MONDAY TIPS FOR MAMAS | ABOUT BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS

One of my most prized friends started a blog which is now my new favorite. She is a single mama who has raised three phenomenal young men - I'm sure it helped that she is pretty phenomenal herself. She was having a little chat about birthdays (on her birthday) which prompted me to journal some things I wanted to remember and share about the birthdays I remember growing up and the traditons I've started with my own little family.

It still mortifies amazes me that I get to take care of and grow and usher this little flock of mine. I am so very proud to be a wife and mother to this brood…

But before that I was (and am) my mamas child. And for as long as I can remember there was the Bell Family Happy Birthday song. Especially once we moved off and went to college and such. Before I could open my eyes and get out of bed tos start the day, scrambling to open my eyes and answer the phone - and then hearing everyone's voice on the line (mom, dad, sissy in med school, high school brother) raspy sleepy voices, singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!  And then a rendition of "For he's a jolly good fellow, which I never understood, but sing along and crack up laughing every time…

As tired as I was - I felt super special from the moment I opened my eyes that day.

We didn't have a big party for the munchkin for the first time (she turned six) this year. I figured I'd just do a little something at school with treats and balloons and favors for her classmates. I got a sitter for little h and came to her class and read one of her favorite books to her class...she wore a favorite dress and we had a special "fancy" dinner at her favorite restaurant.

We had an amazing day - celebrating all that she had accomplished and learned and how much she had grown this past year. I made sure to give her extra snuggles and tell her how very proud of the young lady she is becoming...

I wanted to take the time to jot down some of our birthday traditions so I wouldn't forget and hopefully to inspire you to create (or add to) some of your own. 

Morning surprise.

Ever since the munchkins first birthday I've snuck into her bedroom before dawn and filled it with balloons. She almost caught me last year so this time I strung a wall of steamers right outside her door - worked like a charm.

Favorite Breakfast (In Bed).

Chocolate chip waffles for this last birthday. Or warm bubbly oatmeal for h. If you are lucky enough to have your birthday fall on the weekend you get to have your breakfast served in bed.

Balloons/Streamers in the car.

If her birthday falls on a weekday, instead of filling her room with balloons I turned the car into "party bus"!

Sweet Treats.

This year we actually put candles in a chocolate glazed donut - her current favorite. For Lover I made a double chocolate cake (I'm still working off the pounds from helping him demolish that one)... 

Every year we still wake up to a birthday song (from grandma, granddaddy, auntie Michelle and Uncle Alvin, mommy and daddy - little h or big sissy).

What I realized over these years is it doesn't take a million bucks to make someone feel like a million bucks on their special day. You'll be surprised how far a pack of balloons, a roll of streamers and a batch of cupcakes will get you.

P.S. This year I filled the hubby's car with balloons while he was asleep. The look on his face when he got in for his drive to work was priceless..

P.S.S. Did I mention that my two year old wouldn't touch a piece of cake (or any other sweet treat) with a ten foot pole. Doesn't like anything sweet, except for my homemade oatmeal, which consequently tastes just like birthday cake??:-) but that's another story for another day…

What special traditions did you grow up having or do you have now? I'm nosy like that:-)

xxB
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