Saturday, August 02, 2008

Happy Birthday, Part I

Only a parent of multiples would consider a party a great success in which the party itself was rained out, one child almost choked to death, and the other tried to drown himself. (Though we’re not saying that there isn’t room for improvement for next year...)
Last night Aunt Allison arrived, as well as second cousin Deb and Kim. We went over to Nana and Pop Pop’s house first thing in the morning to help prepare for the big day. We put all the decorations outside, arranged tents, chairs, and food stations, and then watched the sky begin to darken. Grandma Toni, Grandpa Carter, and Uncle Matt arrived, followed by a thunderstorm, and it proceeded to rain during the whole three hours of the party.

We relocated indoors, and were soon met by family friends Mike and Kay. Arthur, meanwhile, decided to take the longest nap of his life, and missed out on the opening festivities. Neighbors came over bearing gifts, including a wonderful pencil portrait of the trio.

The birthday cakes went quite well; Arthur of course dug into his immediately and had a grand time making as large a mess as he could.

Betty was much more reserved, tasting the whipped cream frosting delicately with one finger, and then pointing at the cake and talking about it. We told her it was a no-sugar banana and raisin cake, and eventually she did end up eating some.

Coraline enjoyed it as well, digging in and eating most of the cake. And after the three birthday presents I gave Erin last year turned out to be so much work, this year I decided to give her a book. Tomorrow I’ll post a video of the day.

1 comment:

DD said...

What sweet little ones! I have 4 kids, and two are fraternal twins.

If and when you get time (yeah riiight huh? LOL), I recommend you re-frame the pencil portrait so that it has a mat to keep the actual artwork from touching the glass. Eventually, they can become bonded and it will damage the artwork if it's right up against the glass. The mat gives a small pocket of air between the art and the glass. Look for a ready-made mat that's NOT made in China, and look for one that's acid free....or, have one custom cut-take the artwork with you and ask if they will tape the artwork onto the mat using framer's tape (not just masking or Scotch tape...these will discolor over time and discolor the artwork).

You might also want to have the artwork copied really well at the same time, because that will allow you to have something of the artwork for each child for when they are older.

Hope this helps! I know time is really at a premium right now, but if you take these steps to protect the artwork, later on you'll be really glad you did!