eating it up

It is birthday season. We and all the parents we know have autumn babies, and we have been running from party to party non-stop. That is not hyperbole; we're talking three a week, every week. The week after Thanksgiving was our birthday week, with not one but two babies of our own to celebrate.  And did we ever.

Thanksgiving dawned, the calm before the storm, as it were. Casually lying about the house playing with puppets, and a quiet turkey dinner with friends. Steve finally perfected his stuffing recipe. And then...

Party #1 - Officially Five

Let me preface this by saying that we are, at heart, minimalists.  Whether it is out of principle or laziness, we like to keep it simple.  We are still figuring out how to do holiday birthday celebrations, however, and this year Violet benefited from our indecisiveness with not one, but three, birthday parties. 

On her actual birthday, she woke up to gifts from us and her grandparents (including an adorable kitty cat dress her daddy bought her in Milan), followed by a late lunch in the food hall downstairs at The Plaza, with crepe cake at Lady M and a walk down Fifth Avenue to look at the Christmas windows. As always, she had dressed so as to be ready to be part of the show...

Party # 2 - The Birthday Party

We had planned for a handful of friends and a carousel in Brooklyn, but Hurricane Sandy put a stop to both the carousel and the ferry that would get us there. Added to that, our darling daughter had a new best friend at school every day (and a big mouth), and before we knew it we were taking the whole class, as well as all our favorite old friends, to see Wreck It Ralph, preceded by cupcakes in her classroom at school.  This is the one time of the year I bake cupcakes from scratch, and this year's were angel food topped with whipped cream, flavored with lots of vanilla and a dash of orange water.  Mmmm.

Party #3 - The Cakes

Violet had sweetly begged to wait to have her birthday cake until Townsie's birthday, so that they could have them together, one large, one small. Good thing, because one cake was not enough for this boy. Once he had polished off his own, he went for hers, and didn't stop until the table had been cleared. We think he has a future as a competetive eater. Many friends were there to witness the show, and we were grateful for the circle of friends we have been blessed with here.

But my favorite moment of the day was earlier, after Townes and I dropped Violet off at school. We stopped at Alice's Tea Cup for a quiet birthday breakfast, just the two of us. He made quite a handsome date.

I am so thankful for these beautiful babies. And we are never doing a week like this one again.  Next year, a quiet family dinner.  That is it!