Meaningful Birthdays

I try to make my kids' birthdays memorable, even if they're still so little that they may not remember. Someday they will... when they start I'll be ready for them!

Last week my daughter turned four. On her birthday evening, as I have the past four years, I composed her birthday letter. Her birthday letter is a one or two page account of the past year. I told her how much he loved watching Scooby Doo, some of the things she says often, and the fact that she learned to swim underwater this summer. I figure by the time she's an adult, a package of birthday letters will be something really cool to have.

Something else I like to do for my kids is make their birthday cakes. It takes me weeks to figure out what I'm going to do, and then usually the better part of a day executing it. I have to say that they usually don't turn out quite like I envision them, but this year Avery's cake was pretty close. We had her first real birthday party this year, and I was proud when I saw a mom or two sneak a cell phone pic of my cake. I'm also getting better with working with fondant and all my frosting tools. Trust me, the day before I was more than tempted to call Walmart for a last minute cake, but it was big and beautiful and tasted great. The party was good too, and at the end of the day yesterday I had a very happy three, er, four year old. Happy birthday to my Avery Rose.