INOKWACA: Birthdazed

September sneaks up on me fast; especially since the three Smithlings' birthdays are back-to-back-to-back. It goes by in a blur, but I somehow manage to throw a party or two, AND I snap a few (or a hundred?) pictures along the way. Usually the pics are in focus. Not always, though...

Here's how the birthday month looked:

1. Number 2 Smithling, a.k.a. Malibu Lou, was much toooo far away from TX for her twentieth, so we celebrated in a virtual kind of way. Amazingly, her birthday packages arrived exactly on her day.

Our twenty-year-old loved her splashy red Hunter boots and other b-day goodies. Now we will just pray for So. Cal. rain so that she can put those boots to good use.

Several of her friends took her out to eat dinner at Duke's in Malibu, and there was even complimentary birthday dessert to end the celebration on a sweet note.

Hula Pie is macadamia nut ice cream piled high on a chocolate cookie crust and topped with chocolate fudge, whipped cream, and more macadamia nuts. Yes, please.

When I used the Find My Friends app. to find the Birthday Girl, it appeared as if she was standing out on the Pacific Coast Hwy., basking in the glow of birthday candles. Silly girl! Thankfully, she was still at the restaurant and was NOT causing a traffic jam on the PCH. I do think that it is quite appropriate that the picture I have associated with her contact info. is from a past year's birthday celebration.

Happy 20th, Lou!!!

2. The second September birthday celebration belongs to the third Smithling. And this was a sweet one -- SIXTEEN!

Millie Girl had to start out her day with a visit to the bagel tree. A tradition is a tradition. There was even a "tree-ripened" Asiago Cheese bagel (That's the b-day girl's favorite!) ready to pick.

I used a bounty of sweet treats to decorate.

Pink and green are not exactly the birthday girl's favorite colors, but that ended up being the color scheme. Pink is a "sweet" color, right?! It all started with the purchase of flowers and went from there. The decorating all came together, and was deemed acceptable, even though there was no blue in the party color palette.

I printed out over 200 pictures of Millie's sixteen years of life to use as decorations. That proved to be one of her favorite surprises. Yay! I cut kraft cardstock to craft the "sweet" birthday banner. FYI, there was no need to consult Pinterest for any of my crafty ideas, thank you very much.

Jemima is demonstrating the fact that Maine Coons ARE helpers. Yes, she assisted with the planning and execution of the b-day celebration. She truly is a party animal...

The traditional b-day treasure hunt involved sixteen steps and three packages.

Happy indeed!

Sixteen Sweetness -- The celebration spilled into the following day. This time, Millie's friends (Braxton, Makenna, Justin, and Sam) were in the mix.

Braxton delivered a jumbo sized box that was creatively and attractively wrapped with white duct tape. The b-day girl struggled to open it, only to find that the box was filled with green packing material. She felt around inside the box and found a rock. Then another, and another, and another... It was a box o' rocks! Braxton assured her that he had wrapped the gift himself and that he was certain that her present was in there.

Millie Girl finally decided to dump the contents on the carpet.

Jemima approved.

After the b-day celebrant came to the realization that there was no gift inside that big box, Braxton pulled a small, wrapped package from his pocket and said something about forgetting to put it inside the bigger box... Pretty clever! He really pulled one over on her. She had taken about ten minutes to unwrap the decoy package.

Millie unwrapped the "real" present to find this:

Awwwww! Dare I say that this is sweet?

We then headed off to Southlake Town Square for dinner.

We waited for 65 minutes to get seated at The Cheesecake Factory, as they do not take reservations. That is where the b-day girl wanted to go to eat, so we waited...and waited. It's a good thing that I enjoy hanging out with the Smith men. While the teenagers wandered off to the nearby Apple Store to look at the newly released iPhone 6, my guys and I held a "wait-to-get-a-table" vigil just outside the restaurant door. Thankfully, it was a lovely evening. We learned that a watched restaurant pager never buzzes. To pass the time, we entertained ourselves by watching passers-by, listening to a street musician, and by snapping this "awesome" selfie. (I really must improve my selfie skills. Oh, well!)

After dinner, I coerced the b-day girl and her friends to pose for a picture. (They will thank me someday.) I am thankful that they are a well-mannered group and complied with my request.

I hope this sweet girl's 16th year is a sweet one!

3. Last, but not least, on the 22nd we got to celebrate M's 22nd! Our "little boy" may be the first born, but he always gets to go last during the b-day month. He is simply a gentleman who adheres to the "ladies first" policy.

So, I guess this was his "golden" birthday celebration.

If I were a really cool mom, I would have bought my son gold doubloons, or gold ingots, or something shiny to commemorate the special event. We gave him clothes and cash. No gold. M's next chance at celebrating a "golden" b-day would happen when he turns 92 (since he was born in '92), so it looks like I blew this golden opportunity. I don't think I'll still be kickin' in 70 years.

Our son is not one for a bunch of decorations, so I kept things simple. I swapped out the pictures of Millie Girl with pics of our Birthday Boy. It took him quite a while to figure out that I had changed things up. His birthday is four days after his sister's, so he thought I was just being really slow to take her pics down. Here are a few of my favs.