If you don't love birthday parties, think twice before having kids!

HAPPY MARCH! Our February ended and March
began like many weekends of a family with a 4-year-old...birthday party madness!

Saturday was a birthday 'open house' at the Andersons in honor of sweet baby Reese's 1st birthday. They said it was by invitation only but I'm pretty sure they advertised it in the local paper because half of Northern Colorado was there...even the morning DJ for 99.9 The Point (OK, he lives next door, but really, it was the icing on the cake, pun intended).

It's always fascinating how every 1-year-old goes through the same discovery process with the itty bitty birthday cake ordered just for them. First they seem a little upset that they're being ripped from the action and strapped in their high chair. Then this odd yet perfect little pastry is placed before them. They touch it slowly...oooh...nice squishy texture. Their hand instantly goes to their mouth and...one-mississippi, two-mississippi...the taste buds send a big thumbs up to the brain which then tells both hands to dive in with unabashed bliss. The next 5 minutes is followed by an icing/crumb concoction not-so-delicately smeared into eyeballs, nostrils, hair, neck wrinkles, elbow dimples and, sometimes, the mouth.

Reese put on a clinic! She pouted, then tested, then went in for the kill. And we she came up for air, all you could see were bright blue eyes within a mask of chocolate and frosting. She was the model 1-year-old, and after all this precious little person has been through -- from a scary yet false diagnosis before birth to unexplained seizures in the months that followed -- it's such a blessing to see her doing everything that healthy, happy kids do (even if it takes two grandmas and 10 friends to clean it up!).

Today's party was for the 4th birthday of Pilar, Saylor's dear friend from her old school in Ft. Collins. The party was at Mountain Gymnastics, and it was Saylor's third 'gymnastics party' this year. She knew exactly what was in store for her and woke up rejoicing that 'Pilar's party day' was finally here! For parents there is no better party than a gymnastics party. Where else but a giant foam pit can you leave 10 kids and not worry that one will get hurt or lost? Saylor had a blast, and it was so sweet to watch Saylor and Pilar, who haven't been in the same school since last May, instantly reconnect with total adoration for one other.

















So the birthday parties are over and we are left wondering where our weekend went?!? We didn't accomplish a darn 'household' thing we had intended to and next weekend and the weekend after that are already spoken for. Oh well. There's always April. Oh wait, don't tell Steve but I think we have more birthday parties...