Drew is FIVE and a HALF

A half birthday according to Drew...

"Aagh. I have to do homework? Well, it's my half birthday."
"Why are we having tacos for dinner? I should pick dinner. It's my half birthday."
"Can I not do my spreadsheet today? It's my half birthday."
"Luke! I get the first piece of cake. It's my half birthday."
"When are we eating the cake?" (repeated 3,473 times)

Almost Forgotten Half

Sunday morning (September 29th), in the anticipation of company later in the day, I decided to make a chocolate cake for dessert. While melting the butter in the saucepan, I thought how long it had been since I had eaten my favorite dessert in any form.

With a sudden sense of panic, I realized, "Tomorrow is Drew's HALF birthday." I almost forgot all about it! Of course half birthdays mean chocolate cake (the box mix variety, although with HOMEMADE frosting), so I immediately set about finding a different dessert I could make with now melted butter and cocoa. Even I don't need chocolate cake two days in a row.

In an effort to not forget the next day was to be Drew's HALF birthday, I told him.

Big.Mistake.

I forgot that when you are four and a HALF, you forget the difference between half birthdays and real birthdays.

I was greeted Monday morning, with no good morning, just a, "You said today was my half birthday."

"It is!" I replied with a big, isn't-that-so-exciting-and-I'm-trying-to-make-you-not-have-such-a-long-face-type smile.

With no smile reciprocated, Drew questioned, "Why didn't you hang up any birthday stuff?" Followed immediately with, "You're supposed  to make a treat to share with everyone at preschool."

(Yes, I give you permission at this point to judge my youngest child to suffer occasionally from what we choose to call "the youngest child syndrome.")

Oh then it all began! The siblings present in the kitchen and myself, all launched into a big "today is just your half birthday." "No one will sing Happy Birthday to you, and no one but us, and not until dinnertime later will recognize it." His face became even longer, when someone further announced, "And remember, you just get one present from the Dollar Store."

Really he should be grateful he even has the chance to have a half birthday--I made special care to make sure he was born before midnight on March 30th. Special care meaning, I spent far too much time and effort while in labor worrying his birthday might end up March 31st. As if I didn't have enough things during labor and delivery to worry about! A March 31st birthday could have been detrimental to our half birthday tradition.

Poor Drew.
Turning four and a HALF wasn't half as exciting as he thought it would be.

Late Halves

Luke turned 11 and a HALF last week. I decided to use the WHOLE cake (2 rounds) to make his HALF cake, thus the quadruple layer cake. It mildly resembled the leaning Tower of Pisa, but with 7 piggish cake lovers around, it didn't have to risk falling for too long. Megan and Ellie made it clear while eating the cake (for the millioneth time) that chocolate cake is not their favorite and they'd never choose it.

Number 1. Whose children are they?
Number 2. How dare they say such blasphemous words.
Number 3. Chocolate cake and HOMEMADE chocolate frosting is the BEST.

Megan turned 14 and a HALF last month, April 12th, the day I left for Las Vegas. Fortunately, I made her chocolate half cake before going to the airport, but unfortunately nobody thought to take a picture of it.

What??
I think it is the first half birthday not caught in a photo.
Oh the misfortunes of life.

A Tearful Half

I'm a little behind on things around here. Lest you think we forgot Joshua's half birthday a couple of weeks ago, we didn't.

I could blame the tears on the fact Drew got to Joshua's half birthday cake before the rest of us did...

(Please note the chocolate all over Drew's legs, arms and finger-nails. And please do not note the sharp knife left unattended on the counter for him to use.)

But the real reason for Joshua's tears was his behavior. Joshua was pretty darn close to losing his half birthday celebration until good 'ole yours truly intervened, and persuaded Daddy that the half-birthday celebration should commence.

Tears included.

A Half Birthday and Dirty Laundry

Here's the thing with my half birthday tradition...

