Another Un-Birthday

On Tuesday, I took some balloons to Austin's classroom, along with some treats for him to pass out. I really don't like these new rules about only bringing store-bought, pre-packaged treats because it doesn't end up being something that he really likes or is necessarily his favorite, but whatever. Not to mention that it's more expensive to purchase 24 pre-packaged anything vs. making something at home. Oh well, he was happy, so that's what counts.

Because Austin's birthday is on Christmas Eve, we rarely celebrate on the actual day. This year we had a family party on Saturday the 19th. That was with my parents, siblings, cousins, etc. In years past, we tried to have this little party for him on Christmas Eve, at my parents' house, but with all the people there and presents going around for everyone else, it just didn't seem very special. I liked the way we did it this year and I think he did too.

We usually celebrate his birthday with just our family on the eve of Christmas Eve. It seems like every year since he was 3, we have either gone bowling at Fat Cats or to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point. This year we asked Austin what he would like to do and we weren't the least bit surprised when he said he wanted to go bowling.

We headed over to our local bowling alley, expecting it to be empty due to the holiday but found the reverse- it was packed. I think we got the last open lane. The kids were so excited and ready to go. I wasn't so excited, due to my complete LACK of bowling skills (not that the lack of skills thereof is limited to bowling exclusively). We had a great time bowling. Jared and I had to keep grabbing Ashley and Olivia to keep them corralled into our lane- they aren't really into that whole personal space sort of thing.

Here's Ashley demonstrating her best pirate face (inspired by cousin Meg)

Olivia turned out to be the top bowler of the night with the only strike! We chalk it up to her special cut-off gloves, a random gift from cousin Whitney.

It was no surprise that everyone kicked my trash. Seriously, even Ashley scored higher than me.

FINAL SCORES:

Jared 120

Robyn 72

Austin 87

Olivia 102

Ashley 92

Obviously, bumpers and the stand help the little ones to get a higher score... oh, whoops, I sound like I am trying to justify my pathetic bowling score. I'd better stop there, before I start talking about my gimpy right arm and the broken elbow that was set wrong when I was 6, etc.

We ate some yummy donuts (thanks to Jill) and enjoyed the night. As we left, Austin asked if he would get a bowling pin for everyone to sign. I guess he's been to a party there before, and they always give the birthday child a pin for guests to write birthday wishes, etc. I asked the manager and was ready to be turned down. However, when he discovered that Austin's birthday was Christmas Eve, he said okay and gave us a pin and a marker for all of us to sign. Austin was SO happy!