We're gonna party like it's your birthday...

As I mentioned before, this weekend was Big Sister's birthday party. It was a great day, even though it just about nothing went according to plan.

First, we took forever decided on where to have the party in the first place, so the invitations were late. We usually just hand deliver them at church, but since school is about to start, no one was at church to get their invitations. This was a sign of things to come- over half of the kids we invited were unable to come because they were traveling on this last weekend before the start of school.

Then, on Friday we found a huge split in the van's front tire. So DaddyClay spent all Saturday morning waiting to get it fixed (and discovering it was not covered by the comprehensive tire warranty. Blargh.) Since we were planning on taking sprinklers & pools & slip'n'slides to the fields at church, my party preparation plans included him. They had to be changed. Fortunately, my mom & dad were here & helped tremendously with hauling & setting up everything.


Second, I had several issues in my baking for the party, from not having cake mix (I always have at least two boxes in my pantry) to crazy runny icing. If I had received any money for making the cake, I would have reported myself to Cake Wrecks.


Other little things came up too, and in the end we were still setting up the water stuff when the guests arrived. The breeze felt great, but it kept gusting the table cloth up into the cake, or knocking over the party favors, or blowing out the candle as soon as we got it lit.

This is a re-enactment. There were so many hands keeping the wind off of that candle,
I didn't even see Big Sister blow it out.

In previous parties, I've had stations set up with activities relating to the theme- from books or art projects to bubbles or balloon animals. This year, there was no real structure. The teacher in me was not really comfortable with that. I'm still not really sure what gifts Big Sister got because there was just a blur of four-year-olds, wrapping paper, and cards.



But the kids had fun. Big Sister didn't even notice the smaller group of kids or the lack of things to paint or glue. She wouldn't have even noticed the drooping cake, if I (or Shep) hadn't pointed it out.

She was too busy having a great time with her friends and family.

Aside from the mistakes from which I most definitely have learned more than a few lessons, I gained some other pearls of wisdom, too. For one, I could have forgone at least one of the crazy water toys and simply had a "puddle party."

For another, I learned that even babies fall victim to pointing out the speck in another's eye icing on another kid's face while neglecting to notice the plank in frosting on their own.


I learned that I am not okay with the idea of having a daughter old enough to play with Barbies.

I learned that packing extra towels or baby wipes is always a good idea. And that my kids are super cute (okay, I didn't just learn that one...)

And I learned that sometimes, even when things don't go according to plan or I am less than prepared, we can all have a great time. Happy Birthday (again) Precious Big Sister!