{Party On}
After having to postpone Ryan’s fourth birthday party last weekend due to illness, I wasn’t looking forward to the decisions that would have to be made as I watched the hour by hour forecast the night before her “make-up party” — starting at 1 pm the likelihood of rain, check that…thunderstorms, was 80% and that was conservative.
Had the party not already been postponed at the last minute once, we may have considered calling for the rain check. After having already once been through the re-planning process, which included deconstructing and reconstructing our butterfly cupcakes, we weren’t keen on repeating that process. At the same time, looking ahead, our weekends are packed with summer activities already and two full weeks of “Ryan’s Birthday” was just about as much as I could handle.
We woke up Sunday morning, cancelled the bouncy house rental and started planning the dreaded “indoor party”.* Given that painting wooden pinwheels and face painting were the two transferable activities from party A to party B, we set up stations in the garage on folding tables and while Jen and Ryan ventured off in search of balloons, inspiration hit me — twinkle lights.
*Dreaded for parents more so than kids. Cleaning up after an outdoor party is difficult enough and our house wasn’t built with the idea of entertaining twelve kids at the same time.
It's amazing what a few twinkle lights can do to make anything feel more festive, 6/6/2010
With the garage decked out enough that Ryan asked, “can we keep it this way?”, and the downpour holding off enough that we could keep the garage doors open — with the nice side effect of great puddle jumping opportunities now available — we were ready for a party.
And party we did!
Pinwheel painting was a hit and entertained the kids for at least 1/2 hour before they flooded the face painting line for decorations for their cheeks. I think the results speak for themselves.
After some fun in the rain, the kids were ready for some cupcakes and as the chorus of Happy Birthday filled the garage, I realized that all a great birthday party really needed — great friends and great fun — filled the room with it.
{Walking the Loop}
Looking for morning rituals to fill the void that has been left in our daily routine by the end of the school year I wanted to find something that Ryan, Julia and I could all do together that didn’t overextend Julia past her nap schedule. We live in a rather new subdivision and our road contains a nice quarter mile loop that is the perfect 20 minute walk. It’s great to get Julia some stimulation outside before her morning nap and Ryan loves the responsibility that comes along with holding Bailey’s leash and walking him around the block.
Hopefully, “walking the loop” becomes something that we look forward to each morning this summer as a nice way to kick off the day with some family activity before it gets too hot.
{Summer’s Coming}
One of the best parts of summer in our neighborhood is that there are always kids outside ready to play. Memorial Day weekend gave us the first real feel for the months to come as Ryan could literally walk outside any hour between 10 am and 6 pm and find someone — and usually many someones — to play with.
The first sign of summer around our neighborhood are gaggles of kids happily playing outside, 5/30/2010
{Stats and Facts}
- Conversations about Ryan’s upcoming birthday party: 1,371 (on Monday)
- Purple and turquoise chocolate butterflies reclaimed to top the next round of cupcakes: 12
- Candles blown out: 5 (one for each year and the big #4 candle in the center
- Inches of rain expected on Ryan’s birthday party day: 2.2
- Number of teeth cutting in Julia’s lower gum: 2
- Consecutive dry nights: 2
{Photo of the Week}
Ryan was literally glowing as she awaited her birthday party guests, 6/6/2010
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