Ugh! I lost the long reply I had to everyone. Don't have time to re-write right now but thanks to the ideas you offered up, I've decided on a theme (Team Umizoomi - my boy/girl twins love them!) and will incorporate their circle/shapes/numbers theme into a few of the games that were suggested - particularly the obstacle course. christina_ca - I am planning on an "adopt-a-puppy" (play) theme next year for their 4th. A friend suggested it & did it for her daughter. She said it was such a fun time. She collected stuffed puppies on sale/clearance in the months before the party. On the day of the party, she had each child go with her into another room so they could select their puppy privately and then each child went to different "stations" - check up by the vet (her DH is a doctor so he was in white coat with his basic dr kit), pretend bath & grooming station, puppy treats station and receive official adoption certificate station. That was enough activity apparently and it worked perfectly for everyone to have their puppies and go into ice cream & cake. My goal now is to use the theme but remember what I wanted in the first place: an old-fashioned backyard birthday party. Having the theme puts everything into focus for me now - I didn't think to have a theme until y'all mentioned it. Again, thanks for all the ideas.

Wow, what a cute cute guy!! Just adorable!! Congratulations! In addition to the "big" stuff, ask your sister what kinds of food he and she like to have, and stock up. One thing I don't like about traveling with my baby is that, in addition to all the diapers and clothes and other supplies, you always have to bring a cooler with milk and tons of food. Such a hassle. For once I'd love to get to my inlaws and they've already got kid and baby-friendly food ready. Hm... maybe this is just an issue with my inlaws?? ;) At any rate, it would be one less thing she'd have to travel with. It also wouldn't hurt to pick up a baby thermometer and some baby Tylenol or Motrin, in case she forgets to bring hers. Nothing is worse than being away from home and your kiddo gets sick, and you don't have what you need to make him feel better. Enjoy your visit, you sound like a really great aunt already! :)

Amen, Tally Sue! I would also really like to get my kids to rely on each other. If I'm cooking dinner, the 3rd grader has a math hw question, the 7th grader can certainly answer it! Teamwork. That's what I'd like to establish. I have a thing for the shoe organizers that go on the back of doors, with all the clear plastic pockets. I have one in the kids' bathroom, holds various items at age-appropriate heights. DD can see her hair things, and it's so easy to put them away. Brush and detangle spray in pockets right next to each. Easy to reach standing in front of the bathroom mirror. The oldest has his hair gel in the top pocket where littlier hands can't reach it. Kids' cold, headache medicine also in the top pockets, easy to find even in the middle of the night. Each kid also has the shoe organizer on the closet door. Not full of shoes. 9 y/o and 3 y/o share a room, 9 y/o keeps his gameboy, taekwondo belts, wallet with money, in the very top pockets where the 3 y/o can't get them. Now, if the kids don't put the stuff in that safe place, I can't help them. The closets have a shelf across the middle and the top. We put those sterilite drawers on the middle shelf with legos and other small parts, 3 y/o is less likely to get into them. When we have a playgroup of preschoolers at our house while the big kids are at school, I lock the bedroom doors and don't apologize for it. I bring down a variety of age appropriate toys and make sure there is plenty to keep the kids happy and busy. I don't let them into my kids' rooms, it would be a mess, and it's not fair considering they aren't home to defend their turf. It's wouldn't be safe, either, considering the choking hazards of legos and polly pocket dolls.

Wow, lots of neat traditions. I find shopping for gifts wearying. I usually start in October and try to be finished by the end of November. I try to leave time in December for decorating, cookie baking and wrapping gifts. We are also away for about 9 days total in December as our kids play in 2 international junior squash tournaments and so this takes a huge chunk out of our Christmas preparation time and also means we cannot have a real tree as we are away and can't water it. We buy for our 3 kids, in-laws, our staff (about 8 people), couple of aunts and uncles, and assorted family. We have done a draw for the family in previous years so that all the adults names are put in a hat and each person then draws and only has to buy 1 gift. But this has fallen by the wayside as part of the family had moved away and sometimes comes back for Christmas and sometimes doesn't. I am more conscious now in trying to buy gifts that are useful or consumable as we all know how easy clutter comes into our homes and how difficult and time consuming it is to take it back out. Traditionally my DH and I usually buy small gifts for each other, most of which will fit in our stockings, requisite gifts are chocolate bars, socks, paperbacks, I always receive a "For Better or For Worse" comic book and the year's stamp set (Canadian), and a CD, you get the idea. We also buy lots of little things for the kids' stockings. Sometimes there may be one big gift for the family (one year it was a large screen T.V. ) and then, the other gifts will be smaller and fewer. I usually get an Odyssey set of tapes (from Focus on the Family) as one of the gifts for the kids as we do lots of driving trips and the kids like listening to them in the car. Just wrapping all the stocking gifts takes forever, but they are so much fun to open Christmas morning. Christmas Eve, the family goes to Church as our Church does not have a Christmas morning service. Then we open presents Christmas morning, have brunch and relax and then start cooking Christmas dinner late afternoon, in-laws come and another round of gift opening takes place. I really like it that we don't have to go anywhere on Christmas day, it really is quite relaxing. My DH jokes that it's the only day in the whole year when the car doesn't leave the driveway!