Ever and Zender’s Porch-fest Birthday Party

I will be the first to tell you that I am the mom who goes overboard with birthday parties.

I love it – all of it. I love planning the over-the-top parties and I love having our friends over to enjoy them. I love the look of excitement from my kids when they see all the things I’ve planned.

But here’s the thing: I fully realize that none of it is necessary to make my kids feel special. All the hoopla is largely for my own enjoyment and they would be just as happy with a store-bought cake and a balloon. I get that.

That’s why when we came home from a month-long road trip just 2 weeks before our next big scheduled birthday bash and the house had no flooring in any of the bedrooms, I decided to let a lot of things go for this one.

It was a little bit hard for me because I wanted to make sure that when Zender looks at the photos of his first birthday party, he feels like his mama tried just as hard for him as I did for the rest of them.

I had to remind myself though that I’m no longer a mother of 1 child with a fulltime employee to help me pull everything together for a crazy Seuss-stravaganza. I’m a mom of FOUR young kids, in the middle of major home renovations, with all the things that come with 4 kids and renovating. Besides, if I’m doing this right, there should be plenty of other things in my children’s lives that show them how special they are to me without photographic evidence of a full-blown Pinterest-worthy birthday party.

Not only that, but I do all the ridiculous details because it’s fun for me. If it becomes a stressful thing instead, it’s not something I should be doing. That stress would bleed into the rest of my life and that serves no one.

The weather further complicated things as rain pushed our outdoor summer picnic/kiddie pool party inside and I found myself scrubbing down our long-abandoned front porch on the afternoon of the party in order to make room for guests.

A monsoon storm blew down all the porch decorations 1 hour before everyone arrived so I had to scramble to pick everything back up asap and hand our party guests last minute jobs as they arrived in order to get everything ready. It’s fine. They are our dearest friends after all, and they come because they love us. They don’t expect perfection.

There aren’t a ton of beautiful detail photos this year. The porch is half-done and not at all a Pinterest-worthy location. We ordered pizza instead of coming up with a bunch of fun food items that perfectly coordinated with the party’s theme. An onslaught of tiny fingers attacked the cake’s frosting before the party even got going. I personally looked like a humidity-induced mess.

You know what though? It was still a fantastic party. Everyone had a great time. Ever and Zender felt celebrated and loved. They were surrounded by people who care about them very much. And there were still a few little extras thrown in here and there to satisfy the amateur party planner in me. :)

Things don’t have to be perfect to be wonderful, and this was exactly that.

Happy Birthday to my two babies! I don’t like the idea of you growing up, but I have to admit that 3 and 1 look awfully good on you, my loves. <3