Alice's Party for her 5th birthday

Alice's party was at Dogwood Shelter at Lake Crabtree County Park. We chose this place because it was a beautiful, shady location, with a playground and a sand volleyball court right next to it where the kids could play. I'd been watching the weather all week, and it was predicted to be sunny and 99 degrees that day. The party was for 10am, so we figured we could somewhat beat the heat. As it turned out, there was a lovely breeze coming up off the lake and in the shade it did not feel too hot.

We got to the picnic shelter around 9 am and quickly decorated it and set out the food and favors. This was a bit challenging because Simon alternated between wanting to run into the parking lot and wanting to go down to the water to float his boat.

Party favors: rocket launchers, funny sunglasses with eyes, and bubbles.
All were a hit!

Rye was the first one to show up, so we sent the kids off to play in the sand while we finished setting up. The hardest part was blowing up the beach balls without passing out.

Soon, Grayson and the other kids started showing up, and the party was off! We didn't try to structure the activities, but just let the kids entertain themselves as they saw fit. So some ate snacks and icepops, some played in the sand, and others played on the playground.

Around 11am, a lot of kids seemed to be congregating in the picnic shelter, so we thought the time was right to bring out the cupcakes. We had been keeping them in the van with the air conditioning running so the frosting would not collapse in the heat. So then there was a quick flurry of activity to get them all out and to put the umbrellas on top.

Then, we all sang happy birthday to Alice!

Not long after the cupcakes, maybe around 11:30, families started to trickle out. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. In my visualization planning process, I had imagined people would stay and play until around 12:30.  But I guess there was the heat coming and people had places to go and things to do. One mom thanked me for having the party early in the day since she would still have time to get groceries on the way home. Alas, the travails of working parents trying to get it all done.

My other disappointment was that several of Alice's main friends (Oscar, Anna, Izzy) were out of town and not able to make it to the party. I was sad because I am a perfectionist and I always want everything to be the best possible scenario. Plus, these were the families that we grew close to because they attend every birthday party. It just seemed cosmically unfair that they were not able to be at Alice's party.

But, luckily, Grayson hung around. Zac and Brent took the kids down to the water while Lindsey and I visited and cleaned up.

Simon, at long last, got to float his boat in the water.

The kids also discovered the water spigot next to the picnic shelter and had great fun making a big muddy puddle to play in.

You know you're doing it right when the kids come home with no pants on.

Back home, after naps, Alice opened her birthday presents from her friends. Her favorite was the one from Grayson where you grow some seeds, in a special jar that you decorate.

Then, the kids spent a lot of time playing with the ice and coolers.

Party Preparations

Even with our somewhat slacker-minimalist approach to birthday parties, getting ready for Alice's party took a lot of time, planning, and money.  We scouted out picnic shelters last year, and I reserved one early this year. We ordered party favors (sunglasses and little rocket shooters) off of amazon.com.  I designed the party invitations and Zac printed them. Zac took an afternoon off work so we could shop for party supplies together without the kids. Saturday morning we made a family trip to the grocery store to buy the food.

Then, we spent Saturday afternoon and evening getting everything ready for Alice's birthday party. We had RSVPs for about 40 people (kids and parents) and so Zac got to work making four dozen cupcakes. He also slaughtered a watermelon.

Meanwhile, I was packing up coolers, gathering serving bowls and snacks, figuring out how to transport everything to the park, etc. My method of preparation is intense: My brain visualizes the place, the food, the activities, the various scenarios, then I make a list of all the things we'll need to function.

Although most of the work for the party was in the days leading up to it, I'd actually been planning this party for years. Many of the daycare crew had been having birthday parties from as early as age one. Before becoming an actual parent, I had declared I would not be the type to give birthday parties (and that is still my default position). But what I had failed to factor in before becoming an actual parent, was the child's feelings, and peer pressure. It would be somewhat unfair to take Alice to years of birthday parties and never let her have one of her own. So a couple years ago, I realized a party was inevitable, and I started making mental notes of what worked well and what didn't at the various parties we attended. I thought we'd have a big birthday bash for Alice when she turned five, since that would be her last one with her daycare friends. As it turned out, she became cognizant of birthday parties by age four, so we gave her a small party at our house last year. But I knew the big one was coming.

So, the years of planning paid off, and we went to bed just after midnight on Saturday, fairly well prepared for the big day!

Reading Books with Simon

Simon is becoming a lot more interesting these days. When he's not completely bonkers, you can actually have a conversation with him sometimes. Usually these conversations are around the stories we read together, although one time he did tell me that he had grape yogurt for snack at school that day.

One book, called My World (by the same author as Goodnight Moon) is just a crazy, trippy book. Since the story is so boring, I started asking Simon questions about one of the pages.

Sera: What do you think that cat is going to do in the city?
Simon: Look for toys.
Sera:  What toy do you think the cat will find?
Simon: An airplane.
Sera: Really?  What kind of airplane?
Simon: A chocolate airplane.
Sera: What would you do with a chocolate airplane?
Simon: I would eat it!
Sera: What part would you eat first?
Simon: The propeller. I will bit the propeller!
Sera: That would be yummy. [I start to turn the page.]
Simon: I want it!
Sera: What?
Simon: I want the chocolate airplane. Let's go get it. Is it in the kitchen?