It was first introduced and since been carried out as a way to put a little "extra" in an otherwise ordinary day. Half birthdays have never been an event in and of themselves, they just fit in with the flow of an ordinary day.

Introduce this year, specifically today, September 30th: Drew's half birthday. Not exactly an ordinary day. We have our Primary Program (the children's organization at our church that I am partly in charge of), followed by grandparents for dinner, followed by a harp recital later in the evening (at our house).

Now, one could argue that the 1/2 birthday cake could be dessert following dinner with the grandparents, but you forget that it is HALF a birthday cake. Which is barely enough for my 649 member family. (see last post!). Although I have now started to "layer it with the 'other half'" to go further. So the issue isn't really about not having sufficient chocolate cake to go around, but timing, as we're also squeezing in Mike and Megan going off to choir practice and grandparents going to visit friends in between dinner and recital. Oh, and we ought to do some sort of basic picking up of toys and clothing strewn across the family room before people come listen to harp music.

Oh! And we should probably have a little refreshments for the recital guests to enjoy. (Half a cake is out of the question.) Oh, and Megan decided a few  hours before the recital that we should make and print programs for it.

You see what I mean? I knew all week it wasn't going to exactly be the type of day that is easy to throw in a little extra like a half birthday celebration. My friend suggested I make cupcakes. Another suggested doing it a different day.

It's a HALF birthday people! A simple tradition that isn't something to reschedule and/or plan around, let alone stress about. So that's why I woke up early to frost the cake and decided we would have chocolate cake for breakfast before 9am church. Chocolate cake for breakfast would not only be delicious, but a good way to get the (supposed to be fun) celebration "out of the way."

Except while I was applying my mascara upstairs, Mike decided to come downstairs and start feeding the children scrambled eggs and toast. Obviously we hadn't communicated well regarding the chocolate cake that was unmistakably sitting in the middle of the kitchen counter, waiting to be sung around. When I suggested the children forgo the eggs in favor of chocolate cake my husband spoke up in favor of the eggs.

Now. I don't ever criticize my husband publicly, but today I will.

My husband who yesterday ate 4 glazed donuts and a bowl of ice cream (among other things) WOULD NOT let us eat chocolate cake for breakfast.

I say "WOULD NOT LET US" somewhat lightly, I could have over-ridden his opinion, but I decided instead to cut my nose off to spite my face and stormed off upstairs to finish getting dressed.

There. How's that for a half birthday synopsis AND some airing of dirty laundry?

We fit in Drew's celebration while Mike and Megan were at choir and Grandma and Grandpa were visiting friends. I may or may not have left a piece of chocolate cake for Mike.

Happy Half Birthday Drew!!

Ten and a HALF

When exactly half birthdays got to be such a novelty is unknown, but I guess it's what we do. Luke's barely made it in time for bed--by 8:45pm the kids were begging for the cake they'd seen sitting on the counter for the past three hours. It may or may not have been licked, poked and picked at for those three hours.

Oh well. Who cares? Licked or not-who can't love a piece of chocolate cake!

Half's Are My Way

Even though Megan temporarily lost sight of the fact that half birthday cakes are of MY CHOOSING, (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting-of course HOMEMADE) I forgave her for mentioning she would have much rathered a yellow cake over a chocolate one.

That is exactly WHY I love half-birthday cakes. Not only are they simple and easy they are DELICIOUS. That can't be said for any of the "regular" birthday cakes I make.

I love, LOVE, LOVE chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
I love, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Megan too. All 13 and a HALF years of her.

Half Birthdays ARE A Big Deal

Today is Ellie's Half Birthday. You can be reminded of the details of a half birthday here. They are a very simple day, and in no way resemble the pomp and circumstance that surround real birthdays around here.

Ellie though, must have forgotten the simplicity of half birthdays, as she was quite disgusted this morning at breakfast when she declared, "Nobody has wished me a happy half birthday yet."

Furthermore, she was slightly offended when Mike asked her to help do some clean up later and she questioned, "Even on my special day?"

