I love birthdays, as you likely know, and I really love the birthdays of my boys. (And, yes, of Molly. We bought her a big piece of delicious cake last year and I know it was delicious because I ate it all. That was a good day.) (I totally thought I blogged about Molly's last birthday and intended to link to it but, nope, around her birthday I was blogging about Taylor Kitsch and Whole Foods smoothies. NO WONDER SHE SIDE-EYES ME SO OFTEN.) Anyway, what's tough about Kyle's birthday is that February is Texas' usually coldest but also most unpredictable weather month. One year, we reached insane freezing temperatures for like a solid week. (I really thought I blogged about that horrible icy week of terrible cold but nope. I'm apparently a poor excuse for a blogger.) This year, it was 68 degrees the day before his party. The day of his party, of course, it was cold and overcast and windy, and I was super grumpy about it.
Like really fucking grumpy.
I went to Target that morning to buy all the things I still needed to buy (and many things I didn't still need to buy) and just stomped around the store and tweeted about how grumpy I was and stomped some more and then comfort bought a pair of earrings. (This was after I had already comfort ate a donut from Kyle's donut cake.)
The party turned out a-okay--as these things just turn out, of course--especially in Kyle's adorable four-year-old eyes. He was happy the entire time and he ran around outside in the cold, with his friends (and even without a coat!), and laughed and laughed and laughed. And laughed.
(That bottom right picture is candy grabbing post-pinata breaking, in case you thought we encouraged a kid brawl or something.)
We chose a dinosaur theme--and by we, I completely mean me because I pushed the theme on Kyle like the overbearing, birthday-obsessed mom I unapologetically am--but it was still my favorite theme ever. (And, don't worry, Kyle really liked it too.)
We set up pools of sand on the porch for faux-fossil digs. I buried a bunch of tiny plastic dinosaurs in the sand and let the kids take home whatever they unearthed.
Mike drew dinosaur feet on the front walk with chalk. (I just have to quickly give a shout-out to Elizabeth, who I stole the party idea from last year, and when I asked her where she found her dinosaur feet, she said, "Oh, I drew them with chalk" and I immediately thought THIS IS WHY ELIZABETH NEEDS TO LIVE IN TEXAS. I could stress eat donuts and she could just calmly fix my party problems.)
One thing Kyle chose all on his very own was his donut cake. We went back and forth on his cake for a while and he finally said, "I want donuts with candles." At first I thought we'd just buy two donuts, stick four candles in them, and call it a day, but then I decided donuts sounded good for everyone. And they were good for everyone. I could use one of those donuts right now, truth be told.
It was a good day, and when I put Kyle to bed that night, he told me that he loved his party, that he had the best day, and while I still have memories of grumpily stomping around Target because of the stupid effing clouds, the bigger memories are the ones of Kyle grinning.
Kyle grinning trumps a whole lot.
He's four! I still can't believe it.