Oh, if you could see his big eyes looking at me, and you had the power, you would have conjured a chocolate airplane for this boy, who believed his own imagination.

***

For another book, we were working on counting, and I asked Simon to count how many kids were blowing bubbles in the park. Simon studied the picture, and said, "One, two...Two kids blowing bubbles." I was about to correct him and say "No, there are seven children blowing bubbles in the park," but when I looked at the picture I realized he was right. I asked him what they other kids were doing, and he said, "They're playing!"

In another picture from the same book, Simon observed, "They're making a mess on the floor."

***

On Saturday morning, we took a rare family trip to the grocery store to buy food for Alice's birthday party. Knowing this, Alice was already making plans: "Simon, we're going to get to ride in the rocket ship!" At Harris Teeter, they have rocket ship shopping carts for the kids to ride in.

Simon's eyes got big, and he said, "Yes! I want to go to space!"

So, I had to explain that we weren't really going to space, that Alice was talking about shopping carts.

Later, we were reading a book, and near the end there is a photograph of a rocket ship

I said, "Simon, yesterday you rode in a rocket ship!"

Simon corrected me, "It was a rocket ship shopping cart."

The next page had a picture of an astronaut on the moon, so I tried again.

"Simon, when you rode in the rocket ship shopping cart yesterday, what did you find on the moon?"

He replied, "I got a cookie."  It's true - they have free cookie samples at Harris Teeter.

Rainbow sprinkles

I brought some leftover donuts home from work, and Alice immediately claimed the one with rainbow sprinkles. Ironically, when she finally ate it, she didn't like the sprinkles because they were "too crunchy." So she just ate the bottom of the donut. By contrast, Simon had a donut with chocolate frosting and just ate the top.

Alice discovered a much more fun way to play with pick-up sticks.

Art & Ants

Simon loves vacuuming up ants. Whenever he sees one, he runs up to get the vacuum.

Ellie Rose's birthday party at Pullen Park

Ellie Rose is a friend from Alice's daycare, although she has gone to a different daycare for a year a or two. But, Ellie Rose and Alice will go to the same elementary school, so we saw them at the kindergarten orientation night. For the party, there was a princess doing face painting. She might have done other things, but we got to the party a half-hour late. Alice was afraid at first, then she was ready after a while. Like all parties at Pullen Park, after the cake, we headed to the playground, carousel, and train. Pullen Park is so big that I don't know why people have parties there, because the kids always spread out and don't stay together. We managed to stay together a little bit.

"Daddy, I ate an owl!"

Simon, in his bed on Sunday morning:

In case you can't see, he's put his owl under his shirt and is pretending he ate him. 

Creek and Tunnel

On Saturday morning, I took the kids to a little nearby park that is basically a creek going through a strip of grass in the middle of a neighborhood. I came across it on a walk one day and immediately thought it would be a great little place for the kids to play on a warm day. The kids did, in fact, have a lot of fun climbing around on the rocks and playing in the water.

After snack time, Alice learned a valuable lesson: how hard and annoying it is to put wet water shoes back on! I was a bit grumpy that morning, which is usually when the kids learn the most lessons. I didn't want to try and get the shoes back on, so I made her do it. She whined and complained, but eventually succeeded, and will hopefully think twice before she takes them off mid-play next time.

After snack, we walked down to the other end of the creek and found a tunnel to play in. The kids, as you can see, had great fun. Simon is pretending to be a train (because trains go through tunnels).

Alice left the tunnel shortly after this. I thought she was just going to play on the water or climb the rocks, but when I turned around the check on her, I saw her running at full gallop back to the other end of the stream where we had been playing earlier. I shouted for her to stop running and come back, but she either didn't hear me, or pretended not to.  So I grabbed Simon, climbed up out of the creek area (which was actually quite tricky right in that spot) and did my mad-mom march (still carrying Simon) until I caught up with Alice. I scolded her, told her she had to get out of the creek right then and couldn't play in it anymore, and that she would have no videos that night (her severest punishment). Then I told her the story of the boy falling into the gorilla pen at the zoo. Alice has been a "runner" from the very beginning and we've been trying to teach her over the years to not run off. Before going anywhere we talk about it; and yet she'll still do it from time to time.

Alice sits on the bank, accepting her punishment to not play in the water anymore because she ran off.

Donuts with Dad: Father's Day Celebration at Daycare

On Friday, the daycare had their father's day celebration. My guess is that they do it earlier in June so everyone can attend, since many people are on vacation later in the month.

Alice was up and ready to go in the morning. She always gets really excited about these special days.

Zac, along with all the other dads, got to watch the kids do some work.

Then they did the morning circle and sang some songs.

After the songs, they got to have breakfast. This is Alice's favorite part.

Editor's note: Zac is actually 37 years old.

Then, Zac went to Simon's class to have breakfast with him. A good way to pass time with Simon is to take selfies.

They did a video of the kids singing.

Then they got to eat donuts!

The gift from Simon was a mug that Simon helped decorate. Simon was pretty happy when Zac used it for his coffee the next morning.

Paint

Ahh, a moment of peace.

Why sleep?

Why would you sleep at night when there's so much fun stuff to do?