Schmirthday Schmarty* time

Saturday, we celebrated Ryan and Brendan's birthdays together with a party at the pool. The day was as beautiful as we could have hoped for, with temperatures in the low 80s, low humidity, and hardly a cloud in the sky.

The boys are ready to party!

We decided to do a joint party since the boys' birthdays are just 13 days apart. My reasoning is, at 2 years of age, Ryan doesn't quite understand the whole concept anyway. And with Brendan, this was our last year before he'll begin inviting friends from soccer and school activities. It worked wonderfully. Brendan was there to lead the charge, which meant Ryan did get it to some degree.

Brendan swims with Andrew (left) and Ian (center). Ian is a friend from Brendan's old school, KidSpace, and the two were thrilled to be reunited.

Our guests swam and played in the sand, dined on fine Jet's pizza, played a superhero game (to match our superhero theme), sang "Happy Birthday," ate homemade cake, and watched the guests of honor open presents. Other folks with little ones know that birthday parties are breeding grounds for meltdowns. Well, we avoided them until the very end, when Ryan had certainly reached his limit.

I made Brendan and Ryan their own superhero emblem cakes for the party. I thonk I improved from my practice cake a week earlier, but I ran out of icing limiting my final touches.

Brendan opens a gift -- a yellow race car -- from our neighbors.

This photo makes me laugh. It's our family photo from the day, with our friend Wyatt in the middle!

*P.S. -- Have you ever watched Noggin's Upside Down show? It's so silly and imaginative and fun. They were attending a Schmirthday Schmarty on Saturday, too.