D's Birthday Party

Today was the BIG day. BIRTHDAY PARTY DAY!! Let me just say that I am worn out. It is so good that birthdays only happen once a year so I can forget how much work it is to do a party.

This morning started out fine enough with me dismantling the bathtub drain to clear it of the fecal matter deposited by the baby while trying not to burn the cake. I think there is a Parent's Law of Physics that states: "When in a rush, a minimum of one child will poop in an inappropriate place". It's right up there next to Murphy's Law.

We got past that into the run-around-crazy-occasionally-shrieking-like-a-banshee-at-the-messymessymessy-children stage. Thankfully, that only lasted until my young woman helper arrived to relieve some of the stress. (And the toy room was finally picked up!)

Somehow, things came together and I was able to leave. I took K to a friend's house so I could concentrate on the party. Don't worry, she was totally excited to go play with her friend. Justifiably too. They fingerpainted and went to a park today. Doesn't get much better when you're 3!

So, friends started arriving. We had a scientist party. I made some "lab coats" for the kids to wear along with some Dr. ____ name tags. We started with decorating some bags to hold all the science tools we collected today.

First experiement: making colors. There were cups of water dyed with the primary colors. The kids each had a little "test tube" and "sucker-upper thingy"(technical science name) that they used to make purple, green, orange, brown, etc. They finished by making their favorite color to take home in their test tubes.

Note my two helpers. Defintely necessary and totally appreciated!!

Then we made waves in a box. This is achieved by filling a container half full with colored water then topping off with oil. We hot glued the lids on and watched the magic of oil and water not mixing. This was cool, but not as cool as experiment number 3....Cornstarch Goo!

If you have never made this, you should try it. It really is cool. It is simply cornstarch and water. Mix water into cornstarch with your hands until you reach a good goo consistancy. When you pick it up you can squeeze it and it feels solid but as soon as you open your hand it runs out like a liquid. Amazing. And a big hit.
The last great experiment involved baking soda and vinegar. Possibly the coolest kitchen science of all. We attemped the blow up balloons. The bottles we had for this didn't work too well, but well enough. Incidentally, baking soda and vinegar is not good for grass. That would have been good to know, say.....yesterday.
D's birthday was actually Cakey Creations. What is Cakey Creations you ask? This is Cakey Creations:It involves sheet cake cut into small cubes and lots of different toppings to add to your bowl. It is basically cake, candy and cookies all in one great bowl. Instead of frosting, I made pudding in bags for the kids to pipe on their creations.

I accidentally got way too much pudding in D's bowl. He just rolled with it though.

There was singing and presents. We had about 10 minutes left so we put a blindfold on one of the kids and started playing games; Where's the Sound Coming From and Marco Polo.
Finally, their parents came. Sweet, blessed parents!


All in all, the party seemed to be a big hit. The kids were all really great and we'll probably do it again next year. Hopefully the grass has recovered by then!