party time

Last night was Truett's 3rd birthday party. He actually turned three this past Friday but we waited until Sunday to have his party. Now, when I say party I mean a small family get-together. We had dinner, opened gifts and ate some cake. I didn't even remember to buy plates and napkins until the day before and the only decoration was a set of streamers that my mom put up. And right now, I can totally get away with throwing lame birthday parties. But I know that the day is coming when my kids start asking to invite friends to their parties. And I'm not ready.
Both of my sister-in-laws throw great birthday parties. They have pinatas, games and gift bags for the other children. The lay out feasts for the adults. And they do it all while remaining calm and composed. This past summer, my twin nieces turned six. Their party took place on a day when the heat index was around 100 degrees. There were around 8 kids there including Jem who was younger than everyone by about 2 years. It was hot and noisy and chaotic and I'm pretty sure that my sister-in-law didn't even break a sweat. She just took everything in stride and made sure that everyone was taken care of. Meanwhile, I was sweating like nobody's business as I watched my fully-clothed son climb into and sit down in the kiddie pool that had been set up for game time.

I'm pretty sure that if I invite a mass of other children to my home for a party I will end up crying in some corner of my house, praying that they don't find me. So I think that until they start to ask for friends, I will just continue to keep our birthday parties low-key. Maybe I can just take them to the park and put birthday hats on them. Then I will take some pictures of them with all of the other kids who are running around at the park that day and when the boys get older I'll pull those out and say, "See. This was the year we had your party at the park. Don't you remember?" Or, maybe I'll just ask my sister-in-laws to plan their parties. That seems like a better option.

photo by Will Clayton  http://www.flickr.com/photos/spool32/5045502202/  See. I didn't even take a picture of his cake. I had to use a picture of someone else's cake. I am the worst.