Birthday Bash Roundup

So here I am. Still alive and still sane. Well, okay. I'm not entirely certain that sanity was present before the weekend but at least I haven't been gathered up by the men in white coats and hauled off to a padded room. Yet...

Apparently I lost my ever-lovin' mind when I decided that back-to-back birthday parties was the way to go. I will never do that again. Don't get me wrong, it was fun. But it was also pretty stressful and now requires a glass of wine just thinking it over to write this post.

Since Sean's birthday was Friday and Mary's was yesterday, I figured that it would be easier to have one party on Saturday and the other on Sunday. You see, we don't have birthday parties every year. I mean, we celebrate our kids' birthdays--I'm mean, but I'm not that mean--we just usually do it with family only. While I think a party now and then is a good thing, it does after all teach some valuable skills, I don't think it's necessary every year. My kids have more toys than they know what to do with now! And also, I tend to subscribe to the idea that more than anything else, birthdays are a time for those that know you best and love you most, i.e. your family, to celebrate your entrance into the world. Also? I am lazy. And birthday parties are hard work, y'all!

We have traditionally let the kids have parties where friends are invited on their 5th and their 8th birthdays. On their 13th birthday the birthday child gets to go out to dinner alone with my husband and I to the fancy restaurant of their choosing. Why the 5th and 8th birthdays? Well, because your 5th birthday is just kind of a big benchmark. And the 8th because when our oldest turned 8, we won a birthday party at a local fun spot in a silent auction, so it just stuck. (See? L-A-Z-Y! This required no thinking on my part.) While my daughter is lobbying to have both a 13th and a Sweet 16 party, I have dashed her hopes and told her to talk to the hand.

So Saturday rolled around and it was Mad Scientist party time. There was a Lab Accident birthday cake.

There was the wonderful baking soda and vinegar "volcano."

There was instant snow and Atomic Slime.

And finally, just as the rain left and the sun reappeared, there was Diet Coke and Mentos. Oh the geysers in our backyard! I cannot tell you how much fun the boys had doing this. By the end, it had devolved from the boys standing back and watching to having them run through the geysers and stand in the showers of soda. Seeing them all have such a great time almost made it worth the senseless waste of precious, precious Diet Coke. We went through 10 2-liter bottles, folks. It felt a little sacrilegious.

Apparently the present to give an 8 year old boy is anything Nerf that shoots. The party ended with a brilliant impromptu Nerf battle. In the words of my newly minted eight year old "it was EPIC!!" I'm not sure he even knows what that means.

There was also a new scooter which was promptly declared "cool."

When Sunday came it was Garden Party time. There were pretty, pretty cupcakes.

The decorations were "simply beautiful." Or so Mary told me.

The wish....

was granted.

Both kids told me that their birthdays were the best ever. That definitely makes all the crazy worth it.

But you know what I learned this weekend? I tend to stress over things that don't end up making a difference. It didn't matter how many times I muttered, the rain didn't go away any faster...

Also? Buy stock in Nerf.