Birthday girl

As a mom, I’ve wrestled with what to do about birthday parties. I can’t remember ever having one growing up, so I was not really sure what to do about them. And since we have no family within a short driving distance, we couldn't’t do the traditional “extended family” birthday parties. But I know they are very special, and we've done one every year for Sammy and Caleb…even if they don't even remember the first several!

So for Sammy’s first birthday, we invited a TON of people…including a bunch of students from our youth group.

Yeah, should have thought through that a bit more...

Even though birthday parties are to celebrate the lives of our children and the blessings they are in our lives, we’ve come to believe that we do that best with our closest friends and their children. So Brad and I decided to invite one to three other couples and their children over for our kids’ birthday parties. Our children are encouraged and loved upon (and still get to play with their friends), and we get to share our joy with the other adults who know our kids best.

This year, only one family was able to join us, but we had a wonderful time.

We did a “breakfast brunch” the Saturday after her birthday. I made an egg bake, cinnamon rolls, and cut up a bunch of fresh fruit. It was so yummy!


Here Sammy is eating with her good friend, Arnae…who was the only other “Princess” in attendance. Don't worry...we did have three princes to watch out for and protect our beautiful girls!

Then we did a little craft. Earlier in the week, I had grabbed five Burger King crowns and wrapped them in tin foil. Then the kids used foam stickers and glitter glue to decorate them.


If you can’t tell, Sammy is all about crafts!


This is Arnae and her mom, Christina.


And this is Adam and their oldest son, Mick.


Needless to say, Caleb and Sammy are still wearing their crowns around the house (and sometimes to the grocery store) over two weeks later!

After that, Sammy opened her presents.


I think it gets more fun each year watching my children open presents. Her “oooohs” and “ahhhhs” and “oh, thank you, thank you!” are priceless!

Then it was time for cake. About two weeks before her birthday, I had taken Sammy on a date, just the two of us, to discuss her birthday party and shop for plates and napkins. She decided that she wanted a “Princess Party” and she wanted to wear her flower girl “princess dress.” Then we looked on-line at princess castle cakes, and she picked this one out…which is really a sand castle cake, but was far easier to make than other ones I had found.

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/towering-sand-castle-cake-688671/

I must tell you that making this cake was quite the experience. I don’t know if the sugar cones falling off the cake and smashing into a million pieces on my clean kitchen floor frustrated me more or the fact that I used the wrong size cake pan. Oh well! It doesn’t look the best in the picture, but it looked good in person…and tasted really, really good!


Sammy couldn't’t wait to blow out her candles. (Caleb just wanted to eat the cake!)


I just love this picture of the two girls. Arnae is about five months younger than Sammy, but they are such good friends.


After the kids (and adults) finished eating, the kiddos played for a bit and the adults got to sit at our kitchen table and chat. What a wonderful day to connect, share, and celebrate!

Oh, and Sammy just had to try out her tea set before Arnae went home.


By the way, we’ve had at least three tea parties a day since then!

I am so blessed to be Sammy’s mommy. It is truly a joy to spend each day with her…watching her grow, change, develop, and learn.