Three!
This was by far one of the easiest, most successful parties I’ve thrown. Also the most expensive, but I guess that’s what happens when you get old and lazy and can’t tolerate the thought of wrangling hordes of three year olds. We have no parking at our townhouse and the weather is too iffy to plan an outdoor park party, so I throw money at the problem and hope for the best. I realize I am very lucky to be able to have this option.
Anyway!
The party was excellent. I had to do very, very little. I can’t seem to just accept happiness and harmony. A mom has to work for a party, so I decided to make cookie pops to give out as favors. I wanted to make 3s, but couldn’t find a 3 cookie cutter. I saw some flower cookie pop molds and some purple water cans so a plan was born. A horrible, awful, no-good plan*. The cookie pops tasted terrible (Wilton recipe, so no big shocker) and after hours of crying over the royal icing but finally getting the pops to look fairly decent, they all fell off their sticks. Grrrrrrrr! Never listen to Wilton. Never. I tried to take a bite of one of the ruined cookies and spit it right back out. I never spit out sweets, but this was horrid. I suppose I’m glad I didn’t get a chance to serve them.
I think I should take a cake decorating just to give me a foundation to be able to do things without so much pain. And of course Wilton is the standard cake decorating class around here. Bah.
Why can’t I stay on track?
Elsa and the kids had a blast at this party! Other than bringing the cupcakes and extras and decorating a small table to my satisfaction all I had to do was stand back and watch a grown man who probably needed Ritalin entertain 14 children (with the help of a much calmer young woman). The girls at MyGym do a great job, but they don’t have nearly the energy as the males. The guys go completely wild and the kids LOVE it. I bet they go home completely exhausted.
You can have up to 20 kids at the party (or pay for even more), but I am not a fan of the whole “invite the whole class” idea. We invite friends. In Elsa’s case we invited family friends, which meant a total of 7 families and 14 kids. I personally would not want to wrangle that many kids, but the gym is big enough to handle it and almost everyone was happy the whole time. It didn’t feel overcrowded at all.
/It was totally delightful to watch Elsa open her presents. She spent a lot of time with each gift and loved everything. She got a play mixer and a mermaid in the same package and spent a lot of time trying to mix up her mermaid. She also got a Melissa and Doug Pizza and a M&D Birthday Cake. She has literally spent hours playing with those two toys. She got a play tent that she’s been using as her coloring hang-out. She put her markers and paper in there and goes in to color.
I know you shouldn’t compare kids, but it is inevitable. It is just such a difference experience to parent these two opposite children. Erik usually won’t even take his new toys out of the box unless it happens to be something very specific that he wants. Generally his toys get put away on a shelf and re-wrapped for other birthday parties. And he doesn’t care. It’s bizarre.
How did my little baby get to be such a big girl? Look at those long legs and sparkling eyes!
She is such a girl, now! A fierce, determined, sweet, sensitive, violent little girl! Full of energy, joy, frustration, and unbridled enthusiasm for her mom, dad and bro-bro. Her favorite thing to do is run full speed ahead and jump on us, which usually knocks us over if we are not well braced. She and her brother have established the “Fighting Club,” which seems to involve knocking each other over on the couch.
I was so worried about having a second child. No child could possibly give me as much joy as my first! I would be ruining Erik’s life! This second child would be an interloper that we shunned in the corner.
What fools we mortals be.
Of course we all love her and delight in her silliness. Erik is a wonderful big brother and they love each other intensely, even if they do fight sometimes. I’m sure only children are just fine, but having a sibling is a pretty quick way to learn that you are not the center of the universe. A harsh lesson, but a necessary one.
I don’t know how I ever imagined that our family was complete without our Elsa.
*The intent was to put the cookie pops into the watering cans as little bouquets. I even bought floral foam! Instead, I ended up using Little Debbie butterflies, which were not nearly as cute as my intent.
