So my kids had some birthdays...

I have some major blog catch up to do.

I've just been a wee bit on the busy side lately.

Having four kids is not for the weary, let me tell you!

But I wanted to post about Jarom and Makenzie's birthdays.

As you may know, I love throwing birthday parties for my kids.

It may be partly because I was never allowed to have parties growing up.

Apparently my mom threw a party for my oldest sister one time and somebody got their feelings hurt because their kid wasn't invited and my mom decided she was never doing "friends" parties again. So we just always had cake with our family and that was it. Not cool, Mom, not cool. haha just kidding... she was also a single mom with five kids so... yeah, who can blame her?

But anyway, my love for birthday parties usually involves a lot of time and maybe a little money, and Justin asked if we could just do friends parties every other year. So I agreed. I admit, I felt a little sad, like I was letting them down somehow, but they still had really fun birthdays even without the traditional "party."

Jarom turned FIVE on October 25th. FIVE! Let me tell you... when your first kid turns five, you feel kind of of old. At least I did. But when your second kid turns five... man. It's all over. haha...

For Jarom's birthday, he went to the movies with Justin and saw Frankenweenie. Then we went to Chuck E Cheese, his choice for dinner (smart kid). We let him invite his friend who lives next door and he had a really good time. Justin's mom and dad came, too, and we had a birthday cake for him there. Jarom looooves arcades. He was in heaven. It turned out to be a really fun birthday.

Little Miss Makenzie turned seven on November 28th. 

All she wanted was a hamster.

This is slightly messed up because when we gave away the cat we got them for Christmas last year, we told them we'd get them a hamster instead.

That promise went unfulfilled until Makenzie was adamant that all she wanted for her birthday was a hamster. Hahaha, parents of the year, right?!

But after her birthday dinner, we went to the pet store and picked up a black bear hamster she lovingly named Whiskers.

Here they are:

Jarom and Kyle love Whiskers, too, and Makenzie is such a sweet big sister and told them that even though she got him for her birthday, that he could be their hamster, too. 

After we picked up Whiskers, we came home and had grandparents/aunts & uncles/cousins over for cake and ice cream so we actually had way more people there than we normally would for a party... just without the hoopla of games, decorations, etc. Well, I take that back, Justin did stop on the way home and get her a big bouquet of birthday balloons (super sweet), so it was a little decorated. :)

So yeah, she had a really fun birthday as well. 

I guess it turns out you can have a fun birthday without your mom going crazy on Pinterest and inviting all your friends over.

(Although that will definitely be happening next year.)  ;)

Happy 5th birthday to Jarom and happy 7th to Makenzie!