…and I feel as though I have missed it again.
Birthdays have always been a big thing for me. While I feel uncomfortable with attention on my birthday, I like to make sure my loved ones feel special on their day, especially my children. Yet, as much as I have everything planned to a T, something happens to remind my Type A personality that I am not in as much control as I would like to be.
Rain, rain, go away!
Even before Easton was born, I was planning his first birthday because I wanted to make sure it was special. If you know anything about my family, you know that we are a Disney family, so it only seemed fitting to do a “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” themed birthday party.
Easton’s birthday is on April 26th, so the weather is usually warm enough to have an outdoor party, which is what we planned. Everything was set up for the birthday party outside. We had a photo station, balloons, games, decorated tables — the whole shebang! It was perfect, until 2pm, when the sky decided to fall and stay until his birthday party ended. It rained during his birthday party. Not before his birthday party. Not after his birthday party. Just DURING his birthday party.
I might as well have sent an invitation that read, “On April 26, it will rain between 2 and 4pm. Please come hang out inside my home.” LOL. It was definitely a birthday to remember, one where I was reminded that I cannot control the weather.
Teenagers need supervision, too!
I decided to keep Easton’s second birthday party simpler. I only invited family and close friends. While we tried to have an outdoor cookout again, if it did rain, we were ready to move it inside since the number of attendees would be smaller than his first birthday party.
There’s a decent age gap between Easton and his sisters. The girls were 13 and 11 when he was born. Therefore, to make it somewhat entertaining for my step-daughters, I let them have friends over. However, what I didn’t think about was how much teenagers need to be supervised — probably as much as the toddlers. The party turned from a two-year-old’s celebration to supervising teenagers, and one in which I learned that I need to take better control of my guest list at birthday parties!
Don’t cry over spilled cake!
We celebrated Easton’s fourth birthday earlier this month because April is a very full month for the Deal household with birthdays (mine is also in April), prom, Easter, vacations, etc. To say this birthday party was full of life lessons is an understatement.
Firstly, I was late sending out the invitations. Thank goodness Facebook has an “Event” option. I am pretty sure I am the reason some of Easton’s friends didn’t show up — hopefully he won’t remember that.
Secondly, we had a cake catastrophe on the way home. The top layer completely broke, which caused me to have a full panic attack. I center everything around “the cake,” so to have the cake break was just the end all for me. Fortunately, I have an amazing cake maker who is like family, so after crying hysterically to her, she fixed it.
What really hit my heart was the fact that I forgot to take a picture. I didn’t take one picture of my son’s birthday. I didn’t get any with his friends, family, no one — this really hurt. I went home crying because I didn’t have one photo memory to give my son.
While my mom and other people were great to send me photos they took, it made me realize that I get so busy making sure things are “perfect” that I forget to enjoy the moment. I forget to enjoy my son and the family and friends who showed up.
When will I learn to stop and smell the roses? So it rained on my outdoor party — oh well. So the cake broke on the way home — oh well. Life happens. We make plans and we all know who laughs. Especially as a parent, these are all reminders that I need to roll with the punches. A lesson I still need to work on to this day!
How good are you at rolling with the punches when it comes to parenting? I’d love to read your suggestions on how to take things in stride!
