Boys' Birthdays

Last Saturday we celebrated the boys' birthdays. Eric is now one year old and Alan is four. For those of you who don't know this, Alan and Eric's birthdays are only one day apart, and that's only because Eric was born in Dubai. If he would've been born in the US like Alan, he would've also been born on March 2nd because of the time difference. Anyway, we threw a birthday party for both of them since they pretty much share the same friends.

Lately, Alan is really into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so the theme for the party was Mickey and it ended up being really cute. It's amazing to see how even though we're so far away from where Mickey Mouse originated, we were able to find all the decorations, plates, cups, napkins and even balloons with the Mickey Mouse theme, not to mention all the other themes (e.g., Winnie the Pooh, Cars, Spiderman, Princesses, etc.).

Sixteen kids (and their parents of course) came to the party , and we had a great time. We ordered pizza, and my neighbor Kathy and I made a cute Mickey Mouse cake that ended up taking forever to make. I was afraid I wouldn't even have time to take a shower before the party, but it was worth it. The cake ended up being really cute and Alan loved it. I hope Eric liked it too, but since he can't talk yet I'll just have to take his smile as a yes.




We played some games as part of the party. I wanted to have them play the egg and spoon race, but I figured eggs are pretty messy. So I asked Justin to get me some lemons from the store. However, when he got back home he said they didn't have any lemons, and he brought the weirdest fruit I've ever seen. It's the size of a lemon but it kind of looks like an avocado, and when one of them fell down and broke it looked like nasty boogers on the inside (I didn't dare try it). The kids also played with a parachute thing that they would move up and down. They played Ring around the Rosies with it, and they were hypnotized like half an hour with that thing without even needing any assistance (which is so nice when you're trying to be a good host).




I also made a Mickey Mouse pinata, it kind of looked like the classic Mickey because I didn't find any skin-colored paper for the face and I was afraid to paint it and ruin it, but it really turned out OK and it was fun to make. The kids loved hitting it and of course getting the candy once they broke it. We also filled up a bunch of balloons with water and the game was supposed to be to make a basketball shot with the balloon, but they ended up just popping them on the street as fast as they could.




I loved having a party for the kids. I think this is the first year that Alan "got" the concept of what a birthday party is, because at two he had a party with a few little friends but I think he was still too young to understand what was going on; then at three he was at the hospital waiting for his brother to be born, and the only cake he had was the one that the hospital gave me for dessert. But this time he actually got to have fun and blow the candles with Eric by his side. Every time someone would say, "How old are you now, Alan?", he would answer, "I'm four, and my little brother Eric is one year old."

I'm so grateful for having my two boys. I love staying at home and being able to be with them all the time (even though they are both so high maintenance). Justin and I just can't imagine our lives without them we love them more than anything in the world.