Birthdays and Cakes and Presents, Oh My!

BIRTHDAYS:
We have been involved in celebrating no less than 8 I kid you not kiddo birthdays since the beginning of July. We are just about birthdayed out around here. "Happy Birthday" has become the family theme song. We have done enough renditions of it that Daughter sings it to everyone (including the dog and her beloved Bear) and that she sings it to you whenever she brings you some of the delicious cake or "birthday soup" that she cooks in her new kitchen. Today we were supposed to be at 2 birthday parties... at the same time of course. Obviously that didn't happen. We did have a great time at the one we did attend though.

CAKES:
I didn't post last night because I was working on a birthday cake. A friend of ours asked me to make a Spider Man themed cake for her 4-year-old's birthday... the first one turned out pretty well, but the second one rocked- if I do say so myself. There were cement-block buildings of various sizes with Spider Man perched on the top and his web thrown over the city streets below onto the neighboring buildings. The larger of the towers began to lean as the humidity grew here, so I wasn't thrilled about that. I think that the birthday boy and his mom were excited about them though, and that's what matters.

PRESENTS:
Since both Son and Daughter have July birthdays, we have received presents in the mail at least once a week for the last 6 weeks now and the kids will soon grow disappointed when the Mail Man- excuse me- Postal Carrier no longer leaves packages for them at the door step. We have also purchased numerous gifts for kiddos of many different ages. I have the 4-year-old boy gift giving down pat, and the 2-year-old girl gift is like second nature, but beyond that I have a bit of trouble. We went for the cool kid sport watch for the 7-year-old boy tonight. Boys that age are into racing and timing stuff, right? What better way to keep track of all things competitive than with a sport watch?! Weather he ends up liking it or not... that is what he got. I'll probably think back on this night in 3 years (when Son is 7) and wonder just what I was worried about. In 15 minutes he won't remember anything but the new bike (or Rollerblades, or skateboard, or whatever the cool thing is at the time) that Mom and Dad got for him!

OH MY!
I'm tired. There are a zillion things going on and no end in sight. That must mean that the Summer is winding down and school is starting up! At least in our house a full calendar (usually) makes for happy people. This family does NOT like to be bored! I guess I'll take a breath and dive right in! Wish me luck!!