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I Survived. (Survival is a relative term.)

I am pleased to announce that The Birthday Party of 2008 is now history. I say The Birthday Party because I only do one birthday party a year. With children born in October, November, and December (and all the holidays that fall in between) there is no way I can do a birthday party for each child every year. So they rotate. Which pretty much makes me the meanest mom on the block.  It’s a good thing motherhood isn’t a popularity contest.

Actually, if I’m being honest, the busyness of the season just gives me a valid excuse.  Truth be told, I just detest having birthday parties. There. I said it. Does that automatically disqualify me from the Mom of the Year crown? Like I was in the running to begin with.

Well, then. Movingrightalong.

After debating several different locations, we decided that rather than take out a second mortgage on the house, we would par-tay at home.  It was my daughter’s location of choice anyway. So we compiled all of your fantastic advice from this post and decided on a pajama party without the overnight part.  (I barely do birthday parties; overnights are pretty much out of the question.)

We asked the girls to come in pajamas and slippers and to bring sleeping bags, and we did all the typical pajama party sort of activities — I painted their nails, we did a craft, played a few games, and then we set them in front of a movie with popcorn in those cute little plastic popcorn containers that look like movie popcorn bags that I snagged from the Dollar Spot in Target.  While they watched the movie, I visited with an old friend, and my husband took my son out Christmas shopping, which is quite impressive since usually they wait until Christmas Eve for that.  They’re on top of the game this year!

After the movie, we had cake and ice cream, C opened her presents, and that was the end of that!  Because of the busyness of the season, only four of the nine girls we invited could make it, so it was a small group, which is a good thing because I’m pretty sure I’d be on a plane to Maui if the party had been any bigger.  Yes, I know I’m a wimp.  And I’m quite content in my wimpiness, thankyouverymuch.

I am pleased to say that all the little girls enjoyed each other and were kind, which is usually the biggest reason I come home from birthday parties disgruntled.  It’s amazing how mean little girls can be to one another.  But we had none of that; they were absolutely delightful.  So all in all, it was a success.

I wish I could post a slew of pictures, but most contain other children whose photos I don’t have permission to post.  But here is the cake.

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And my daughter licking the bracelet that came on the cake.

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Ooooh, here’s one I can post.  Opening presents.  That’s my other daughter on the left, and some of you may recognize Sassy in the green from Kim’s blog.

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C’s birthday is actually on Christmas Eve, and in anticipation of not having time to post her birthday post on that day, I will write that here.  Between being the middle child and having a Christmas birthday, this poor child is going to get the short end of the stick one way or the other so I might as well just resign myself to the fact and get over the guilt right here and now.

My darling C,

Of all my children you are the most like me.  I apologize once and for all.  You are moody, kind-hearted, disorganized, energetic, friendly, sometimes painfully shy, sometimes painfully outgoing, and always compassionate (except when your sister is being mean, but who could blame you; she’s brutal sometimes!) You’re my girly-girl and my shopping partner.  I hope we enjoy many years of shopping together and trying out new makeup.  You’re athletic and strong.  You’re so proud of yourself for scaling the monkey bars.  I can’t believe you weighed less than five pounds when I brought you home from the hospital.

I know I lose my patience with you all too often, and it grieves me.  With God’s grace, you won’t need too much therapy. I love that you like to collect bugs.  (And that goes to show that no two people are exactly alike; I certainly have no affinity for bugs.)  I love your made-up songs and your laughter and your sunny smile.

Happy Birthday, baby girl!  I love you more than you know.

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22 Responses

  1. Gorgeous!

    I have a Christmas Day bday. We decided to celebrate the 25th of November this year instead. I just refuse to celebrate the poor girls birthday in competition with Christmas. Can it suck any worse?

    And I love the pj party idea – sounds fabulous! My kids only get 1 kid for every year of age as a guest. Now that I have a 9 year old, her 2 sisters count as guests. And it is mandatory that she invite them. lol

    And kudos to you for surviving! Deep breaths! And wine. lots of wine.
    G’night!

  2. Both of my children were born in December and their birthdays are five days apart, so I know what you mean! The rule was you got a party if your age was going to be an odd number; since they were three years apart, this resulted in alternating party years. In other words, I think you still might be in the running for Mother of the Year. :O)

  3. Glad you survived the party. We had our 4th pyjama party this year, but this time 8 came and 3 sleptover! – and we survived 🙂

    It was our second party to host in 2 weeks.

    I too have 3 kids with an October birthday and 2 December birthdays – wish I had thought of taking turns to have parties.

    Love all the photos of your gorgeous daughter. My post on 18th December has some then and now pics of my eldest (born on 19th Dec).

  4. Very sweet post! I love the pics of C through the years!
    So sorry Kiki never made it to the party. She ended up never even coming home that night. She spent the night at my mom’s. It looks like it was a great time and I’m glad you made it through in one piece!!

  5. Phew, glad it is over and the kids had a good time. Your daughter is just adorable and I am certain she LOVED her party and does think you are the mother of the year…It would be tough to compete with the Holidays for your birthday but I can tell she felt special and feeling special is oh so very important in a little girls world.

  6. If it makes you feel any better, I hate birthday parties, too. I am so glad my oldest kids are getting to the age where we can bribe them with taking one friend to a ballgame or taking a couple to a movie instead of the whole party thing! It just stresses me out.

    Glad the party was a success and you have a whole year to think about another one! Our season is just getting started with Tigercub’s birthday Dec. 29 and then one evry month until April!

  7. Looks like we have been up to the same exact thing. Planning these parties around the holidays really stinks. I now understand why my mom hated doing ours each year (one child born on Dec 27th the other on Jan 16th). We do the best we can, but man does it suck 🙂 Emily’s b-day is on the 19th so I really understand.

    Regardless, it looked like a blast and those pics are adorable 🙂

  8. Great job, Jo-Lynne! It looks and sounds like it was a successful party! And I totally understand your anxiety as both of my kids birthdays bookend Christmas and New Years! Didn’t plan that too well, did we! Anyway, I hope your holiday is merry and I hope your little one is better (I saw the twitter about her head…ouch!). I managed to get one last blog posted before I leave and have a Christmas greeting pre-posted! Merry Christmas and I’ll be catching up on blogs when I get back from vacation!

  9. What a neat idea to do a birthday combo. I really like the not-a sleepover theme too–good for you! I was secretly relieved when Hurricane Ike canceled A.’s party this year. I pretend, but I’m not a party mom.

  10. What a fun idea! I am dreading Boo asking for a sleepover…I don’t know if I am ready for that yet. Maybe in a couple years…

    Happy Birthday C!!!

  11. I hate birthday parties too. My son wants to have one at one of the bounce house places- that cost $250!!! Not going to happen.
    I think that your idea of rotating the parties is a great one. I wish that I could justify it- but mine are spaced out March, June and September.

  12. Cute cake! I was curious had you ever had a single birthday for all three kiddos? I have a friend who has 2 kids with birthday’s within 4 weeks of each other so they do a joint birthday each year. It actually works out nice that way and they each get to invite 3 friends. Very doable in the world of birthday’s.

  13. Happy Birthday to your sweet girl.

    We did the same party last year and this year I actually did do a sleepover with 3 girls (and the same popcorn containers). It was good to keep it small or I would have been right with you to Maui.

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