Ah the mistakes I made the first two times I became a mom. The effort I put together for the older boys for their birthday, none of it that they remember. If I could write a letter to my younger mom self it would be this: kids don’t have any long term memory before the age of five. So if you can do the very basic necessities of keeping them safe, fed, and loved with ample sleep and somewhat clean you’ve done enough.

Why kill yourself and set future unrealistic expectations when you don’t have to? My god the hoopla we made for Jack’s 4th birthday! Build slowly. And with the twins, that is what we are doing.

Reminding them often that it’s their birthday at this age is enough for them to feel special. In fact, I think they feel special without any reminding. I think this because Sam woke up and put his costume king crown and and told us he was the king. I mean, what is more special than that?

Still, we did our best to make it special at every moment of the day…

We started with breakfast pancakes. Last time I made a carb/sugar bomb pancake breakfast the kids all said they hated it so I didn’t do that again. This time, multigrain pancakes with mini chocolate chips, topped with whipped cream, melted nutella, more mini chocolate chips and sprinkles.

Sam, AKA the king, blew the candles out right away. Aaron huffed and puffed until finally I had to ‘help him’. But everyone loved the pancakes, Jack had 2 helpings.

Every hour I was sure to do something new, even if it was just blowing up $4 huge balloons with rubber bands that bounce on their hands. They were so happy with such simple entertainment. I loved them so much for that.

Adam had a meeting in the suburbs so we packed up and headed out with him. He dropped us at the Morton Arboretum and we hung out while he worked.

We were so lucky to have the warmest, sunniest day of the week for the twins birthday.

We also found all the frogs in their new Ribbit! The Exhibit.

Next we headed to the bakery to buy birthday cupcakes for dessert.

And since we were there, we got them an afternoon treat as well.

When we got home our lovely sitter, Camila, knocked on the door bearing presents that only someone who knows the twins like the back of her hand could chose for them.

Soon after the older boys came home from school and after a good play with their new toys, we headed out to a special dinner for the twins at the Burger Bar. They ordered huge milkshakes that they barely touched and the server brought a special bowl of ice cream with 2 candles for them.

By the time we got home we were exhausted and over sugared. I asked the twins and they agreed to save the cupcakes for another night. And since Camila came by, we didn’t bother to open their presents that their family members got them. I guess we’ll just have to celebrate again tomorrow…