lotsa birthdays!!

so, with the arrival of my nephew, justin, leah got moved from her own room to a room with anna and ellie... this meant combining my 3 worst at going to bed. NOT SO FUN. i am a firm believer in giving rewards (bribing) which i have renamed "giving blessings". we dole out sweet blessings to those who obey. mainly, the blessings we give are poker chips or "tokens" that the kids can redeem for treats and stuff... everyone loves tokens, even leah who doesn't quite grasp the exchange system. but, somehow leah got it in her mind that if she stayed in her bed, she would get a BIRTHDAY!! she has been SO excited. yet, even in her excitement it has taken her a few weeks to earn her coveted birthday. as fate would have it, the night before their trip to grandma's... leah stayed in bed all night and earned her blessings--- a birthday in June. (her actually birthday is september). i bought a few cake mixes, a few containers of icing, some edible cake markers and (my favorite) disposable pot pie cake pans... the kids followed the directions to make and bake the cakes... we all iced and decorated. yes, we NEEDED candles and real, live flames (despite the objections voiced by the professor)... some singing, some pictures, and lots of WISHES!! may our nights ever be silent and our days full of CELEBRATION!! (i thought it would be fun to wrap up toys and stuff that we already had, or to go to the dollar store and buy some fun stuff... but alas, it didn't happen-- oh and BALLOONS... how could i have forgotten balloons?!) how about you? just do it? enjoy the birthday magic all year long!! have Santa make a mid-summer visit just to fill stockings-- or pool shoes... doesn't it sound fun!!? and, guess what? after all the spoonfuls of frosting they ate while decorating... no one ate much of their cake-- so it wasn't even that unhealthy. just fun. yeah-- it really is FUN to have a houseful of little ones... i may not have missed them when they were gone, but i do ENJOY having them home. most of the time.