Brandon pulled out a handful of goop.

The girls were excited to carve a face on the pumpkin, but they were scared of the end result.

While Brandon carved I made pumpkin seeds.  I LOVE pumpkin seeds.  We have a great recipe that Brandon's sister Melanie gave us.  Here it is in case you are interested:

1 cup unwashed pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons of butter
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons of seasoning salt

Melt the butter and mix in the sauce and salt.  Add the seeds. Spread out on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12 minutes.  Then eat and wonder why you only make these once a year.

Derrick had mostly lost interest in what was going on, but I put a little pile of seeds on the counter and he would come get those.  He ended up leaving the pile alone after a while so I guess he didn't like them too much.

I wondered if the girls would like the seeds or if they would be too spicy for them.  They loved them.  I shouldn't have been surprised.  The girls love onions and pickles too.

Pumpkin seeds are just another reason I love Halloween.

And here is Veronica.  She went to sleep right before we started carving and didn't wake up until around 1:00 am.  She only wakes up about once or twice a night.  I do most of my blogging during our late night feedings.  And that's why there has been a major increase in typos lately.

Birth-o-Ween really gets into full swing in a few hours.  I better go back to bed so I can have enough energy to keep up with two little birthday princesses all day.  See ya.

Family Fun Day

Today's Birth-o-ween activity was a Fall Festival at Brandon's battalion headquarters.  Yesterday one of his Sergeants had been briefing the soldiers on the activity and told them, "tomorrow is a family fun day, but it's the Army so it's not going to be fun.  So it's just a family day."  In some ways that was kind of true.  It was a little disorganized, but overall it was nice to have a break from the routine.  

I told the girls that it was a party and later Lydia told me, "That was a fun party."  So I'd call that a success.  Here are some pictures from the day.   

We started out eating barbecue hamburgers and hot dogs.  I thought my hamburger was so good!  It's been a while since I had a good barbecue hamburger with all the trimmings - big tomatoes and onions, sliced American cheese.  The hamburger alone made the activity worth it for me.  

The kids ate mostly chips, but they also ate their hot dogs (but not the buns).  

The activity took place under the awning.  They had tables and chairs set up, but most of them were taken.  There was also some really loud music playing.  We ended up eating next to the barracks where we could hear a little bit better.  Here's a picture of the people under the awning.

Derrick's Dash costume was so fitting.  He ate in a crouching position so he could run around whenever he felt like it.

But he did sit down and watch some of the soldiers toss a football around.  Right before I took this picture he looked back at me and grinned.  It was like he was saying, "This is the most amazing thing ever.  I want to do it one day Mom."  We are pretty certain that Derrick might turn us into an organised sports type of family.

Veronica needed to eat and I'd completely spaced bringing a bottle for her.  So we went inside the Bravo Company area so I could nurse her in private.  We went up to the balcony and the kids had a lot of fun running around up there.  This was the first time I've been to the headquarters since the battalion moved in there during the summer.  It's a brand new building and a lot nicer than the old one they were in.

After Veronica was fed I put her into the baby front pack.  We stashed her carseat and the diaper bag in Brandon's giant locker and took the kids to the Alpha Company area  to check out the games.  

They had face painting available, but there was a really long wait, kids kept butting in front of us, the face paint "artist" was just using stencils, and the paint was grease paint that smeared.  So the girls got temporary tattoos instead.  They picked out the same ones.

The games seemed to be mostly over by the time we got to them.  No one was running the rubber ducky pond so we let the kids play in it.  They instantly came up with some sort of game involving the "Mommy and Baby Duckies."  They played with the Ducks and the water for a while.  Later the girls told me that this was their favorite part of the party.

There was a trunk or treat for the kids, but we decided not to participate in that.  The kids have already had plenty of sugar this week - with plenty more to come.  Plus Derrick had his 18 month checkup and shots in the morning and he was getting upset.  So it was time to go.

