Celebrating the September birthdays

I have noticed a profound difference between boys and girls (well, another one.) I asked Brevin a couple weeks ago what he wanted to do for his birthday party (since, yeah, there's a schedule going on in the family) and he said, "Nuffing, I will do a party for my 5th birfday." My girls have their next five birthdays planned in advance. SO, I asked him (in a very generous mom moment) if he wanted to choose a few of his friends and we'd go to McDonald's for dinner on Friday night and they could play and we'd get ice cream cones. That was a party he could get on board with, and I thought it through and asked my SIL and MIL and FIL for back-up to handle the kids. Well, it ended up really nice when my sister let my girls stay at her house when I picked up Austin {Side note: you know your kids are spoiled when they turn down McDonalds. I would've cut off my left arm when I was their age to get to eat there.} and one of Brev's friends couldn't made it. The adult to kid ratio was pretty good, and once we relocated to a McDonalds with an open play thing, the party was ON!
I have THE BEST in-laws. On a Friday night, for date night, how exciting is it to go to McDonalds with your daughter-in-law and a bunch of kids? Not very. But they were great and SO helpful. I think it's one of the greatest blessings in our life to live so close to family so my kids can forge close bonds with their grandparents and cousins, etc. Anyway, another thanks to Bruce and Dodie for their help, the generous birthday gifts, and just being SO willing to help, especially when Tyler is gone (or I'm gone - they're great fill-er-in parents when Tyler and I are off galavanting.) They're not going thru the easiest time right now, so I appreciate more their willingness to put their needs aside for ours.

Then on Sunday night, the Garrard side of the family met at Erin and Kevin's for another par-tay. We celebrated 4 birthdays this month and Erin made yummy pork quesadillas and nachos, Dad made potato salad, Stac brought delish guac and orange fluff, and I was in charge of dessert. I should not be in charge of desserts. For all my bragging since I actually made something, it turned out a totally mush and soupy brownie/pudding/cool whip mess. The kids enjoyed it, but it confirmed the "buying is best" theory I have. Yeah, you should have heard my kids give me grief since I was actually baking brownies. Whatever. They eat the store bought ones just fine, too.

Here's the group of birthday celebrants:

Brevin (4), Dad (59- which is ten years away from 69 right Stac?), Brock (2), and Brooklyn (1)

Brevin:

New sheets (and blankets) were a huge hit, Mom!

Brock:

with Zoee

Dad:

Stacy found this and bought it for Dad at Swiss Days and it could NOT be closer than the truth. Dad is a good grandpa, as long as the grandkids don't make too much racket and mess with his stuff. He cherishes his crazy trio of dogs, who can ALWAYS make a lot of noise AND mess on his stuff. Stac also took pictures of the dogs and had them framed, but I thought it was funny Dad commented on how it was too bad they weren't groomed before the photos. It's like when a parent sees the pictures of his/her kids and thinks, "Oh, I should've washed his fave/wiped the nose/combed the hair, etc."

Seth was way excited!

THIS is how my dad really likes to celebrate :) Love you, Dad.

Brooklyn:

Oh yeah! She was workin' that cake. Too cute :)