Love...in Birthday Party Form

So we had C and B's combined birthday party yesterday.  Our "family agreement" was we would only do parties for the kids every other year.  We decided to bypass our rule this year because we were in a new location and we thought a party would be a good way to get to know some of our newer acquaintances better and open up our home to those we already knew.  Not to mention C is gaga about birthdays right now; its funny how they realize its their special day from 3 onwards.

At the end of the event we felt blessed by those in attendance and those that helped us pull off the event.  Every person in attendance has a special place in our transition to our new hometown.  Now in past years we have had lots of family help pulling off these events; this year our date conflicted with Great Nanny's birthday party we sailed solo on the party preparation and execution.  Given my travel and work schedule of late I started planning this event the day we got back from Disney at Labor Day weekend.  As the event got closer it became clear I needed some help to pull this sha-bang off.

Some of the ways were were blessed by this event were our sweet friend Megan helped by getting up early on her Saturday(no kids, no reason to get up) and pick up our balloons and Chik-Fil-A order. My friend and co-worker Carrie(helped me straighten out the TinkerBell costume on an earlier post) went crazy with the pumpkin cupcakes and kids owl cakes....aren't they the most adorable things??  One of our guests mothers helped "wo" man the laminator and collage activity while Ed and I tended to our guests.  C's name sake Aunt Carol chipped in her creative juices that have graced C's birthday since her very first birthday party....she make these adorable little owl gift bags! Oh and I almost forgot we borrowed "kid tables" from our "street people" friends here on Greenwood Rd.   Have I proven this was a community/village type effort ??

I was concerned about keeping the kids entertained and thus we planned the event to be outside in our big backyard with swing set and jumpy house(bday gift for the kids from us and Ed's parents). However on Friday it was sleeting all day and didn't get warmer than 45.  It rained and snow flurried Friday night and was a gray, rainy and cold Saturday morning.  Needless to say we had to pull our "rain plan" and move inside.  In hindsight it was a blessing in disguise because I was able to get everything 95% ready the day prior so there was no last minute rushing around; especially thanks to Megan and Carrie's delivery service! 

Despite being prepared now we had to think of ways to keep 17 kids entertained inside!  We hired a face painter and she brought a collage setup, we also had dress up stations, kitchen stations, and blocks but everyone had exhausted most of these activities by 10:50......

The sun had started breaking through the clouds by 9:45 so we had rushed and setup the jumpy house outside "just in case".....just in case came and it was warm and sunny enough that kid jumping adrenaline made it possible to be outdoors until time for cake.

 

C and B both had a blast and we think their friends did too.  We greatly enjoyed putting on this event and as I said before felt welcomed and loved into VA by all those that came and especially those that helped us make this a special day for our family.  On to the rest of Halloween weekend!!!!