William and I have many things in common, and one of them is that we both have summer birthdays.
I know it can be a little tough to have a summer birthday — your friends are often out of town and can’t come to a party, you never hear your classmates sing “Happy Birthday” as part of morning announcements, and sometimes your birthday falls during your family’s vacation and you don’t get to have a party at all. OH THE TRIALS OF MY LIFE.
Therefore I made an effort this year to make sure William felt special about his birthday. And I may have . . . overcompensated . . . just a wee little bit.
For example, by getting up early and making a giant German apple pancake for breakfast on the morning of his birthday proper.
And then that same day, using my “Baking for Two” cookbook to make him a wee little six-inch layer cake (this was actually the perfect size for my family and I will totally do this again). William still has chocolate on his cheeks from when he licked the mixing bowl.
Later that week we had a birthday party. This involved pizza (featuring MORE root beer from the Root Beer Store because we are gluttons for punishment and also a bottle of the Flying Cauldron Butterbeer, which William snatched up immediately because he is reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone for the first time and loving it).
Then, a pinata . . .
. . . then a game in which the boys built a tower out of cardboard and then knock it over with water balloons. Eleanor decided to stand next to the tower and taunt the boys. So guess where everyone began to aim? And guess who got soaking wet and chased everyone afterwards?
Later: MORE of William’s goofy cake-face. He’s going through a phase where all pictures require making a silly face. William had requested that his party be “birthday themed,” and that he therefore needed a “birthday flavored cake.” I had been planning on just buying an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins, but his request for “birthday flavor” melted my heart (he remembered the rainbow sprinkle cake from last year!) and I pulled out the baking pans.
The evening was rounded off with presents. Katie decided ten minutes before the party started to give William a present of some stuffed animals that had been hiding under her bed. Eleanor helped her wrap them up. I thought it was touching, although I think William was kind of baffled.
And we’re still not done! Today (Sunday) we are still opening presents from Mom & Dad (a cardboard MakeDo Space Pod kit. Wim and Jeff are working together to assemble it as I type this) and the grandmas (knight figures and a remote controlled BB8). Call me crazy, but I think we can consider this boy well-feted.
Not that he doesn’t deserve it. William is the sweetest sunshine guy I know, a sweet-to-the-core boy whose catchphrase is “Happy Day, Hooray!” and lives it like he believes it. There was a period a few months ago when William was declaring every day to be his “Best Day Ever,” even if it was full of what I’d consider mundane things like chores and school. Didn’t matter to him: every day was full of something that made it better than the last. Can’t go wrong with an outlook like that.
Casa Camisas 