Our final catch-up post...Katie's birthday! After the mad crush of holiday travel, winter sicknesses, Christmas clean-up, and lack of sleep, we had just days to prepare for Katie's huge 6th birthday weekend. She was excited for the lineup: Thursday dinner out with Daddy, Friday actual birthday, and Saturday birthday party. We started her actual birthday with a Katie request: red cupcakes. (Red was her favorite color that week...she's already changed back to pink at this point.) We delivered a bunch to her kindergarten class, much to the delight of her buddies. And, then we ate her favorite home-cooked meal (taco soup) and finished off the cupcakes Friday night.
Of course, once we were done eating, there were presents to be opened. In this photo, Katie was thrilled and thankful for all that she got, but little did she realize that we had another trick up our sleeves. After she was done opening her presents downstairs, Traci handed her a flashlight and a sight-reading clue to began a scavenger hunt for more gifts. She had to read everything on her own to move on to the next clue. She and Michael were so excited!
After several stops, Katie finally reached her last destination: a new dollhouse all set up in her room!! (Notice the last set of sight words: PLAY WITH ME.) Although she loved the final gift, she just wanted to keep going with the scavenger hunt. Perhaps we'll have to think of something more elaborate next year.
We couldn't really rest on the triumph of the birthday evening as we had a party to hold the very next day!
When we asked Katie what theme she would like for this year's party, she of course picked something completely out of the blue: TREES! So, we scrambled our brains to think of what might fit. We decided to hold the party at another nature center completely surrounded by nature and wildlife. We decorated the cake with extra trees from a model train store. We gave away tree seedlings as party favors. And, we fashioned 30 green balloons together with brown string to look like a giant tree. Seriously, she couldn't have picked Hello Kitty or Disney Princesses? Here is a pic of Mom, holding court with the kids, explaining some of what we were going to do for the day.
One of the fun activities we had for the kids was to paint the pots that would house their seedlings for the winter. All of the kids really got into it. All of the kids, that is, except for Michael. Notice him in the background, having ditched the arts and crafts project for building towers with our plastic cups.
Another highlight of the party: some Nature Center employees brought down some animals (frogs, turtles, snakes) for the kids to touch. Have you ever seen a bunch of 5/6 year-olds so attentive and quiet?
All of the kids were invited to wrap the snake around their necks. Blech - Mommy was in the back of the room starting her own "I would rather pet a dolphin than a snake" club. Luckily, she had some company with a couple of the kids.
Doesn't Michael look a little too thrilled to have that thing wrapped around his shoulders? Don't even think about one for a pet, buddy!
We think we had a very happy 6-year-old after all was said and done. Thanks to everybody who helped to make the weekend such a success. Now on to the (gulp) 1-year-old!!!
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