It seems to be birthday party season around our family right now. Our children had three birthday party invitations for this weekend alone, plus our youngest turned 4 on Friday. That makes for a lot of celebrating, gift-giving, and cake-eating.

When I woke up on my birthday this year, I was quickly greeted by my 6-year-old son. He told me not to come out of my room yet because he was going to make my birthday present. So I proceeded to the shower.

Before I finished, he called in to me that I could come out of my room. I told him I'd be out when I was dressed and he said okay. Imagining he had made me a cute craft or picture of some sort, I took my time as I finished my shower, got dressed, and put on some make-up.

Did you know that Station 300 in Bluffton throws childrens birthday parties ? They do EVERYTHING !!! All you do is walk in and enjoy yourself. We booked a party for our son, it came with 2 hours of bowling and shoes, pizzas, pitchers of sodas, and cupcakes that all of the kids got to decorate themselves. We had our own party host who decorated for us. It was so much fun, they had the lazer lights and music videos going too. I can't wait to do this again, I think we spent around $200 for 10 kids ! This was one of the funnest and easist parties I have ever thrown or been to !

My “baby” turned three yesterday. He was very excited. We celebrated with my husband's family by taking the little guy out to his choice of restaurant (La Nopalera) for one of his favorite “meals” (chips and cheese dip). No, it's not very healthy, but he's a picky eater and it was his birthday after all. A dinosaur cake and presents followed.

There was a quiet-but-festive mood in the kindergarten classroom on Monday. The children had just eaten the cupcakes I brought in for my son's birthday, and now the birthday boy himself was ready to proudly present his new watch to his class.

My husband and I had given our son a black and silver digital watch from Target that resembled my husband's watch, complete with buttons, a light-up feature, alarm, and various modes. My son was delighted with his new watch.

We had a birthday extravaganza weekend in our family, celebrating my daughter's 8th and my son's upcoming 6th birthdays. After agonizing over what to do for their birthdays, in just a couple of weeks I planned a birthday party at Oatland Island Wildlife Center for the two of them and about 10 of their closest friends.

Birthdays are fun, right? And sometimes stressful. Like when you can't decide what to do for the party, and time just won't stand still for you. Or when you decide to have the party at your house and then stress about preparing the house for the guests.

Two weekends of birthday parties have come to a peaceful end in our home. The children are in bed, and the new toys are resting. My daughter turned 7 and my son turned 5, and I hosted small gatherings of their friends the past two Saturdays. They had a lot of fun, and I actually did, too. It will be nice to get back to the normal routine, though, instead of making plans and preparations for parties this week.

It's February, and at our house that means a big birthday month. My two oldest kids will turn 7 and 5 this month, just eight days apart, plus we have several other family birthdays to celebrate, so it's a busy time.

As my kids get older, I find myself more conflicted about what a kid's birthday should be. I know celebrations can range from a family-only meal and cake to a no-holds-barred extravaganza with bouncy houses and petting zoos. I'm trying to find our place somewhere in between.

So my four-year-old son recently informed me that his Build-a-Bear dog named Joey Dog was going to have a birthday in two days. Oh, okay, I thought... isn't that cute? And I let the information slip from my mind. It did not, however, slip from my son's mind. The next day he told me that “tomorrow” would be Joey Dog's birthday and he thought Joey Dog would like to go to Taco Bell for his birthday dinner. At this point I started to take him seriously as I realized he was counting down the days and considering acceptable ways of celebrating the occasion.