We survived another October!

Almost... close enough...

For those who do not know, FIVE of my children have birthdays in October... THREE of them in the SAME WEEK (we are nothing if not consistent!) Since I despise the idea of throwing one big birthday for everyone, that means we have five different cakes and five different family birthday celebrations. The ten of us usually manage to eat half a cake (more  or less) at a sitting, which means it takes two days to get through a cake.

You do the math. Of the 20 days so far in October, 10 of them have had cake served.

We are seriously all caked out over here.

All those fun fall desserts that you see plastered on the covers of home magazines? Yeah, we never get to have those here.

Fall cookies? No thanks.
Pumpkin coffee cake? uh-uh.
Spiced pumpkin lattes?
Cute Halloween cupcakes?
How about a fun dessert to commemorate Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha being canonized tomorrow?

No, no, and no.

By the time our anniversary rolls around next week, I will still be burned out on cake.

When Halloween and All Saints' Day comes around, I will NOT be tempted to dig in my children's bags for something chocolatey, either. Blech.

Still, we rejoice that we've had another year with these great children, and remain awed that we have been entrusted with them.

Cake aside, one of the best part of the birthday celebrations here is at dinner time, when we all take turns saying what we love best about the birthday person. I LOVE hearing what my children love about their siblings! They see the gifts and talents in each other, and truly love spending time together. With all the mistakes I make daily, it is encouraging to see that!