Over the weekend, we celebrated both Matthew’s and Bryson’s birthdays. Matthew, for the last 12 months, had said that he didn’t want a birthday or a party.  So, I put a very small party together because I couldn’t NOT have a party for Bryson and I knew that Matthew would, ultimately, end up wanting one if his brother had one.

I did not go crazy this year at all. The only thing I was over the top on was, of course, the cake. Besides that, there were no themes, no balloons, no decorations, no planned activities, etc. and you know what? It was perfect. I invited 16 kids between the two boys and we ended up with 12 coming, so 14 kids total with our boys included. Totally manageable.  We put a movie on in the theater room and setup the bounce house in the basement, and much to my surprise, most of the kids were perfectly happy eating their popcorn and watching the movie.  🙂  We did make the kids hot dogs and the girls ate while the boys did not, and we catered real food for the adults.  We’re still working on the catering leftovers, which was part of the plan.  HA!

Matthew is not a cake guy.  Actually, neither is Bryson.  But Bryson will humor me by asking for a cake while Matthew straight up told me, “I don’t want a cake, Mom.”  OK.  I got to work on the cake plan for Bryson (the boy loves firetrucks!!!) and convinced Matthew that a cookie cake would be a good idea for him.  I spent so much time planning the firetruck cake that I spaced off ordering the cookie cake.  I figured that I’d be able to get it same-day, but that was not smart given that the party was at noon on a Saturday and the cookie places opened at 10:00.  I was lucky, and Cookies By Design had one in stock and fresh baked from the night before.  I had a happy 5 year-old!

Prior to the party on Saturday, we celebrated Matthew’s birthday (Friday) with our tradition of letting him decorate his own cake for breakfast (freshly whipped up buttercream!!!), opening presents (a scooter and a keyboard), finishing up a week of swimming lessons (the kid is a fish), eating lunch where he wanted (Chipotle), going to the pool with Daddy, eating pizza at his favorite place for dinner, and watching Star Wars for the FIRST TIME EVER!

Cake decorating is our tradition!

“Happy birthday, dear Matthew!”

“Happy birthday, dear Matthew!”

Dinner with an ice cream dessert from the pizza shop owners!

Bryson’s big day was the day of the party so the morning was rushed.  He, too, decorated his own birthday cake for breakfast with a fresh batch of buttercream and opened his presents (not his real presents because that is coming on Wednesday) before our guests arrived.  He had a great time at the party and took a nap in my arms in my bed afterwards.  It was bliss!  Because of his nap, he was all set for a late night so we watched “The Empire Strikes Back” in the theater room with the boys.  Bryson was begging to go to bed 10 minutes before the movie was over so I gave him his wish.  🙂

Cake decorating and licking.!

Get those presents open!

Another year has come and gone and we now have a 3 year-old and a 5 year-old.  Bryson seems older, all of a sudden, and Matthew looks older to me.  Bryson gave me the gift of being potty trained ON HIS BIRTHDAY so I’m super excited!  That only took 4 weeks.  HA!  (There was a small accident today but it was understandable (was pouring water from the fridge and well, you know, running water).)

We have two little boys.

No more babies.

Just big kids in this house now.

Author: Courtney

Hi, there, I’m Courtney. I never planned to stay home with my kids, but I got sucked into motherhood when my first baby came into our lives after years of infertility and multiple rounds of IVF. His brother followed closely behind, something we didn’t plan on after having such a rough road with achieving parenthood the first time around. My boys are IVF cycle twins, conceived on the same day but born two years and one day apart (they were both transferred on the same day in October, but with two years between them). My boys are the best of friends and my husband is a terrific husband, father, and most importantly… friend. He fully supported my desire to stay home (“I just wanted it to be your idea and not mine, I totally want you to stay home and raise our kids!”) and encourages me in everything I do. I am a lover of projects, spreadsheets, fitness, healthy cooking and eating, crafts, selling my stuff on FB (HA!), and the outdoors. If I’m active, I’m pretty darn happy!