3 Parties, 1 Day

You know summer.  And fall.  And winter.  And spring. 

At our house, there is a fifth season: Birthday Season. 

We are currently in the thick of it.  Maddie's birthday kicks it off on July 28th and Alaine's birthday ends it on September 1st.  In between, Owen and I have birthdays and Brian and I celebrate our anniversary.  Add in my brother, my dad, my mom, my grandmother, Brian's grandmother, a niece, a nephew, and a brother-in-law and it is quite the Birthday Season! 

There was the year of the four birthday cakes.  This was the year of the three parties. 

Since Maddie's and Owen's birthdays are only separated by about two weeks, we decided to have a small shared family party last weekend  so we had Party 1 and Party 2 in the hot summer afternoon (on the day that our air conditioning decided to be a little testy). 







It was prim & proper meets wild & crazy. 

We talked.  We ate.  We visited.

We opened gifts. 

{We sweated.}

We played a game.

 

Doll clothes, flowered pencils, and paint sets shared gifts space with Legos, a toy truck, and an Angry Birds coloring book.  

Then we cleared the zebra print table cloth, put the gifts aside, and set the table for dinner.  We called this the Birthday Dinner in honor of all the birthday people. 

We divvied up the cooking duties, sharing a meal of  lasagna, salad, and bread.

Since my dad's birthday is actually sandwiched between Maddie's and Owen's...and since their party was only a few days before his birthday, we threw a small bash for him--  Party 3-- that same evening. 

 There was more visiting, lots more talking, {lots more sweating}, laughing, and more gift-giving. 

And as though, we hadn't eaten enough, we had homemade birthday cinnamon rolls for dessert.

The day was tiring, but fulfilling...long, but joyful!

"This is the day that the Lord has made.  

Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118:24