2 Saturdays, 2 Birthday Parties WHAT??

Every January, I mention the extended birthday situation we have here. I mention it because it's traumatic for me. We just get done with Christmas, and 11 days later it's time to start shopping and planning again. I'm not one who loves to plan parties or events. I see these pictures online of people who pretty much plan a wedding reception for their 1-year old's birthday party, and I need a Valium. 

My purpose for documenting this is that I would like to congratulate us on giving Anders and Addie birthday parties on back to back Saturdays. Good job, us. 

Anders' birthday was just a couple of days after the kids went back to school from Christmas break, so he wouldn't have had enough time to pass out invitations at school. We were able to do evites to all his friends, which actually worked out great. 

We had the boys come over for lunch- pizza, what else?

We played Minute-to-Win-it games. It was fun for about 15 minutes, which was problematic, because that's pretty much all we had planned for activities. Heh-heh.

We made a Minecraft cake, due to Anders' obsession with the game. No one was all that impressed with the cake. We tried, okay?

After cake and presents, we still had about 20 minutes until parents started coming, so all the boys gathered together to play Minecraft on our phones, Kindles and iPad. They were all linked together and totally into it, and Nils and I just sat on the couch and shrugged our shoulders.

Anders had a great time and was very happy. Mission accomplished.

The next week it was Addie's turn. Nils made the invitations cuz he's got the skillz. I told him what to say, and he did the rest. Cute, eh?

We had dinner- Hawaiian haystacks, which is Addie's all-time favorite food. 

Then we tried to watch a movie, which we rented from Amazon online. It didn't work. I don't know if it was our internet connection, our TV, or if Amazon's streaming service just isn't that great, but it would play for 30 seconds and freeze up. So annoying.  BUT! Shrinky Dinks to the rescue! We pulled out those suckers, and that kept the girls occupied for over an hour. Tons of fun.

When the girls were done with shrinky dinks, they ran around the house screaming and having pillow fights. Again, we just looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders.

When I asked Addie what kind of cake she wanted, she said, "Um, could I maybe have a rectangle cake with those candy letters on it?" I was like, "Yes. And you are my favorite child right now." 

I resurrected Heavy Heavy Hangover Thy Poor Head. No one knew what this was. Please tell me you know what this is. The birthday kid has to wish something for each guest after they bonk her on the head with their present. 

We got Addie a new bike, which she can look forward to riding in three months. Ah, the joys of a January birthday. 

By the time the end of Addie's party came, I felt great relief, and we collapsed in bed about 30 minutes later. 

I'm thankful for Anders and Addie. They're great kids. They get along really well and are good friends; I hope that continues forever. Both of their rooms are downstairs, and when I go to wake them up in the morning, more often than not they're both sleeping in the same room. They like to write stories together (Addie is the author and Anders is the illustrator). They like doing crafty junk together and make incredible messes. They both like the same silly books, like Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and will read those and laugh and laugh. 

They're also crazy and drive me nuts sometimes, but mostly I love them.