Overall it had been a good activity.  I was able to meet a lot of Brandon's co-workers and leaders.  Many of them complemented the girls on their dresses.  

We put the kids in the car and I drove home. Brandon followed in the jeep a few minutes later.  The girls fell asleep on the way home and then stayed asleep even after I brought them inside.  I thought it was funny that they were both in the same position in this picture.

The point of cake is . . .

A few months ago the girls and I were using Pinterest to come up with ideas for their birthday cake.  Somehow we got the idea for "castle cakes."  We searched for those and images of beautiful and painstakingly constructed cakes came up.  The girls started asking me for a "pink castle cake" for their birthday.  And I thought, "Brandon and I could make a really pretty castle cake for them.  We had so much success with that graveyard cake a few years ago it would be fun to do something like that again."

But then I thought, "why would we go to all that trouble?" The cake would only be enjoyed by us because we weren't planning on having a party.  Even if we did have a party why would we want to stress over something that we'd just eat anyway?  It just didn't seem worth the effort to make a "perfect" cake for our three year olds.

And then I had a wonderful idea.  Instead of trying to make a "perfect" cake for our kids we should make a fun cake with our kids.  So while Brandon and I possibly could have made a cake as pretty and nice as this one . . .

Click here for a link to the source.

  . . . we decided it was a better use of our time to make this one.

We planned on making the cake on Sunday.  Our church gets over at 11:30 and it's always a stretch to find things to do to fill up the afternoon.  So Brandon made the cake from two boxes of cake mix while the kids binged on candy from the previous night's trunk or treat.  

But by the time the cakes were cool it was apparent that the kids had had entirely too much sugar for the day.  So we wrapped the cake up in saran wrap and took the kids to on a walk to the tire swing park to let them burn off some energy (and surly attitudes.) 

On Monday night the kids were a lot happier so we decorated the cake as our Family Home Evening activity.  We'd bought lots of decorating supplies when we went on a date on Friday (thanks to Julie for babysitting the three older kids.)

The girls were so excited to help.  We had two rules.  1. Have fun and 2. Once something is on the cake you can't take it off and eat it.

I was most excited to try to make the spires.  Pinterest had shown me how to do it.  First I coated a sugar cone with melted almond bark.

And then I rolled it in sprinkles.  The girls helped me with the rolling.  (Charlotte kept telling Lydia, "you do such a good job at that.")

I was so happy with how these spires turned out.  They look so cute.

The ice cream cones weren't the only things that got covered in sprinkles.

Meanwhile, Brandon and Derrick had been putting the cake together and frosting it.  

Brandon got the cake together and put up "walls" made out of wafer cookies.  Then it was time to put on the candy decorations.

This is where we had to turn off our ideas of how the cake should look and just let the girls have fun.  They loved sticking candy all over the cake.  We used gum drops, smarties, candy corn, and runts candies as decoration.

We put the candy in a bowl and everyone could eat the candy as well as put it on the cake.  (FYI: If you decide to do this with your own family make sure everyone is okay with eachother's germs - there was a lot of finger licking going on)

Once we had enough candy on the cake it was time to put on the spires.  Brandon put in some structural supports to help keep everything together.

And then we added the spires.  The girls had fun placing them on top of the cupcakes.

I'm so happy with how the cake turned out.  (For all you Mistborn fans:  Brandon and I remarked that it looks like a really girly version of Kredik Shaw.)

The girls were so proud of their cake.  I'm glad we let them help.

To be perfectly honest, it probably would have looked something like this even if we had done it on our own.

Of course, the girls wanted to sing Happy Birthday and eat the cake right away.  But I told them we didn't have any candles so we couldn't sing.  They accepted that excuse.  The cake is waiting in our food storage room until their birthday.

Once again, I'm so glad we were able to do this as a family.  I know the girls really appreciated helping out.

And here is another thing the girls helped make.  We made a name card for Veronica's door.  The girls helped put the stickers on.  I love how they just like sticking things anywhere.  They don't get hung up on whether or not it looks "right."