Birthday party planning....

January seems to be our lucky month for having a baby (no, we're not pregnant...). Both of the kids have birthdays next month - Olivia's is the 3rd and Carter's is the 18th. This means, that among all of the holiday hoopla we're trying to climb out from under, we have to plan a couple of parties. To wait until after Christmas would be too late - the 3rd of January comes pretty quickly. I suppose I should not complain, there are other days that could be more challenging - say, like December 25th - when one of my best girlfriends had her first baby last year. What a fantastic Christmas present for them! Yet, they will forever face the challenge of celebrating 2 major events on the same day.

There are some really cool things about being born on Christmas Day though. Besides, sharing your birthday with one of the most famous people of all time - Jesus, everyone is getting together on your birthday - noone ever forgets! And there will probably be double the gifts for quite a few years that the child can cash in on. How cool to have birthday presents wrapped in birthday wrapping paper - under the Christmas Tree! There are not many people that can claim that special day as their birthday - I believe that birth day was hand picked just for her, by Him. And I think it's pretty darn cool.

Now, back to January and my whining. We had our hearts set on having Carter's 7th birthday party at the "Carter's Toy Museum" that just opened here in our town. They have a small diner-style place to grab lunch, they have an ice cream parlor, the toy museum tour, and in the basement there are about 20+ coin operated toys for the kids to enjoy. And a carousel on the 3rd floor. Well, we went last weekend to check it out in person, and although I was really impressed, I think we'll have to save it for Olivia's birthday sometime. It was just too young of a place for a 7 year old's bday. More the speed for those under 5. Now the museum, that's for anyone older that can enjoy toys collected and played with older than the 1960's. Some really cool stuff to see!

Plan B: There's a new franchise that just opened up here in our Mall, called Ridemakerz. Have you ever heard of Build-A-Bear? Well, this is for boys what build-a-bear is for girls! Here, we will bring the boys to build a toy car of their own. They can customize it to their liking by choosing a style, a color, tires, rims, decals, license plate and special name for their car. They will build the car at the Ridemakerz "shop", and be able to take it home with them. The neat part too, is that at any time the boys would like to upgrade their cars' features (can even make it a remote-control car), they can bring it back to the "shop" and customize it further on their own. We will have cake etc. at the mall too and call it a day! Carter is really into the movie "CARS", so he wants a cake that is from the movie, and this place fits perfectly to the theme. It should have been Plan A from the start - but I just found out about it in our local newspaper, and I'm so glad! Looking forward to this!

Olivia - is turning *gulp* ONE! My gosh, seriously - where did this year go? It's been 6 years since we've been able to enjoy this baby stage with another child and it's been such a joy. She is so incredibly easy going and always happy, I could SO have 10 more if I was sure they'd all be this (dare I say...) easy! I'm sure I'll be chomping these words once she's more able to assert herself in the world (with a lovely sassy mouth she's sure to inherit from me, or learn how from her brother....) - but for now, pure bliss and we wouldn't trade it for anything. We'll have a family party here at home probably on Jan. 5th. I don't know much more than that, but I have a bullseye on the day, and that's something to start with right?


Here's a picture of her latest accomplishment - from bottle to SIPPY CUP!!!


click on photo to enlarge