Fiesta!

For the past 3 summers we have combined the kids' birthdays and thrown a joint family birthday party. This year we had a Fiesta!

I decorated with chili pepper lights on the patio, and a "Fiesta" banner that went around the tree grove in the middle of our yard. I also hung little paper lanterns to our mulberry tree to add to the festive feel, not because they were a part of the theme. As guests arrived, there was an assortment of Mexican sodas and fruit juices on the beverage table, and dip, salsa and guacamole on the patio table. This staved off their hunger as I was working madly in the kitchen with various guests who offered their services on arrival. We chopped lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and carrots for toppings. We cooked up ground beef for tacos, as well as chicken for fajitas. After about an hour and a half (oops, I guess I could have planned better and done some more prep work the day before!!) dinner was served.

Following dinner, the kids played a "musical sombrero" game which got a little aggressive at points (ripping the hat band off of one of the hats in one final struggle for the win). Unfortunately I thought I purchased a CD with fiesta music when I placed my order with Oriental Trading for the banner, lights, and sombreros, but apparently I didn't make it into the order, so I ended up using a CD that didn't exactly fit thematically. I don't think they cared- they just wanted the silly bands that I was handing out as prizes!

After the sombrero game, the kids were ready for the pinata. We hit it in age order, starting with my 3 and then going from the youngest on up. It lasted until my 8 year old nephew Peter got a hold of the stick and ripped the poor donkey's head off!

We then sang Happy Birthday to the kids as they "pretended" to blow out the candles on their sombrero cake. The breeze prevented us from actually lighting them, and although N and E caught on, K looked a little confused "What do you want me to blow out?".

After cake and presents, guests started to leave, and I turned to the monumental task of cleaning up. Yes, the parties are fun, but I am so glad we only do it once a year. That bouncy place is looking better and better to me!

Miss Spider Party

This morning we celebrated K's third birthday. I can't believe she is 3.
Well, actually, not yet, since her real birthday is tomorrow. So I can have one last day with my two year old girl. Sniff.

Anyway, moving on. We did the same thing as for N last week- we celebrated today, because tomorrow is Sunday and there will be no time for birthday celebrations at breakfast. Also, it is Easter, and I didn't want to cram her birthday in-between Easter celebrations. So, we had breakfast together and then K opened her presents from us. I think E was more excited about the Calico Critter townhouse and various accessories than K was! She couldn't wait for it to be unwrapped before getting out all the itty-bitty pieces and cute critters and setting up the house. K was more interested in placing each one of her new crayons into her new caddy. It was driving the other kids crazy!

Shortly after the kids got dressed, K's little friends arrived for a Sunny-Patch style birthday. We started off making butterflies from coffee filters and markers. It was a great craft for this age- quick and easy. They really liked spraying the water on the wings to make the colors run.


While the butterflies dried their wings, the girls went on a bug hunt for some Sunny Patch friends. They followed a map I had made, and found grasshoppers, lady bugs, centipedes, beetles and ants hiding in the backyard. When each bug was found, they were put into a little bug box that each girl carried around their neck.


The last spot was in the moon bounce, where they had fun bouncing like "Bounce" (from the show).

We then went inside to have cake and ice cream. I had made a big Miss Spider cake, and then put all the little Sunny Patch Friends on cupcakes around her. (Another long friday afternoon and evening!!). I have really enjoyed the creative flexibility the fondant has given me! I found a recipe I like for marshmallow fondant, and itt tastes so much better than the store bought kind. Still not as good as buttercream, but the kids seem to like it.



After gift-opening, the girls went outside to finish their butterflies before heading home.



Now K is outside with N enjoying her new playdough, and E is upstairs with the Critter house. It is such a beautiful day to be outdoors! I am also super excited that tomorrow, Easter, is supposed to be gorgeous. There is nothing like a beautiful, warm, sunny Easter to celebrate that He is Risen.

Lego Party

Last week N celebrated his 6th birthday. We started the morning off with our own family celebration at breakfast time. We actually celebrated on the day before his birthday, because his real birthday was on a Sunday, and we wouldn't have time to do breakfast and presents before church. N didn't mind opening his gifts a day early.

Then, after lunch N's friends came over for a Lego party. Originally N wanted a Bakugan party, but I couldn't really think of how I could pull the theme off with games or projects, so I steered him toward the lego idea. We ordered a ton of legos from ebay (actually, just 16 pounds) and poured them onto the train table. When the boys arrived, they built a lego man, and then a vehicle from the pile of pieces. After that, the challenge was to build something, anything, from a box with random pieces. It was neat to watch them create and use their imaginations.


