Birthday boys!

When I woke up Saturday morning and saw this half frosted, nibbled on cake sitting under our birthday banner I had a thought: is that representative of the boys' birthday celebrations? Half done, noncommittal, not fully celebrated?! (don't you hate when the "insecure momma" seeps through the subconscious and questions how well you're parenting?!!?!)

But sitting down this weekend to document and share our birthday week made me realize that we did in fact celebrate fully... and best of all the boys felt honored and special with all that we did! And even though Friday night's birthday cake looked a little pitiful, one must realize that it was the last in a long week of cupcakes, desserts, sweet treats, cake and more cupcakes!

With the boys' birthdays only 6 days apart we do tend to spread the celebrations out over a whole week's time...

What we did do to celebrate Hamp turning 10 and Sam turning 7 was take advantage of a no-school Monday and stay in Glenwood Springs overnight.

We skied Sunday in beautiful weather with great friends - and even got to celebrate Carter turning 11! (Seems like everyone thinks a ski weekend is a good way to have a birthday!)

the birthday boys: Hamp on the 18th, Carter on the 22nd, and Sam on the 24th
** note the cupcakes!

Hamp & Sam were most excited to get off the mountain so they could do what they really came for - swimming in the hotel pool! We stayed specifically at the hotel with the cool water features - a slide, basketball hoop, fountains, and hot tub. They swam for an hour after skiing, and for another hour after dinner!

Lest you think the aforementioned cake was all the boys had by way of birthday treats - don't worry! 

Dinner at the Glenwood Brewery was not only delicious, and not only did they get a frisbee with their kid's meal, but dessert was a delectable chocolate cake and a hand crafted root beer float!

A second day of skiing could not have been better - beautiful, sunny day and again: friends to ski with!

Although the ski/swim weekend was really the boys' celebration in lieu of a party - they also got a little bit of special treatment on their actual birthdays:

Hamp opened some wonderful gifts from family on the morning of his birthday, then played his first 2 basketball games of the season where his team pulled out wins in both! Then his favorite babysitter let both boys make and decorate cupcakes and stay up late playing video games.

Sam got to bring cupcakes to school, then went swimming with friends after school and had more cupcakes, then opened some really great gifts from family before a nice family dinner at home.

(so you see, the sweet treats really did play a big part all week long! We're going to have a sugar detox this week...)

Oh, and though Hamp really likes his new sled, the big birthday surprise was a new desk for Sam!

And for the record, that cake made for a great breakfast on Saturday morning! ☺