We've just celebrated Dawson and Evan's birthdays.
See. We bought a cake and I took a picture of it to prove it.
I've discovered that my view on birthdays is a bit different from that of most mothers. This is because I feel that a year is the perfect amount of time for a child to grow.
You know how people say things like "you blink and they're all grown up"? I don't feel that way. It took 12 years for Dawson to become a 12 year old. I keep blinking and he stays that age until the year is up. This was especially true for me when both of the boys were babies. I kept blinking to see if they were old enough to sleep through the night.
I don't wish the years away or anything nonsensical like that. I'm just saying I'm a firm believer that God made a year the perfect amount of time for us to age. Good job God. (He reads my blog).
I do get all sentimental when I go back through old pictures. I do so more when I look through the few baby pictures we have of Evan since I lost the first year of his photographic life minus the first two months. If I had lost his birth pictures, I would have had to march right back to the hospital and recreate the whole thing with someone else's baby, is what I'm saying.
I began blogging the year that Dawson was born. Tuesday December 19, 2006 to be exact. If my memory serves me correctly, I chose that day because the FBI released the surveillance reports on John Lennon. OR, it was because gas prices jumped in California. My memory often strongly relies on the days headlines, is what I'm saying.
This was Dawson then:
An altogether blog worthy disposition.
(say that with a British accent, in a similar inflection of saying "a lovely sponge, that")
Here we are 12 years later, celebrating that blog worthy disposition once again.
We told him he could have some buddies over for his birthday party this year, rather than spending an entire year's salary on a location party like a trampoline joint. People don't usually say "trampoline joint" like I just did. I'm so unpredictable.
He had his buddies Michael, Jaren and Ethan over. I didn't get permission from any of their mothers to post their pictures on my blog. When they end up famous, they'll owe me one.
I purchased cupcakes from WalMart. I realize I could have used my culinary skills for good and created a cake that all of Pinterest would have unraveled at the seams at my amazingness. However, I decided to save my energy for other important endeavors. Like writing this blog post. Cake vs Blog Post, the mighty battle.
Dawson's buddy Ethan stayed the night and in my sleep deprived state, I allowed Dawson to eat a stack of mini chocolate doughnuts for breakfast. When I've had adequate sleep and coffee, I require Dawson to eat mini chocolate doughnuts one at a time like a proper civilian.
Dawson's number one wish on his wish list this year was the Lego Star Wars AT-M6 set which he got. I continuously had to pretend I didn't know what an AT-M6 was in order to thwart his suspicion that we got it for him. This is no small task since I'm an official #boymom and am well versed now in most things Star Wars. Did you know that Frank Oz is the voice of Yoda as well as Miss Piggy. Yeah. I'm that good.
On their actual birthday, we ask the boys to choose the restaurant where we'll eat lunch or dinner. Dawson chose Cheddar's, which I highly approved of, seeing as how I will order the entire cheese fries appetizer for myself and eat it as my meal. If only you could all be like me.
This is Evan at Cheddars. I'm fairly certain he was demonstrating The Force.
After losing all of the pictures, I became extra grateful that I blog, and have blogged all of their birthdays. I'm especially grateful that I blogged about Evan's birth story. Someday the boys will thank me that their entire lives have been posted on the internet.
Evan didn't have an official party this year with friends. Instead we invited family over to celebrate a combined party for both boys. I call that birthday savvy.
The boys have been getting along rather well recently. I would attribute it to my wisdom and knowledge in all things motherhood, but the other day Evan yelled out "I hate this church" during a worship service we were attending as guests. So. You're guess is as good as mine regarding the brotherly love bit.
We decided to allow Evan to open his presents straight away so that it wouldn't become a point of contention. Also, giving Evan a piece of cake before opening his gifts would just double the effect of sugar in his bloodstream. Dawson seems to have grown out of that stage.
Evan currently owns 4 Bruder construction trucks. He rarely plays with them. For reasons the universe can't fathom, we still purchase these toys for him.
I had the brilliant idea to get him the Lego Dimensions Starter Kit for his birthday this year. Since I'm the evil mastermind behind the idea, I photo bombed. Also, Jason never takes pictures of me at events and I want the boys to know that I was present at major life events. (Just in case they never read my blog. I'm sort of relying on God to let them know how great my blog is so they'll read it someday).
Since it may not be evidenced in the picture, I'll let you know that Evan had no clue what Lego Dimensions was. So this gift wasn't at all exciting until he played it.
Finally it was time for cake. But first I want it to be on record that we did decorate:
Evan literally complained for several minutes straight about Dawson blowing out candles at the same time that he was. Is there any reasoning with a six year old?
The blue icing on the cake is not recommended. Please see result as pictured of my niece Mia:
It came as no surprise when Evan chose Chipotle as his birthday meal of choice. The boy lives on rice, soup and popcorn. He asked for his "favorite kind of rice" from Chipotle. The great thing about it is, a side of rice is only 97 cents. We win.
As the boys get older, it may necessitate the need for me to hire out a blogger to post about their birthdays.
I'm getting older too. I get lazier and less creative the older I get. Now I see how old people get so grumpy. They must've blogged all their kids' birthdays.