Circus Forticus: one birthday, two parties

Monday, June 30, 2008

one birthday, two parties

Today is Liam's fourth birthday! Our little man just left with his dad to celebrate the occasion by getting his first swimming lesson. It's an exciting time for him. And it was a very exciting (and exhausting) weekend as we held two birthday parties. It should be noted that we didn't have two parties because our two families can't bear to join together, even for a few hours; nope, it was simply a scheduling issue. Mike's older brother and nephew could only make it on Saturday, because they flew back to California that night; meanwhile, my mom was already booked into a quilt show on Saturday, Loni and Klaudia had a 4-H obligation, and Bethany had to work, so they could only come on Sunday. So instead of leaving anybody out, we just decided to have two parties.

For Saturday's party, Mike's family came, along with good friends Mark, Katie, and Linus, who brought exciting news of their own: they're closing on a new house in Chicagoland this week! We're so excited to have them closer to us, even if they did wait until we had vacated Chicago before they decided it was safe to move back. Anyway, we grilled burgers, dogs, and brats, and had a good time hanging out. Barb and Kevin got Liam a soccer goal for his birthday (along with a soccer ball for each boy), and once that was up, the boys (except for Linus, who just felt like hanging out in the house) had a great time playing soccer. After everyone left, the boys sat down to watch a TV show, and Liam was asleep within five minutes. Max, however, stayed up until bedtime, getting progressively crankier. Once I finally got him to sit in the rocking chair with me that night, it took only about 30 seconds before he was out. They had to rest up for another big party, after all.

Blowing out the candles; Max takes advantage
of the opportunity to steal more frosting.

Success!

While Liam opens gifts, Max creates his own
entertainment.

What nice-looking family! Katie, Linus, Mark.

Grandpa and the boys celebrate the successful
erection of the soccer goal.

Looks like a swing set ad, doesn't it?

Sunday's party was a little earlier, to meet the needs of the after-church crowd. We had about twice as many people, and a whole bunch of kids. The boys had aunts, uncles, great-aunts, cousins (mine and theirs), grandparents, and even a great-grandma to celebrate with. Brunch was polished off, along with cake and ice cream, and everyone had a good time visiting and playing out in the gated area (highlight: the newly finished swing set). There were a couple of minor fights over balloons, but other than that everything went very smoothly. Both boys got sleeping bags from Yami and Papaw, which turned out to be an excellent idea, as it actually facilitated the after-party naptime efforts. This time, all four of us got to take naps after all of our guests went home. Success!

Liam: "I love balloons!"