Birthday Alley

How in the world are we already almost to the end of August???  Not only are we in full prep mode for Back to School, we also have 3 birthdays to celebrate this month!  Scott's was last Sunday, Alex's was Thursday, and Jane's is next Friday.  That's a whole lot of celebration going on!  Hahaha.

{Grace created this "custom" Pokemon card for Alex with him being the Pokemon character.  It was pretty cool and Alex loved it.}

Scott continues to be the lowest maintenance member of the bunch and his only birthday request this year was our signature Brown Butter + Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies.  {They are the best.  Just as an FYI.}  Alex's only request (j/k -- he never has just one request, although he certainly had one THEME this year) was for the newest Pokemon cards that were set to be released the day after his birthday.  This date discrepancy -- his birthday being the 13th/the cards being released on the 14th -- led to some rather predictable waffling on when he exactly he wanted to have his party.  On a daily, and sometimes hourly, basis, he changed his mind about which day to do the celebrating until I told him he had to give me a final decision by last Sunday's Family Council.  He chose Friday the 14th for his big day.

These cookies really are the best.

It didn't stick.  {Spoiler alert -- I knew it wouldn't.}  By about noon on his actual birthday -- after begging all morning to be able to open up just one of his presents that day -- I finally suggested we should probably just go ahead and do the cake, presents and whole shebang.  He heartily agreed.  Of course, I didn't have stuff for the cake yet OR the presents, but Target came through in the clutch.  While the decorating crew of my party planning committee (aka Grace and Sophie) were working their magic at home, I took Jane with me to Target to find enough Pokemon stuff to make all of Alex's dreams come true.

They added a whole bunch of Pokemon energy (?) cards to this bunting we already had.

His cake request this year was "Beast Ball," and it certainly wins the award for the tallest cake I've ever made.  And the most blue.  Well, other than Sophie's Pablo-from-the-Backyardigans cake when she was 2.  Hahaha.  The Beast Ball was a hit, though, even if Isaac DID let me know that the yellow things on top were supposed to be 3-D and I didn't do it right.  Haha.  

(My inspiration)

(a bit of a sloppy execution with the design, but it still works)

Once Scott finally got home from work {because YAY! for him, he is back in a real office a few times a week}, we sang Happy Birthday, let Alex rip into those presents, and cut the cake.  Alex's Love Language is for sure "gifts," so his birthday and Christmas are the most important and rewarding days of the year for him.  He was super happy with ALL of the Pokemon stuff he got and even more excited that for some of those gifts, he had the joyful combination of Pokemon PLUS the non-LEGO brand of legos to play with.  He spent the rest of the evening happy as a clam, putting together his characters and rifling through all his new cards trying to decide where to put them in his album.  The high lasted into the next day as well, as he happily informed me that this was the best birthday ever!  I guess we could have skipped out on the Chuck E. Cheese birthday party last year and just bought him a bunch of presents instead.  Hahahaha.

The one non-Pokemon gift in the bunch.  He was okay with it.  ;)

The piece de resistance.

It was 3 big layers high.

With Jane's birthday on the horizon, it's time to start figuring out what exactly SHE is obsessed with for this year's theme.  Before we get there, though, we have the first day of school to look forward to on Monday.  And I can't wait to describe my opinions of all the first day of school outfits that have been chosen.  Let's just say, that I'm officially feeling like an old-fogey, because I can't for the life of me understand the aesthetics of today's tween and teen fashion.  Hahahahahaha.  Until next time...