But then again, Ellie has had a countdown for today for quite some time now. A countdown for a half birthday? Either we're pretty pathetic around here, or Ellie has just patiently gone through the 7 week stretch that included Drew and Joshua's half birthdays and Luke and Megan's real birthdays and she is obviously just feeling the need for a little special day herself.

Well, today was it.
Ellie is 7 and A HALF!

(Please note Ellie's possessive hand on her can of soda. We don't get soda much around here, and when we do, it is a hot commodity--check out Drew eyeing it...)

As I've mentioned before, half-birthday gifts are nothing more than a dollar store type gift, but not the half birthday gift Nana gave, a pillow-pet.

I think this little girl went to bed pretty satisfied with her half birthday.

Now if this innocent and angel-like demeanor continues on during Ellie's waking hours tomorrow. Life will be really good.

The Longest Half Birthday

Bless Joshua's heart-it was a long day. From the minute he woke up exclaiming, "It's my birthday!" to the kids finally coming home from school so we could do his half cake and half present seemed like an eternity.

Half birthdays are supposed to be non-stress, but seriously, answering the question "When will the kids be home?" every five minutes for over seven hours, was not exactly non-stress.

(What exactly did I start with this half birthday thing? Drew's and Joshua's just ten days apart, and then in two days will be Megan's real birthday. Then in April when it is Joshua's real birthday, two days later is Megan's half birthday? Seriously? Don't I have enough stuff to do without half birthdays thrown in?!?)

I'm reconsidering the dollar store gift--this time around it only lasted five minutes (If that.)

Forget the non-non-stress day, hearing Joshua say in his bedtime prayer, "Bress I can be four and a half now" makes it all worth it.

Sort of.

The Traditional Half

(To see how our Half Birthday Tradition started, click HERE)

See why we don't always spend big bucks on presents, ESPECIALLY half birthday presents. Check out that smile from a dollar store gift!?

True to Half Birthday Tradition, Drew had a half wrapped dollar store present, a half chocolate cake, with a half a candle and we sang half of 'Happy Birthday' to him. Drew, the musician serenaded himself with the second half.

This next picture has no caption except an answer to the recently asked question, "Does Drew ever wear clothes?"
The answer is NO, not if he is at home. And even for me, a lover of laundry, don't you think an arm is much easier to clean up than a shirt sleeve?

Happy Half Birthday Dewer!!!!

Two and A HALF.

A Whole Half

So to add a little spice to this half birthday remembrance, I planned on listing some of the reasons, I 'half' love Luke. You know some of those little idiosyncrasies he has, that we all have.  But then I realized that is what makes us, US.  No matter how undesirable some of Luke's traits, quirks or behaviors may be, they make Luke, Luke.  I wouldn't have him any other way.

So that was my first and last attempt to think about half loving someone.  Half loving someone is much like digging half a hole, or finding half a puddle--they don't exist.  A hole is a hole.  A puddle is a puddle.  Love is love.

Luke is 9 and a HALF!
Happy Half Birthday.


PS-This time around, I delivered the 'other half' of the cake to my friend Lori, who in the last half birthday post asked 'What do you do with the other half of the cake?'  Just sayin' it was worth the askin'...

Publish Post

Half

I was bound determined this year, I would make Megan a half birthday cake despite the fact she had been 'hired' by Grandpa to make Nana's real birthday cake.

It was a crazy day.  Filled to the brim with this and that.  But I wanted Megan to come home from school to her half cake and her half present.  I wanted the kids to be able to eat a piece of half cake with enough time to spare that it could have time to digest before they ate a piece of real cake at Nana's birthday party later that evening.  (Did you get all that?!)

So yesterday, at 3:17pm, with twenty minutes or so to spare before the kids got home, I had two little boys screaming at the top of their lungs (for different reasons), and I found I was all out of cocoa! (I ONLY make chocolate frosting from scratch!)

