Brendan's Birthday Bonaza

With all the sickness I have yet to get around to blogging about all the fun that was Brendan's birthday celebrations this year. I have been to all four of Brendan's birthday parties. The first one was in Washington D.C. and the other three have been in Oklahoma. I have flown to them all. I feel like as an Aunt and a Godmother I should be there for the birthday fun. Also, now I have a streak to up hold. I haven't made it to any of Maggie's birthdays and her birthday is on our anniversary so I feel a little less pressure there, though I hope to make it to the next one.

Brendan's birthday is January 20th. He was born on inauguration day in Washington D.C., how fun is that! Since his birthday is in January Zach often gets to attend the birthday celebrations as well since he still has vacation days at this point in the year. This year we actually got to see him on his actual birthday. Once we finally got out of snowy STL and into sunny ( though freezing and windy) Oklahoma, Able took us to meet up with Abbey, Maggie, Brendan, and Mom for lunch at Cafe 7. It's a restaurant in Edmond, OK where everything costs $7 or less. Dad would have loved this place because, as a strict rule, dad would never eat a meal that cost more than $10 and his favorite number was 7. After our quick lunch we headed over to GiGi's cupcakes where we got cupcakes to celebrate Brendan's big day. The cupcakes had a huge amount of frosting on them, which Brendan of course loved. We sang happy birthday and everything. Tons of fun!

The rest of Thursday was spent playing around the house with Brendan, Maggie, and Zane. Grandma and I were lucky enough to be invited to swim lessons Thursday night. This was unbelievably fun. There were only four kids in the class, all boys, and they were all very excited about swimming. Their teacher was very serious and obviously not a kid person, but they all seemed to have a blast. It was set up differently than how I had taught kids how to swim as a life guard due to the fact that the pool didn't have a true shallow end. This meant they really had to dog paddle their way across the pool, no cheating. Brendan did great and I think we might just have the next Michael Phelps on our hands :) I taught him some swimming stretching and he looked like a total natural doing them.

Friday was full of cooking, decorating, and party planning. Zach and I had a business lunch with Able, so I am now officially set up with life insurance. That is a depressing meeting to have, but a necessary one. Friday evening the boys headed down to last call at O'Connell's ( the most important bar in Norman which is not actually closing just opening a new building). While the boys were gone the ladies continued party decorating, house cleaning, and Abbey started the yearly cake baking/decorating marathon.

The cakes Abbey makes for Brendan's parties are always amazing, always home made, and decorated by Abbey herself. She has made trains, a robot, a space ship, and this year an amazing Lego cake complete with star wars Lego men and buzz light year candles. What more could a boy want. Here are some pictures of the cakes through the years. I think my favorite is a tie between the trains and the robots because I had so much fun decorating them with different types of candy. Here's hoping Abbey comes to Zane's birthday party so he can have an awesome cake.

By Saturday morning we were all ready for the big event except maybe Brendan who woke up feeling not so hot. He told me his "mouth" hurt, translation he had sore throat and just wasn't his normal perky self, but he powered through. This was the family birthday party, with I'm sure a friends birthday party soon to follow. Another staple at Brendan's parties are the decorations, this is my department. There always has to be some sort of decorations hanging from the ceiling, window decorations, and balloons. This year's theme was space so we had planets and stars hanging from every where. There were even space helmets for all the kids. Zane loved his, as you can see.

Even with Brendan not feeling his best he had a great time, got a tons of wonderful gifts, and enjoyed his Lego cake along with blue ice cream ( another must have for Brendan's birthday parties). This year Zach and I got him and Ant farm. I think once his ants actually arrive he will have a blast watching them dig their tunnels. He also got a leapster, a science kit, books, a batman costume, new toy story shows (complete with lasers on the toes), a glow in the dark solar system for his room, and a real life telescope. 

After the party we headed to the farm where we had a relaxing couple of days. Mom taught me how to make bread Sunday. I have watched her make bread hundreds of times, but she could never actually give me measurements, so I took detailed notes this time and now feel confident I could make bread on my own, how exciting is that! It is great to be home, though it is strange being there without dad. I hate that Brendan felt bad the whole time, but he really was a trooper through it all. Monday we headed back to OKC to catch our flight home. I hate when I leave without any plans of when I will see my family again. I know I will, but I like to have a date or time in mind. I'm sure we will figure something out soon.