Double the Birthday, Double the Fun! Part 1

J.D. and Gigi turned three-years-old last week.  We waited until yesterday, Sunday, to celebrate their special day with a family birthday party.  The party was simple, no frills, just ice cream cake, presents and plenty of family surrounding the happy birthday boy and girl.  Amazingly, this party went off without a hitch.  Very little complaining, no crying, just a few behavior corrections to be made (and these mainly to the two big sisters, who were a little over eager in their helpfulness).  

As I sat back and observed the whole party scene, I realized how novel this simple, uneventful birthday party really was for my family of four under six.  Birthday parties for us usually mean a whole lot of planning and stress, crying and tantrums, and the kids usually act out quite a bit, too!  Our kids have always been so young that birthday parties meant a crowd of little friends who show up and the drama and chaos can at times, go through the roof!  

Take, for example, my oldest daughter's fourth birthday party.  When E turned four, Cubby was only 2, and the twins were only five months old.  We threw a princess party, but the twins were kept secluded in the house with Grandma Donna the entire time.  Cubby got over-tired and felt neglected while E's friends took precedence over her as new sidekicks, and had a little fit toward the end.  However, this became the norm for birthday parties.  Danny and I now fully expect parties to end in a meltdown; both he and I don't handle stress particularly well, and neither, apparently, do our children.  I guess they've watched mom and dad stress out too often.   

However, this party on Sunday broke the historical mold of birthday party craziness.  We hosted a simple, sweet, fun, and harmonious party for only our family members.  It worked like a dream.  I was sick, so I couldn't plan anything anyway, and I think God taught me a little lesson in that.  He took away my ability to control everything to death, therefore He was ultimately in charge since my headache took away all my uptight perfectionist planning abilities.  And therefore, we had a perfect party.  Who knew God was such a magnificent party planner?!  

Check out some pictures below of  this simple, yet wonderful, blessed affair.  

Here they are, J.D. and Gigi, waiting patiently for the cue to open their presents.

Big sis can hardly wait.....!

And the very first present is a huge winner.  "A mo-cack-oh!" yells J.D.  That's motorcycle.

See her feet?  Gigi got a little distracted by the stickers in one of her cards. It took her a while to remember to get back to her present opening duties.

Meanwhile, J.D. walked around showing all the menfolk his new motorcycle.  They all approved.

Then Gigi opened her new Tinkerbell nightie from Aunt Bette.  She immediately ripped off her special birthday party dress, and insisted on wearing the nightgown.  Princess for a day!

Then she went ahead and gave a big hug to.....the wrong aunt for the nightie.  No matter, Auntie Carrie didn't mind a bit!

Big sisters can be very helpful when they want to be!  

A big box of tools?  Just what J.D. needed!!!

Gigi is still donning herself in her outfit.  Luckily, she had Tinkerbell shoes stowed away in her closet.

Oh baby.  And here's the big gift from Daddy and Mom.  I actually had no hand in this at all.  Danny picked this out weeks ago, and the goggles were a bonus gift.  J.D. saw the bike and his reaction was priceless...I may have to post the video.  He just started yelling, "My bike, my bike!"  But it truly wasn't in a rude way, he was just super thrilled.

I picked out this piano for Gigi a few weeks ago, and I can't tell you how happy I was that she liked it!  I took a big risk, not knowing how she'd react, but she loved it! Yay!

2 kids=2 cakes

First, we sang Happy Birthday to Gigi.  The cake blow was very dramatic.

See what I mean?

Again, another awesome reaction from J.D. Just watching his cake make its way over was exciting for him!

His cake blow was actually really....wet.  Lots of spit.  Yeah.  I had a piece of Gigi's cake.  

He loved the red car on top.  But he had a really hard time blowing. It's hard to make spit land directly on three tall flames.  

So his sisters swooped in to help out.  Gotta love the drama on Gigi's face.  

And there you have it!  Once the cake was eaten, we headed out to the yard for some outside activities.  I'll be sharing these later!  I love you twins!  You are such an awesome blessing in my life.