Imagine what kinds of feelings would swell through you, hearing something like that for the first time from one of your children - who are yet to turn three.
Well, yesterday, the little miracles we routinely refer to as Morgan and Liam finally did turn three. I only say "finally" because their birthday comes after a couple of months of their father publicly referring to them as his "three-year-old twins", which is just easier than saying "almost-three-year-old twins"...and we had an amazingly successful birthday celebration with them.
Yes, both of them 'melted down' at different points through the day, with the incredible amount of (mostly 'fun') input they were challenged to absorb, but I stayed open to it, knowing that it was inevitable, and just continued to concentrate on making it "their day".
My friend Mike brought his family for the celebration, and my friend Shelly brought her lovely little Lucy. Mike's son, Owen, who is four, was so wonderfully well-behaved, and played so well with everyone, that I wish he could be a regular visitor. Owen's a very giving and well-mannered guy. (He can be seen in the picture above to the left of the birthday cupcakes.)
Mike's wife, Carolyn, came - and, although she had to spend most of her time looking after little Juliana, their extremely cute baby girl, she and I managed to get a word in with each other every once in a while. It was then that I re-discovered how much I enjoy her sense of humour. Carolyn and I once worked together, too, and I'm pretty sure that's where she and Mike initially met. She now has her own photography business at In Bloom Photography. (Check out her kids' pictures. Well, check out all of it, but don't miss her awesome kid pictures.)
Speaking of pictures:
Birthday cupcakes. Mommy put a big blue "L" on Liam's, and a giant red "M" on Morgan's.
Part of our day was spent at a Kid's Indoor Playground. Mike and Carolyn brought Juliana and Owen, and Shelly brought Lucy. We're all pretty gentle people, and - after about an hour or so - there seemed to be a quite noticeable influx of somewhat aggressive children, so we all gathered ourselves up and came back to our house for pizza, pop and cupcakes. Before things had gotten too out of hand, however, Morgan and Liam and the rest of our group had some fun, particularly on the Big Slide:
One of the more humorous (to me) moments of the day came early. I wrapped some foam puzzles (a Tinkerbell puzzle for Morgan, and a "Cars" - the movie - puzzle for Liam), and, apparently, I must have somehow made them look like floor cushions in my wrapping efforts. When they were presented to the Morgan and Liam on Sunday morning, the following pictures showcase how they reacted to them:
However, once it was explained that they should rip them open, bits of joy followed:
I need to apologize to everyone who came to share the fun with us through the day and evening.
I don't think I do a very good job of communicating with anyone anymore. I'm fully aware that I am very much consumed with my children, and, because of that, I tend to neglect some very commonly accepted social graces.
So, thank you all - for helping make Liam's and Morgan's day such fun. It is something they will talk about for a very long time.
You are all great friends.
