Chris and David have back to back August birthdays--some years this means gigantic shared birthday parties and some years it just means two days of special dinner and dessert selections. This year it was the later--much to David's disappointment. He thought we should send invitations to all the students at Hogwart's (including the Slytherins) to a giant birthday extravaganza at our house. I told him that our house is clearly not large enough to accommodate a whole castle worth of kids. He rebutted that obviously they would be able to bewitch the house to fit everyone once they arrived. Ah, I countered--but underage wizards are not allowed to use magic outside of school. Au contraire mother--the seventh years would be of age. Touche David, but terms starts on September first and unfortunately your birthday is August thirty-first so I'm afraid there is just no way they could make it all the way to America and back the day before they start school.
The disappointment of youth. He got over it.
Chris had somewhat less extravagant birthday wishes. All he asked for was his favorite (and coincidentally my least favorite) food that I haven't made for him in probably eight years and also his grandparent's most beloved homemade ice-cream.
Done and done. There were a lot of "taste-testing" spoons inserted into that ice-cream before it was brought inside to eat.
Chris is a little bit anti-birthday and doesn't ever really want to celebrate which takes a lot of fun out of birthday planning, but I managed to surprise him anyway with a new supply of geocaching Pathtags and Grandma Kazleman and Aunt Courtney loaded him up with some much needed Notre Dame gear since he was still wearing the same shirts he had in undergrad--it was past time for an upgrade.
David was a bit down about his lack of birthday party and also the lack of cousins sharing his big day with him after their plans changed, but luckily for him his aunts and grandparents came through with more presents than any child of ours has ever received on their birthday, ever. His haul included a new bike, a model train, a chess set, a new backpack, quarter-collecting gear, and a ridiculous amount of Amazon gift cards which were promptly turned into Lego sets.
Chris says Christmas is probably going to be a bit disappointing this year.
He's probably right.
For his special meal he asked for a buffet of every different pizza there is. Which is funny since he will only ever eat plain cheese. Ever. What he really wanted was a trip to the magic land of Cici's pizza which Aunt Kate had lovingly described to him in great detail the last time we saw her--from the smorgasbord of Italian delicacies to the fruit punch to the games and gum balls in the back. For a child who doesn't know what Chuck E Cheese is, it's a wonderland beyond his wildest imaginings. Since our local Cici's is apparently really gross, we arranged a quick trip down to Fredericksburg, which appeased David's desire for both cousins and cheap pizza.
I'm pretty sure it was his favorite part of his whole birthday. Well, maybe second to realizing he was finally in possession of the model train he's been begging for for the past two years.
For his special dessert he asked for the same strawberry cake he had last year--a request I was happy to fulfill since it was finally something I actually wanted to eat.
Now I need to learn how to play chess, less David start to think that, along with engineering and math ,girls also aren't any good at doing that either. I'm not sure where I went wrong with this one :)