Bryce and Evyn's birthdays

This weekend, we celebrated Bryce and Evyn’s birthday. Earlier in the week, we celebrated their birthdays individually on their actual birthdays, which are 2 days apart. In the past, I have just combined the two just because it was easier. We decided this year, they are old enough that they need to start having their own special day. It was difficult for Bryce to understand why Evyn got presents and he didn’t. It all worked out though.

We still combined the party for them to save me time, money and sanity. We took them to Jump N Jive in Amarillo and invited a few friends and family. It was fun for the kids and easy for me. Jump n Jive is a big building full of bounce houses and air games for ALL ages. Even Zoey had a blast. Most of the time, I let the kids play and the adults switch off with Zoey. That meant I got to sit and watch it all happen.

We also fed everyone a big tray of chick-fil-a nuggets and cheap wal-mart brand fruit punch. It was absolutely the cheapest, easiest double-birthday I’ve ever been in charge of. I’m usually determined to make homemade invitations, elaborate cakes, food and decorations. And I stress myself out to the point of missing the joy of the birthdays. I’ve recently come to the realization that I don’t have to do any of that. The kids don’t care one way or the other…except they probably don’t enjoy the frazzled, irritable mommy that comes along with the Martha Stewart parties. Of course, I still couldn’t resist making the cakes. But I focused on easy instead of elaborate. This was my favorite part! I made a wii-mote cake for Bryce—very simple. And EVYN made her own cake. She loves to help me bake, and the memory of the experience will last much longer than the perfectly piped fluffy dog cupcakes I would have made.(and I still promised I would make her those on another day without anything else going on) So, she poured, measured, stirred, helped bake and iced the cake…and don’t forget the sprinkles!!(the Hannah Montanna colored cake at the top was her creation. I added a bit of frosting from the last picture to the one above it...but she then added all those yummy sprinkles) She loved doing it, and it came out delicious. And I loved the time I spent with her instead of the time I spent fussing at her because I was busy making her cake.

I’ll probably extend myself unnecessarily on occasion, but I’ll always, from now on, remember that simple can be much better.

(I have put the cake pictures on here, but if you want to see more action shots from the birthday, go to our website (www.patterson-pack.com) and go to our family photo gallery. Then look at the birthday pictures. Lots of good ones!!)