Karina's Birthday

We have come to realize during this year as Karina has gone to multiple birthday parties that a kindergartner's birthday party is the height of their social calendar. It's rubbed off on Lydia as well as every week we end up "celebrating" a "birthday" for one or more of her or Karina's stuffed animals (sometimes the same animal has multiple birthdays during the same week). We have also noted that many of the birthday parties out here are at bouncy house venues or similar places or include some other such activity that costs a lot of money. I certainly don't remember birthday parties that extravagant when I was in elementary school. I'm not sure if it is due to our location, or if parents everywhere are spending $500+ for their young kids' birthday parties. Regardless, we told Karina that for her first birthday party with her friends, we would have a party here at home where they could just play games and be silly.

We were hoping and praying for good weather so we could just turn the kids loose in the yard. Then we got nervous watching the weather report that week as it kept changing from predicting rain to clear skies. Sadly, the rain won out and so we had to do some last minute adjusting of some of the activities, assure parents we were still having the party, and get prepared to deal with Karina and 16 of her closest friends (along with Derek and Lydia bringing our total to 19).

One of the main activities was a birthday piñata we bought off ebay and ended up importing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Instead of hanging it from a tree outside like we were planning, we wound up hanging it down from the catwalk in our entryway. Here's Karina getting her birthday girl swings at it.

We were concerned whether it would break after the first couple hits or take a long time. The piñata fell off the rope (in spite of my attempt at reinforcing it), so I wound up holding it and letting the kids smack it in my hand. After one of them missed and nailed me in the knee, we readjusted and got it back on the rope through one of the holes that the kids had managed to make in it. I think everyone got either three or four turns hitting it three times per turn before it finally broke open and the candy spilled out. Here is a shot of the carnage after it finally broke. I'm glad we had a couple kids who were accomplished T-Ball players that managed to get stronger swings than the rest of them.

The kids did go outside for an Easter egg hunt since it was the week after Easter. 500 eggs were enough for everyone to get a haul. I imagine some of the parents might have wished we didn't have so much candy for the kids between the piñata and the Easter eggs. Of course, I didn't get any good pictures of them hunting eggs as it took me too long to get out there with a camera.

Then we took everyone downstairs for some silly games. Here is everyone charging across our basement rec room in a three-legged race. I had to hurry to get out of the way - it seemed like what the Running of the Bulls would be if the bulls were kindergartners.

Tug of war was a big hit, and the kids kept wanting to do it again with different divisions of teams. We did girls vs. boys, six-year-olds vs. other ages, kids wearing red vs. other colors, etc.

And then they challenged me to go against all 18 of them. In just my socks, I didn't have enough traction and though I put up a good fight, ultimately, they were able to beat me.

Tanja did a fantastic job with the cake. She showed me a picture of it on her phone and I thought she was showing me something from Pinterest that she and Karina had decided to use for inspiration to make a cake "like that". Nope, it was the actual cake that she had finished and that was already in the fridge. It looks like a kindergartner's dream cake, right?

Here's the obligatory shot of the birthday girl blowing out her candles while we sing to her.

Karina and her friends all had fun, in spite of being cooped up inside. We still have a layer of cake and a few pizzas in the freezer that we haven't eaten from her party, but I think it was a success.

Now for a few other pictures. Lydia was being silly one day and decided to put my shoes on and show us a jellyfish that she made.

Here are the girls cuddling up one morning before getting dressed.

Derek is such a cuddle bug, he had to join in too.

One day the girls decided to put Derek in the play baby carriage (or Derek decided he needed to go in there on his own - still not sure). Once he got wedged in there, he had a blast as Karina pushed him around the main floor.

It's getting hot and Snoopy is shedding to get to his summer coat. Look at all that fur I pulled off after brushing him! After this, we rotated him and got the same amount of hair from his other side.

Around here, we need to announce that Derek now has 15 teeth.  He has gotten 7, soon to be 8 new teeth in a month.   His 1st molars and his I-teeth came in at nearly the same time.  Once these grow completely in, he'll hopefully be a champ at chewing food.