Fortunately with a quick phone call, some was delivered promptly to my house.
(Ah-I love good neighbors.)

All was good in the world.
After all, who wouldn't love an after school snack of chocolate cake?

And, I might add--Megan's paid cake job went very well.

Grandpa must have been pretty impressed.  He gave Megan a tip that matched the original payment.
Not too shabby.

(I'm considering changing careers.
Motherhood is considerably underpaid.
I'm thinking of switching to cake-maker.)

Megan is 12 and a HALF!!
Happy Half Birthday!

Happy Half

(Loving the half-wrapped make-up kit from Justice! Which was 40% off of 99 cents!!! Told you we don't do fancy gifts on half birthdays...)

Today Ellie is six and a half.

Instead of just reveling in the moment, she seemed perplexed as she asked,

"Why do we have to have a half birthday?"

I told her we didn't, we just thought it was fun to celebrate.  

To which she followed up with, 

"Well why did Jesus make half birthdays?"

Well Jesus didn't really.  It's just a passage of time. But how do you try to explain the existence of a date versus celebrating a date to a six and A HALF year old?

Happy Half Birthday Ellie.
Now just enjoy the rest of the day...

Not The Real Thing

Mom:  "Yay Joshua, Today is your half birthday."

Joshua:  "I wish it was my weal birthday and get wots of presents instead."

Three and a half!!

Happy Half Birthday Sasha!!

The Important Half

There are a lot of ages that are worthy of great celebration.

Of course a first birthday is big.
Eight years old, for us means Baptism.
Twelve years old is a milestone in our house.
Sixteen of course will mean driving.
Eighteen means adulthood.
And so on and so forth.

But I have to say, though we've had several first birthdays, a couple of eight birthdays and soon a twelve year old birthday.  The one that causes me sheer elation with each child, is their first HALF birthday.

The one that means they are one and a half.
Which means they are EIGHTEEN months old.
Which means they can go to the Nursery while at church, and not go to classes with me (and Mike).

The nursery leaders were especially kind this last Sunday and let Drew come in four days early.
And though usually I am a crier, and have in fact cried upon leaving my first four children in nursery for the first time.  On Sunday I didn't.

I love Drew.
Really I do.
But today is a special day...
Drew is one and a HALF!

Happy Half Birthday Drew!!!

Eight and A HALF

When you are 8 1/2 at least you get a new fish tie to wear to a two hour meeting you have to sit through at the LDS Conference Center.

Happy Half Birthday Luke!

Half and Whole

Time again for our half tradition...

Megan is 11 1/2!!!!!!!!!!

And of course, if Megan is having a half birthday, it means Nana is having a regular birthday.

This actually happened to be Megan's first time getting the 'half cake' I make on half birthdays.  Usually, there is plenty of Nana's cake to go around.  But this year we had to celebrate Nana's a day early.  So lucky for Megan, she finally got a 'half cake.'

What a day.

And that's how we do it!

Five and a HALF

Apparently, when you are 5 1/2, blue eyeshadow is a must.

Luke is officially 71/2 AND one tooth less.

April 12th. . .

Happy Easter, Happy Birthday Nana and Happy Half Birthday Megan.

Poor Megan doesn't benefit from the half birthday tradition like her siblings do. Her half birthdays are always overshadowed by Nana's birthday and with this year being Easter-I told Megan, Easter takes precedence! We did manage to sing half of Happy Birthday to her and she blew out half a candle!

But, for the record, Megan is officially 10 1/2 years old!!!!!

The Easter Bunny came and delivered candy, flip-flops and such.

Nana is in charge of coloring the Easter Eggs the night before Easter. For some strange reason, she enjoys it! I don't!
It works out quite nicely.

Happy 57th Birthday Nana/Mom!

We Love You!

We celebrated by having a Easter Hunt/Birthday celebration at her house. She hosted her own party as I wasn't kind enough to host a party 2 weeks post-partum!