Birthday party planning

Cade and Cole's 4th birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. I am trying to get myself into party planning mode but have stalled out. I seem to procrastinate the planning a little more each year, and then all of a sudden the day arrives and I feel like I should have prepared more. For their first birthday party, I was so grateful that they had even survived their premature birth that the party was truly a celebration of life. Both of them had stopped doing the "no breathing" episodes and the heart rate dips that made their apnea monitors go haywire, we were free of all the wires that hooked their apnea monitors to their chest to measure breathing and heart rate. Cade had finally stopped having seizures and we were able to discontinue the steriod injection medications that made him get so chunky and irritable. I think I planned that party for almost three months! It was like therapy to me to be able to plan for such a joyful occasion. I guess since they were born three months early and I hadn't had time to even set up a nursery or buy any outfits, the Type-A part of my personality was yearning to do something ahead of time.

I searched online for the perfect theme, handmade decorations, ordered special "Our First Birthday" bibs, etc. etc. etc. I also scoured the internet for the perfect birthday cake idea, and made a cake with a pool complete with edible decorations, decorated teddy grahams floating in a blue jello pool with gummy life savers for tubes, chiclet gum surrounding the pool, fruit-by-the-foot for beach towels, and even a diving board made out of a stick of gum and starburst candy. My mother-in-law graciously allowed us to have the party at her house with the pool, so the kids had fun swimming, and Nanny was able to be there.

Fast foward to today...here we are with the clock ticking before their birthday and I'm scrambling at the last minute to secure a place. Oh well... Wherever it is, no matter how big or small, I will always pause for a moment a say a special prayer of thanksgiving to God for blessing me with these two little angels.