Many Birthdays And A Busy Weekend....

Labor Day Weekend, always laborous for us.  My husband told me, "It's called Labor Day, because we always have work to do on it."  That is true, we have three major birthdays in our family within a few days of Labor Day. Two in his family and my mom in mine, although her's was yesterday.  So, we had a birthday extravaganza, we decorate every birthday.  The reason I do this, it is the only day of the year you can do as you damn well please.  I personally love my birthday, it is the only day I get to choose every single thing I do, and I want that for everyone else in our family. 

I did take some knowledge from a grandma on birthdays, not my grandma, my husband's.  I began dating him a little over 10 years ago, the first major event I attended was his Aunt's and Grandfather's birthday.  I made a golf cake, my cousin owns a hobby store in our home town, so I can pretty much make any kind of cake there is, they didn't know this.  I brought plates and candles, I thought everyone celebrated like us, they were surprised.  When all the partying was said and done, his grandmother wiped off the cute candle, stuck it in a baggy and put it in a drawer.  She then proceeded to gather the leftover plates and napkins and do the same.  Over the course of the next several months, I proceeded bringing cakes, candles, plates, and napkins, she continued to do the same thing.  So, one birthday, I forgot plates, she opened her drawer and ta-dah all the plates we needed.  That was the beginning of the birthday box.

Every birthday, my grandmother and I would begin planning what we were going to do on our birthdays, 3 weeks in advance.  Christmas was over, there was the winter slump, but we knew our birthdays were coming.  Everyone hates February, but not me, my grandma and I had birthdays 10 days apart.  I would call her when she went to the nursing home and we would plan food, cake, and where we wanted to shop.  One year, I remembered what my mother-in-law (my husband's grandma) had done.  I had some heart plates and napkins from Valentine's day and my heart balloons were still floating. So, I pulled out a pretty pink table cloth, bought some pink streamers, baked her a fancy cake, and threw her a party.  I did it every year, she looked forward to it every year.

As time went on, we began having the birthday fairy at our house.  You will go to bed the night before your birthday and go to sleep, because that's when the magic happens.  I started this when my little boy was four, he is now eight and assists the fairy sometimes, but not on his birthday.  We have two sets of party decorations, the one you have in the morning for breakfast, with traditional breakfast cupcakes, and the actual party decorations you pick out for your party with friends and family.  The Birthday Fairy digs in the box and pulls out decorations from the past and puts them to good use.

Here's what she does, que Birthday Fairy:

BF stays up late making an extremely complicated Key Lime Cake.

With the help of her toddler trainee.

She ties balloons on the light fixture and tapes them together so it looks like it's floating.

And attaches dangling birthday messages.

She reuses the same birthday sign they started the box with and adds "Who Doesn't Love Cake."

The finishing touch, cupcakes for breakfast.

This was my mom's birthday party, I was going to load how to make the cake today, but I think I will wait until tomorrow, due to time constraints.  

She did come and eat her breakfast cupcake and we spent the day goofing off. By night we had another birthday tradition, dinner, but not just dinner, birthday taco bar.

Fun was had by all!  I stuck to my guns and ate at home, nobody seemed worse for the wear.  I will post the Extreme Key Lime Cake Experience tomorrow and a picture of the mystical birthday box.  Wishing everyone a happy birthday in the future....