Birthday Bash

My family loves birthdays. I mean LOVES. Of course we will find any reason to par-tay. Dad finish the bathroom on time? Party! Annie finishes school? Party! John actually clean out the litter box? Party! (sorry honey, I had to). The same kind of thinking goes for family birthdays.


My Daddy and I share June as our Birthday month. He was born on the 11th and I on the 22nd. I absolutely l.o.v.e. sharing my birthday with my Dad. Mostly because we've always had fun parties together to celebrate. Since we're both summer babies, we tend to want to party summer style. Having friends meet us at the pool for diving-board contests, awesome. Off to the beach house for some fishing and sand, sure. Taking the boat on the lake skiing. Absolutely.


This year is no exception. But now that we're both grown ups  (yes, Dad FINALLY grew up.. well, kinda) it's hard to celebrate with all our friends, all the family and still have room for the birthday girl and boy. Not to mention still have some money in the bank after feeding everyone.


So this year, we're mixing things up. Mom asked me last week if I minded having 2 parties. Me? Mind having two parties? HA! She obviously doesn't remember my love for cake! But why? I wondered. That seems a little over-the-top. I mean it's not like I'm turning 21 again.. no big birthday year for Dad either. Hmm.
So she explained. It's hard planning a party away from the house for two birthdays to celebrate. The food. The supplies. The Cake. The Dog. The Dog's supplies. Mom's 99 bottles of wine. You get the picture..it gets to be a lot. So on Friday night, we're having a family party. Just family to cook a big meal for, eat cake and enjoy blowing out sparklers candles (just for reference purposes, don't put sparklers on a cake. Ever. I know from experience).


So that leaves one more party on Saturday for friends. Yes, family can come too (we know you're only there for the food anyways). Saturday afternoon we're headed out to Falls Lake on the boat for some water skiing, tubing and the inevitable water fight. Since it will be in the afternoon, we'll only serve snacks, drinks and birthday cookies (cake can get messy). The lake is free (since Dad is an asst. ranger, go dad!), and friends supplied their own sunscreen, bathing suits and sunglasses. Here are some pics from our day.

Here's Birthday Boy Ranger Dad. For some reason he always makes this face when pictures are taken.

My baby sis' Skiing. She hadn't tried since she was 8 and made it up on the 2nd try! Go Annie!

Annie, Emily, and Pastor Jim, a friend of my parents'.

 A fun day filled with giggles, water and lots of sunshine. Looking forward to celebrating another summer birthday with Dad. How do you celebrate birthday's in your family? Do you go all out? Celebrate with a budget in mind? I'd love to hear all about it!