Ugh. *snort* sniffle...

Alex had his 4th birthday party today. It went really well - he had 8 of his friends there and lots of our friends and family came too. The party was at Odyssey 1, a place similar to Chuck-E-Cheez but nowhere near as loud or busy. It was fun and easy and I think we'll do the same thing next year - all I had to do was bake the cake and show up. Alex got 3 hours to play on the climbing toys, eat pizza and cake, play some more, and earn tickets and prizes with the games. He loved it - I think all the kids did.


Honestly? I'm not a fan of kid birthdays. It's not the party or the get-togethers that bother me (although today was a little awkward with the couple of parents who showed up that I didn't know beforehand. I'm not the best conversationalist.). There are two main reasons - the gifts and the gifts. (I know, that sounds like one, but hang on, I'm getting there).

The first gift-related reason is the whole idea of giving gifts on a birthday. Alex's first question when I told him about his birthday party a few months back was, "What presents are my friends buying me?" To which I promptly had a discussion with him about being thankful for what we are given, we don't expect presents, blah blah blah. I refuse to raise an entitled child, but the whole idea of birthday gifts kind of kicks me in the butt. Again, we are always thankful for what we are given - my point is we should never EXPECT it.
The other reason is the toys. Like all kids, Alex is truly only interested in a toy for a total of about 5 minutes. Then it goes in some place in his room (and later, storage) taking up space. He's not the type of kid who develops attachments to things, so even if he really likes something, it will only last 10 minutes instead of 5. Scott and Alex are out in the living room now, and they have spent the last hour unpackaging toys that will be played with for less time than that.

Again, we are thankful for what we are given and greatly appreciate the time and effort people put into choosing and buying a gift. I just wish there were a way to respectfully ask people not to bring gifts (there's always that Catch-22 - if you say, "Please, no gifts" on the invite, you're saying you expected them in the first place), or to donate the money they would have spent to a charity of their choice. It would help me teach my son an important lesson as well as putting their money to better use. However, huge props have to go to the inlaws and my parents this birthday - MIL gave Alex a bag full of brand new, very nice clothes, and my parents are getting him Tae Kwon Do lessons. THOSE are gifts I can appreciate, that are guaranteed to get used and enjoyed and are worth the money.

One reason I do love birthdays is the cake. I bake a different cake each year, it's kind of my tradition at this point. His first birthday I did a clownfish cake.

His second birthday I did an Elmo cake. The cake itself kind of sucked because it broke in the process of decorating, but the Elmo looked cool.

Last year I did a Transformers theme with an Autobot symbol and an Optimus Prime truck toy on top. (I don't have the pic on my computer.)

I experimented with fondant and airbrushing this year - what do you think?
And I'm getting a cold. *sniffle* SNORT. Two weeks after school starts, happens every year. Emma's getting sick too - her first cold. She such a happy baby, though, that she doesn't act like it bothers her. What's bothering her right now is my lack of milk - she gets pretty upset after each feeding. I'm going to keep taking my supplements though, since I know they don't work overnight. And I'm resisting the temptation to supplement her feedings with formula, since she calms down after a snuggle and a binky. We'll see what happens...

Happy birthday, Alex!