tis the season...of birthdays

it took four months but we finally emerged a bit from the tired haze of new baby around mid-november. it corresponds with mister harry getting a bit more sleep at night. he's now into that wonderful, but challenging for the social life phase, of going to sleep by 6:30pm.

that's allowed us some evenings at home with time to spare. we've filled it a few times recently with grandparent birthdays from chef jude. it was his idea, begun when we spoke with grandma carole on her actual birthday while she was abroad and jude said 'are we going to have a party??'. so we did, in november when they came.

enjoying the sweet rewards

First up was the popular sesame street themed party for grandma carole and grandpa chuck...chosen for its colorfulness and availability at the dollar store.

the party in full swing

we had fun enjoying a train cake, overdecorated with sprinkles. being a guest isn't a laid back affair here...grandma carole baked her own cake with jude earlier in the day. he still says "now we have to break the 'okes" whenever we bake something with eggs now.

the punch balloons have been a lingering hit in our house.

more recently we celebrated the year marks for grandma nancy and grandpa henry. they both have birthdays in between thanksgiving and christmas. as you can see this was quite the bash.

perhaps my favorite mother in law photo ever

yes in addition to a cake we had the noise makers and quite the festive birthday centerpiece and plates. (really is the best $6 spent total spent on a party in recent memory) again no rest for the guests here...grandma had to help jude with the set up.

decoration time

it is rare for us to celebrate birthdays with these two, as normally we see each other thanksgiving or christmas. but this year we decided to stay home for the holidays with our newborn, so they made the trip out in early december.

it took like 3 tries to get this shot

as for harry, although he slept through the parties he continues to thrive in his awake time. rolling over except for that one blasted arm in the way! smiling a ton, laughing at himself in the mirror every time. this is an adorable age.

grandma nancy and harry, age 4 months

that's it from birthday central for now. next up is mine in january and greg's in february. we'll have to host a 'bash' for grandpa scott and nana next fall. hmm...train or pirate party anyone?