Spring Birthdays

We are blessed with two spring birthdays in our family!  Kevin turned 10 and Kate turned 6 this year.  I can't believe how fast time goes.  Kevin kept talking about how cool it was that he was a decade old.  I couldn't help but think about how he was more than half way raised and that before too long he'd be all grown up. 

Instead of a birthday party this year, we're going to get a  family pass to the local science center and he gets to invite a friend to come with us.  Every weekend we've had something going on, so we haven't done it yet.  I don't know why, but that makes me feel like a horrible mother.

This was actually Kevin's second choice for a cake.  He's originally asked for a cake that looked like a baseball diamond, which we could have done.  I just knew that this would be easier.  Something that I learned with this cake.  I should have cut it in half horizontally and put a layer of frosting or a whipped filling or something.  The pieces were really big and a little dry because I had to bake it so long to get it done in the middle, (I just baked it in a glass bowl).  Anyway--now we know and I will definitely do that next time.

Kevin with his loot.  I haven't forgot about your picture request mom--it's coming soon.  Do you think that Kevin likes hats? :)  He also got some scout things, ninja legos, wii sports resort, and baseball stuff!

Such a cute 6 year old.  Since she didn't have a big party last year--well actually, she's never had a birthday party with her friends.  We put one together, sort of last minute, for her this year.  Of course, I did not get one picture from the event.  Again--something that makes me feel like I'm slacking in my role as mother.  Oh well.

This is her, "Hurray!  I'm 6!" pose.  For her party we went with an art theme.  Activities included playing with homemade play dough, coloring with fabric markers on small canvas goodie bags, making shrinky dinks,  sidewalk chalk on the back patio, and painting on a long role of paper stapled to the fence. 

I love this birthday jump picture!!

I went with a simple chocolate bundt cake for Kate's party.  It tastes good, it looks pretty, especially when served with whipped cream and strawberries, and it's easy!  This is what was left over from her party the day before--again, I'm all about keeping it simple.

BTW, we do brush her hair--she had just come in from blowing bubbles and using sidewalk chalk out back.  I didn't think about "prepping" her for these pictures.  They are a true record of everyday life. :)

This was a special gift that Kelly made for her.  She used an inexpensive photo album and wrote two stories back to back.  She calls it a "flip-flop book" because once you're done reading one story, you flip it over and turn it upside-down to read the other story.  She spent several hours writing it and coloring all of the pictures.  I was so proud of her for wanting to give Kate a special present.

This was the one picture that I have as proof of Kate's party--one of the papers from the fence.  Everyone had a great time and it was such an easy theme to put together.  The guests took home the canvas bags that they colored, along with a ball of play dough and the recipe, their shrinky dink necklace that they made, and one other picture that we "painted" with water and colored tissue paper.  We ended up with 9 guests--one of the reasons why I didn't take any pictures.  We also served lunch.  Unfortunately we sort of ran out of time.  I had scheduled 2 hours, and we could have used about 20-30 more minutes.  All in all I think it was a great success!