For the cake, we had both cupcakes and a big cake. I had spent the day before figuring out to to make and color fondant icing. I made these cupcakes, designed to look like the parts of a lego guy. Then the morning of the party Ed iced several cake "blocks" so that they would look like lego bricks stacked on each other. The effect was pretty cool, and the boys each got to take home a cupcake as part of their party favors.


When the boys had all gone home, N settled down to start on his gift from us. He actually ended up building the whole thing with little help from us- a first for him.

When I praised him, he said, "That's because I'm six now!"

Party Time!

K's actual birthday passed pretty uneventfully. She doesn't really need anything, and so I had only ordered her one little baby doll for her gift. Unfortunately, it is backordered until the end of the month, so we couldn't give it to her. I made a cake and we sang happy birthday to her, but she didn't get any (I was saving her first piece for her party on Sunday). We ended up having our mini-church night on Friday so everyone sang to her before she went to bed.

Then yesterday we had K's First Birthday party. We usually do a birthday brunch on Saturday mornings for the kids, but their Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob always work on Saturdays, so have been unable to attend when we do that. So we decided to keep it simple with appetizers and cake on a Sunday afternoon. I went to Costco the day before and got these dangerously delicious Spinach and Artichoke dips to go with pita chips (dangerous because I now have two half containers leftover, and I can't bear to get rid of it, so I know I will end up eating it for lunch this next week), mini eggrolls and popcorn chicken (for the kids, but I think everyone enjoyed them). My mom and Ed's mom also brought a couple of things and we had plenty of food.

I did a pink flower theme, so the napkins were wrapped in a green and pink ribbon with bits of pink silk flowers tucked inside. The tablecloth was pink, as were the paper goods. We made a flower cake by using two round pans to make a double layer cake and then 12 cupcakes around the edge for the flower petals. I made some buttercream icing and dyed it pink and yellow and then Ed iced the cake(as he always does). After everyone ate their fill we cleaned up the appetizers and got out the cake stuff. I had been practicing with K, trying to teach her how to blow out a candle, but she kept thinking I was telling her to blow her nose, so she would instead blow into a tissue and then give me a big smile. Anyway, all that is to say, that after the singing she stared at everyone staring at her, and then tried to grab the lit candle, so I ended up blowing it out. She got one of the pink frosted cupcakes and absolutely devoured it. She ate it like a pro, and then held up her plate for more when she was done. After cleaning her up and getting her changed into a fresh dress, we opened gifts. She wasn't too into that, so her siblings and cousins "helped" while she played with the ribbon and wrapping paper. Shortly after that everyone went home, and we declared the afternoon a success-- the food was almost all eaten, the kids had fun playing together, and the birthday girl didn't lose it.
This will be her last solo family birthday party. I am planning on combining all the kids' family parties into one big one each year in the summer. N and E are already looking forward to their's this June when we plan to do a Carnival theme. We'll see how that goes!

Birthday Party- Construction Style

This morning we had the Tuesday Morning Playgroup over for a party-- 12 kids in all. It went reasonably well, and the only casualties were to the birthday boy himself. Once when he fell off his chair, right before the cake and candles, and the other when he was bit in the arm. Other than that, the kids played, ate, and made a little craft.

I have been coaching N to answer the qusetion, "How old are you?" He unreliably answers with "Tdew!" and sticks out any assortment of fingers. He was also very excited about his cake, and questioned me throughout the morning "Cek? Cek?", so when the time came for blowing out the candles, I think he got a little overexcited and toppled onto the floor. After being comforted, he made it 3/4 of the way through the song before blowing out the candles.

At the end we had all the kids sit on the couch for the traditional birthday picture. I tried to get most of the kids in, but there was a lot of movement, and this is the best I could do.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to my big boy!

Our Birthday Girl

After what seems to be like forever to E, she is now the big 5. She has been looking forward to this birthday a long time, especially after one of her friends turned 5, and she was left behind in the babyish 4 ("Mommy, I want to be five because it is a big girl number. Four is for babies"). We celebrated with a princess party with 5 of her friends on Saturday. Although the party was all that she had wished for- making of wands and crowns, a pinata, princess cake, gifts, etc., there were a few tears shed on her part when things didn't go exactly as she wanted them to. She experienced some disappointment when she didn't get the exact color flower to put on her wand that she wanted, and when she only got 2 pieces of candy from the pinata. But opening presents did cheer her up and the day ended on the plus side after all was said and done.