This past week we celebrated birthdays. And celebrated and celebrated and celebrated!
Lucia turned four on Friday October 7, and Magdalena turned two on Tuesday October 11.
A few days before the EVENTS in matching dresses - they looked so cute, I couldn't resist posting:
Here is the rundown of our five day flurry of activities:
Friday 10/7: Mini-Cupcakes to daycare for both girls (unfortunately one of the kids got into the half that was supposed to go to Magdalena's friends, and ate five before they found him, so she actually didn't get to celebrate on this day)
Also - just the four of us sang to Lucia and ate mini cupcakes when Godfather Ryan (my brother) arrived for the weekend after dinner. The girls also stayed up WAY too late hyped up on Uncle Ryan's visit and sugar.
Saturday morning: Lucia got to open one present before the party (they were up at 6:30 am despite their late bedtime!):
It was the DVD "Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo" and they watched part of it as we made french toast before the party:
Next we went to
Pump It Up - Junior to celebrate their joint birthday with their friends. We invited all the kids in Lucia's preschool and some family friends, so while most of the kids were Lucia's age, there were a few that were Magdalena's age too (not like she really noticed!). The kids had a blast jumping on the slides, castles, and playing on the little cars for an hour while the adults helped, supervised, and talked. Then we headed to the party room for thirty minutes to eat the carrots, celery, and apple slices I brought (only non-dried food they'll let you bring besides cake and ice cream), cheese pizza for the kids (and gourmet for parents), and cupcakes for the birthday girls.
There was not enough time to open the presents there, but all the kids got a goodie bag and a helium balloon to take home. The best part was that other than prepping the food/cupcakes, we had very little to do and NO setup, NO cleanup, and virtually NO worries! It was awesome, and I don't think the price was too bad either. I'd definitely recommend it, especially for non-summer birthdays. As it happened, the weather was GORGEOUS on the 8th, but who could have predicted? And we wanted something that would let the kids get energy out - NOT at our house.
Pictures of the activities turned out mostly blurry, so I only included a few.
Here we are waiting for our guests!
Playing on the slide:
Sliding with Daddy:
Happy Birthday Cupcakes:
The Pump It Up Staff set up the room for us - even put the veggie/fruit slices we brought into bowls at the table for us!
The kids loved the pizza the most, I daresay, but fortunately the normally HUGE slices of Pizza Schmizza were cut in half, so they didn't overdo it (too much):
Blow out the candles!
And again!
Thanks to everyone for the presents! (Question for others - do you write thank-you notes to all the kids for birthday presents? I haven't had time yet... and two people didn't write their names on the gifts anywhere!)
We tried all weekend to get a good family photo. So far I don't love any of them, at least one person is doing something wacky in each (three more later):
We got a few of them both in the big chair, though Magdalena really wasn't into it:
Thanks Pump It Up!
Later that afternoon my parents came so they could spend more time with my brother and the girls, of course. We let Lucia and Magdalena open the presents from the party. Lucia was into it, Magdalena did not care. One child got Lucia a tea party set, and when she opened it she said "Oh, I just love it!" Super cute!
Playing with some presents:
This takes us to Sunday, 10/9. That afternoon, Alex made home-made pizza and my Aunt Debbie joined the group. She and Magdalena share the 11th birth-date, so it's a special way to celebrate together. The pizza was DELICIOUS as usual, Alex's first batch back in the US!
The family waiting on pizza:
Here it comes!
A few more wonky family photos:
The girls loved their "parasols" from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Tiffany - especially Lucia, who had been asking for one:
Magdalena got her favorite book, "Cat the Cat" by Mo Williams (previously only borrowed from the library):
Lucia went from zero to six My Little Ponies in one day (though half of them were really Magdalena's):
The girls actually played quietly together for about 10 minutes with those ponies:
Here they are watching Magdalena's video gift "Piglet's Big Adventure," while holding up the Hans Christian Andersen (and others) Fairy Tales book from Aunt Karen and Uncle Dave:
I can't believe I haven't yet gotten pictures of the adorable bracelets with their first initial engraved on them from Aunt Debbie, but those will definitely be keepsakes for years to come.
Monday 10/10... nothing... whew!
Tuesday 10/11 - Took more mini-cupcakes to preschool this time for Magdalena's birthday, though we took them to both classrooms. My parents dressed the girls up in the matching colors dresses they bought them, though no really good photos came of their attempts to capture the moment. And of course, we had more (mini) cupcakes and sang to Magdalena that night - Lucia had 4 cupcakes, and Magdalena had two... they were pretty hyper that night too - but at least all the cupcakes were finally gone!
All I have to say is WHEW!! I am VERY GLAD this birthday week is OVER and we can get back to a normal, cupcake-less lifestyle. My ultimate goal for their birthdays is to celebrate small at home on their actual day with just family, then have a joint big party for their friends in the middle (until they don't want to have those any more). But honestly...cupcakes four times, four parties (even if a few were small), lots of sets of presents... thank goodness birthdays only come around once a year.
Happy 4th birthday to Lucia & happy 2nd birthday to Magdalena!! It looks like they certainly enjoyed themselves. Good job making it a fun weekend for your girls :)) How fun that Ryan could join you all too.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Girls! Way to go momma getting all that celebrating done - sounded exhuasting but also fun. I bet you're sick of cupcakes for a while too.
ReplyDeleteLooks like fun! Pump it Up jr is right down the street from us and we've only been there once . . . .
ReplyDeleteAs for the Thank You notes-I had the same issue with Josie's party at the bowling alley-there wasn't enough time to do presents there and I figure if you open gifts in front of the giver and say "thank you"-that's good enough but if you open them outside their presence then you send a note. Don't know what to do about the missing names though . . .