Birthday stress

It is a birthday day in our house. Our middle son is now our 7 y.o. Unfortunately the excitement overflowed in unpleasant ways this morning (and last night when our eldest struggled to get to sleep). Following our family tradition, presents were opened before breakfast. That of course leads to breakfast-eating-problems. One boy was so distracted he almost forgot to eat and another so excited he probably gave himself indigestion. Add to that a dispute about school uniform. Being the last day of school before two weeks holiday, our eldest had a dress-up component to his day. They'd been studying the Antarctic and the kids were invited to dress-up accordingly. Unfortunately it was not as clear as we needed it to be. Our son tried to insist that he could wear free dress, but we were unsure. We wanted to protect him from a mistake. Very persistently, though, he insisted and argued, complained and whinged. Ever sure that we got out of bed this morning, intent on ruining his day in any way we could! Eventually we got him put his shorts and t-shirt underneath, but not before the negative emotional award winner of the morning. Our eldest accidentally flicked his slow-to-eat brother with a sheet as he passed on the way to the laundry and a cup full of yoghurt-drink went flying. Thankfully it was a plastic cup, but the mess was fairly disastrous. 10 y.o., already upset over the uniform issue, then refused to clean it up to the point of practically throwing up. We then gave up. 15 minutes before they had to leave the house to go to school, it just wasn't worth it. Oh, didn't mention the youngest whose breakfast came to a premature end when his drink crashed all over him and everywhere else. His particular problem was envy of his brother's presents. 7 y.o. of course, in the midst of getting ready for school, was trying to hide his presents and lay down the law for his little brother who'd be home all day. We, in 15 short minutes, managed to get all ready and emotions repaired and two boys off to school, decently dressed and in fairly good frames of mind. I retired to the gym shortly afterwards and regained some sanity there. The birthday is not over yet. We have grandparents arriving any time soon. Boys coming home from school, party food, hot dogs and cake to come (only a family party this time). THEN we pack ourselves into the car for a short trip to another intense weekend at a missions conference! Even when we try not to, we still find tension and stress. I have a love-hate relationship with kids' birthdays. You want them to be fun and enjoyable, but know that excitement stretches the children's emotions beyond a safe limit - every time. It is like standing in the path of an oncoming truck, unable to prevent the collision.