Birthday parties

Last week was my daughter Jessica's birthday. We had a fun day, Jessica is obsessed with High School musical, so I bought a bunch of party things, and invited some of her friends from around our neighborhood.

Well I guess the next day my older daughter Katie was heard saying "Why does Jessica get all the big parties?"

That made me stop and think; Do I throw some kids bigger parties than others, or make a bigger deal out of some and not others?

Well last night I was doing some scrapbooking, and I found some old birthday party pictures, and I started to remember past birthday parties. And as it turns out Katie has had the biggest birthday parties to date!! Now Matthias and Katie have their birthdays only four days apart, so I tend to have one big party for both of them. Three years ago, we had a big pirate themed party and invited all of our family in VA, and I bought Katie a big bouncer for her birthday. Then the next year in WA we had a big Luau party and I bought a big pool for the party. Then last year we all chipped in and had her going to camp for the week. Which was pretty expensive. And this year, we had just moved to Hawaii, so it was kind of bad timing, but we all went to the pool, then bought some pizza and I bought her a bunch of Tinkerbell stuff for her room.

So I reminded Katie of all these past birthdays, and of course she forgot most of that, and I asked what did Jessica have that was so amazing. Well Katie brought up the party that Jessica had a few years ago at my in-laws house. I had Katie think back to that party, and tell me what was so great about it. I bought Jessica donuts and made her a donut cake, and got some party stuff at the store, to set the table up and decorate it up, and the family came over, but that was about it. My father-in-law took her out to the store to buy her some stuff, which she loved, but that was about it. What makes the day so amazing in everyones eyes is the fact that Jessica was so happy!! Still talks about how great it was, and it made her feel special, and was appreciative for what she got. So I guess over the years the other kids think it was so amazing because Jessica still talks about it, but in reality it wasnt anything truly spectacular. It is just all about attitude. So of course I enjoy celebrating Jessica's birthday because she actually appreciates every little thing, and will treasure it, where as the other two girls remember very little and dont appreciate the effort that goes into it.

which frustrates me that they then feel sorry for themselves because they dont think they get the same things, but in fact they get more, they just dont remember!!