All good celebrations must come to an end...

In our family, we have all of our major celebrations in a four month span. I like to think of it as our 'celebration season' :). It's basically one never-ending party around here from December until the beginning of March! Our anniversary is coming up this weekend, and that will end the party until next December when Joshua turns 7. It's kind of fun that way, but I tell you what, by the time we have celebrated four birthdays and an anniversary, as well as Christmas and Valentine's Day, I never want to see another cake or sugar cookie again! :)

Anyway, this year the kids both got the bum end of the deal. They both were sick on their birthdays...no fair! It is so sad to see your kiddos sick on their special day. Poor Joshua was really looking forward to taking a special treat for his class and having Grace and I come have lunch with him. Instead he ended up at home with the flu. (I have to admit though, the jealous mom in me was really grateful to have him home with me instead of at school!) He was a trooper though and made the most of it. Opening the remote controlled monster truck perked him up for a while!

Bryan and I definitely got the better end of the deal this year...not only did we not get sick, we both got to have our mom's come visit for our birthdays! It was fabulous! Bryan's mom came for 4 1/2 days and even watched the kids over night so we could have a night away and go to the temple! We played lots of games, did some shopping, visited a bunch and loved every minute of her visit!

Here is poor sick Grace on her birthday. She wasn't as sick as Joshua had been, so we attempted to take her to the park....she wasn't too into it! She did look cute in this birthday crown, though. Joshua had received one from his teacher at school for his birthday, so Grace insisted that I make her one too. I thought it turned out cute, but she would only wear it for the pictures, then she wanted nothing to do with it...silly girl! She tried her best to have a good time, but at the end of the day she admitted that her birthday wasn't a whole lot of fun...breaks a mommy's heart!

I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, she didn't really have any symptoms other than cold symptoms, but she was just wiped out. Then I came down with it the next week and I completely understood...it was no fun!

For my birthday, my mom also came to town....but I had no idea she was coming! My wonderful sneaky husband had been in secret negotiations with my mom for several weeks, and I had no clue. (which is really good for Bryan...he usually can't keep secrets from me at all, no matter how big or small the secret is!) He came home from work the day before my birthday and said he has a surprise. I looked up expecting some birthday treat or gift and there was my mom! I'm usually not much of a screamer, but I gave it my best shot...I couldn't stop screaming! :) She got to stay for a whole week, and we had a great time! It was the perfect birthday present this year!

And now our celebrations are coming to an end for this birthday season. We had great, good, and not-so-good moments this time around, but definitely a celebration season we won't forget!