The Three Birthday Girls!

Talk about timing things out well.  All three of our girls have birthdays in March!  I really can't take all the credit for all the birthdays (Khloe's) but I can try.  Just a few years ago when I was pregnant with Sammi I knew that her birthday was going to be close to Emma's but I wanted a way to keep their birthdays special to each of them.  Les on the other hand wanted to throw one big party and be done with it.  It wasn't until after Khloe came along that he started seeing things my way.  So this year to help keep things special and exciting we are doing little family celebrations on their actual birthdays but as for parties we would do that for all three.  After past years of making a big deal out of birthdays I decided I didn't need the extra stress.  So this year I was only going to do one birthday party.  I hear some of you out there thinking that I should have started this with the very first birthday.  Let me review the past for a moment. 
Emma's first birthday was on Easter.  That alone begged for a big celebration not to mention it was the first birthday of my first child!  Emma's second birthday was suppose to be smaller.  However, between his family and mine a lot people decided to come.  Then Les got it into his head that we needed a big project for the party guests to do.  At almost 9 months pregnant I did NOT have the energy to do it so it was left to him.  His project was making Sponge Bob Square Pants out of actual dish cleaning sponges.  They turned out amazing and everyone loved them.  As for last year . . . well we were trying to get custody of Khloe and got visitation with her the day before her birthday so we had a small party at Les' parents house.  Then since it looked like we might get her DCFS wanted us to do a few overnighters so we planned a party for the girls here in Logan.  Neither of our parents could make it so we planned to do just a small party for the girls on Easter in Myton.  Three days before that party we were in court and to our surprise (we had majorly lost hope by this time) we were granted our request to get Khloe into our home so the party became a bigger deal.
So after all of that I really did try to go smaller this year.  What is it that they say about best of intentions?  We set the date and reserved the clubhouse.  While I expected this one party to be well attended it was because we were going to combined it with Khloe's baby blessing.  When we called our parents to let them know what we had planned we found out that Les' parents most likely wouldn't be able to make it and mine wouldn't make it for sure.  That set in motion a major change of plans.  We really wanted family at the blessing for Khloe so we set it up so that we could do the blessing in Myton with a small party out there for those who couldn't make it here.  A couple of weeks before either of the parties it looked like more people were going to make it to the one in Myton.  I told Les we should just cancel the one up here.  We almost did except Les' sister wasn't going to stay for the party in Myton and still wanted the one in Logan.  Also for the first time we had planned to invite kids from our neighborhood and our ward.  So I couldn't cancel it. This post is getting too long to talk about the parties so I will do a post for just them.
Khloe got a chocolate cake with a choclate pudding filling and cream cheese frosting.  It was kind of plain so I cut up some bananas to garnish the cake.  Oh my was it delicious!  I was a bit rushed since we had gone to a wedding in Salt Lake earlier in the day so I didn't get a picture of it.  Emma's birthday is tomorrow and I have made a strawberry cake (let me add right here that the cakes are only 3 inches across and 2 and a half inches deep which makes them perfect for our small family) for her cake.  I haven't decorated it yet since it is in the freezer preparing for me to split it in half for a filling (I have strawberry filling ready and waiting).  Emma has requested pretty flowers for her cake.  As for Sammi I took the left over batter from the other cakes I made to make her cake.  It is chocolate and strawberry swirled together.  I don't know how I am going to decorate it yet but something will come to me.  As for leftovers since Sammi's birthday is the day after Emma's that leaves us with a lot of cake.  I will be sharing with our neighbors and perhaps the ladies I go to for Visiting Teaching.  That way I won't have to eat it all myself.  I do want to lose a little weight before summer.  *Added Note* Emma got a strawberry cake/strawberry filling with Vanilla frosting and (since she asked) pink flowers that I made all over it.  Samantha got the chocolate and strawberry cake with choclate pudding and vanilla frosting.  I made the bottom half of her cake basket weave (to look like a basket) and a bunch of violets coming out of it.  I may not do that again or at least for a long time.  I had forgotten how much time it takes.
I want my children to know that I love them and that I am pleased with how well they are growing and developing.  Happy Birthday Emma (March 23, 2007), Khloe (March 5, 2008), and Samantha (March 24, 2009).