Happy Birthday to us

Bryan and I both celebrated our birthdays this month (mine on the 10th, Bryan's on the 12th). We celebrated with family "parties" on the big days, and on our in-between day by going out to eat and to see the movie Harry Potter (thanks for babysitting Melissa).

Birthday parties are Sienna's most favorite thing ever. After her and Colby's birthdays in March, she wrapped up a present for me and stored it under the couch in the office, with strict instructions to leave it there until my birthday. So there it sat. When I opened presents, she was more excited to open it than I was, since she had forgotten what it was: a picture she had colored.

I was gifted many colored pictures in fact. The evening before we had some friends over for games, and Sienna and her friend, Sally, were busy coloring away. Sienna wrapped up one of them the next morning:



Here's all my colored loot:



When the kids have a birthday I like to make a simple, fun-shaped cake. And I let them choose. I had no choice for my birthday. Sienna was insistent that I wanted a red, heart-shaped cake. And the moment she awoke she began begging to help make the cake. I didn't even want cake! I'd much prefer a pie or cheesecake or pudding cake or ice cream cake. But Sienna was very particular. So looking through my Kraft magazines I found a chocolate peanut-butter cheesecake brownie cupcake recipe, that I figured we could shove together in the shape of a heart and frost it. This was OK'd by the birthday chief.

Sienna and Colby did all the decorating:



Isn't it lovely?



For Bryan's birthday, I let Sienna wrap one of his presents all by herself. I wish I had taken a picture as she was cutting this piece out of the middle of the wrapping paper, to see how much was wasted. It was a very creative wrapping job. I think she still needs a little more supervision, but in the end it was all covered up.





Sienna also wanted to decorate a bit for Bryan's birthday. She wanted some balloons, so I let her pick some out of a bag I had of small balloons, impossibly difficult to blow up. You know the kind... when you strain and blow to get a little bulge in the middle of the balloon, pinch it closed, take another big breath, blow again, only to have it all come spitting back in your face. Well I puffed and I huffed until I ran out of steam. Sienna was beside me the entire time, encouraging and praising. As I blew into a balloon, she blew into the air, spitting when I spit, always with a focused, concerned look on her face. I don't think she realized she was doing it. I was laughing too hard to blow up the last one. Plus my cheeks hurt.

And lastly, when we were shopping for Bryan I knew we were out of birthday wrapping paper so I picked up a roll. Colby was excited to carry it through the store. Back at home when it was time to wrap the presents he shouted, "I want to wrap the long, shooty-thing!"

Huh?

Come to find out, he thought the wrapping paper roll WAS the present. Or at least the cardboard roll underneath, since he got to play for a while with the old one when it ran out. (That is until he became a bit too abusive and it got recycled.) "Head boppers" is another common name for them in our household. Particularly the paper towel rolls which are more common.

Anyway, when Sienna was wrapping her present Colby tried to continue to unroll the wrapping paper to get to the cardboard roll in the middle. I gently tried to explain that the wrapping paper was needed to wrap the presents, and he couldn't have the head bopper until it was all gone. Tears and tantrums followed. He was very disappointed he couldn't give the long, shooty-thing to Daddy for his birthday.

Well now I know I don't need to buy anything for Colby next year. And it's already wrapped! He just has to unroll it.