Sunday, October 4, 2009

Yay for Birthday!

Over the summer Brooks decided he wanted to go bowling for his birthday. Turns out Doha has a great bowling alley. So it was a cinch and we had a great birthday party. Can you tell Brooks loved his new BU hat? Works for me...those Bears are making us proud!!

Thank you Honey for the perfect bowling birthday shirt!


Birthday Bowler Brooks

Barrett, Macie, and Brooks

Miss Amy and little Brennan

Bear, Jacob and Brooks

Mr. Mark and sweet Isaac...bowling for the first time. You can see his dimples in this picture. One of the cutest babies I've ever laid eyes on.

Brady and Barrett

French Fries vs. Bowling???? French Fries!

Birthday Boy

The CAKE!
Dear Lord forgive me for being so angry and stressed while making this cake for the boy I love so much! It was almost worth it when I saw Brooks' face full of excitement. Almost! He decided he wanted a "big" cake not cupcakes...so I tried with lots of hesitation. Just like I thought...not my thing. I'll order a cake next time. I like a cake that tastes good and looks good. Not sure this one has both!

Another special request from Brooks was "birthday hats".
If you're going to go...go BIG! Thank you Doha!


Calum finishing up the mess of cake.

Opening presents...


We all agreed it was a great party and stress free minus the cake :) One thing I've learned since living in Doha is to spend my time on things of value. In the past I have spent lots of time, money and energy on parties that were fun but in the end, some of the details weren't nearly as important as I made them out to be. Doha doesn't have the best of selection in much of anything. After looking hard for really cute wrapping paper...I quickly realized it TOTALLY doesn't matter. Who cares what the paper looks like? No one! Brooks will never care...he won't care when its his 18th birthday. There are always going to be details I enjoy adding to a party and there's nothing wrong with that but I'm learning that my time, energy and money should be spent on things of True value more than anything else.

We woke up this morning with some serious Birthday hangover. I could hardly get out of bed, the house was a disaster and I had to wake the boys up around 8:15 so we could get to school. I promised Brooks we would take something special to his class to celebrate his birthday. BUT after the cake experience over the weekend, I was a bit tuckered out from all the activity in the kitchen. So after dropping the boys at school, I came home threw some cupcakes in the oven and thanks to one of the latest and greatest from Pillsbury, I iced the cupcakes and took them to school just in time to celebrate after lunch. Of course I didn't buy this in Doha. My bestie, Shannon stuck this in my suitcase just for kicks a few hours before I flew out of Houston. THANK YOU, SHANI!

Singing Happy Birthday with his class.


Dino birthday boy and his awesome and very sweet teachers.



7 comments:

Caryn said...

Happy Birthday Brooks!!! Stacey III was looking at this post with me and loved that Brooks was 4 like him and has a 4 shirt like him and got a leapster like him. He has decided he wants a bowling party just like Brooks next year!! Great idea. LOVE the cake and whatever stress it caused the finished product looked perfect to me! 4 was a really fun one for the reasons you mentioned. They are just so excited and more opinionated and aware of the details and what they want. Looks like you guys had a great time celebrating.

Shannon said...

Two precious posts for a very special 4 year old! I cannot believe he is so old! The cake was INCREDIBLE and whatever that you didn't think it looked good. I am so impressed! I love the comments about what is important. I have to remind myself of that ALL THE TIME! Love you!

shannonmichaelis said...

Yea for Brooks! Love the french fry photo, the four t-shirt, the amazing cake (girl, you are not giving yourself credit), and the fact that all those details really don't matter in the big scheme of things. Love that the bowling party was a success. That haircut makes him look so old!!! Miss you like crazy and can't wait to see you soon!

Ashley Hall said...

You did awesome, of course!! Brooks looked so happy and like you said, that is all that matters!! Bowling looked so fun and great not to have it at your own house. Dont think I'll do that again! Your cake was awesome, but would stress me out too! So wish we could have been there!!

angie said...

Dito!! The cake looked great and so did your sweet 4 tear old! I love a bowling party and I also love what you write about what matters. I have been going through some of those exact same thoughts lately. Great party!!!

Jenise Livesay said...

Can't believe the cake! That's a serious labor of love, my friend! Looks like it was so fun for Brooks and his friends. Wish we were there.

nanflan said...

Where is that shy little boy that used to run around the yard? Preach it sista about what really matters! B-days are so fun when you are in charge.