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Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Birthday Party Photo Re-Cap


Dear Laney,

While Karen and Dad are busy eating all the M&Ms I bought you for potty training reward purposes, I'm going to take a minute and catch everyone up on your birthday party.

The short version is this: You had a GREAT party. As two year-olds go, you have a lot of friends and relatives who love you very much. Not only did people show up for your party, but lots of relatives sent you cards and presents in the mail. Apparently, for you, turning a year older is extremely lucrative, and I look forward to taking out a loan from the Bank of Laney.

Karen helped me make goodie bags that looked like Dora's backpack, and your dad hung balloons in the yard. We set up a taco bar and had an ice cream cake. Of course Karen and Sam were here, and Grandma Sue and Uncle Nate joined the party. Cedar hitched a ride with her parents Brooke and Todd. Your teacher Tracy came, and brought her daughters Jojo and Kassedy.

You might notice from the photos that all the girls seem to be wearing the same green dress. Karen and I saw those on clearance at Walmart, so we thought it would be fun to buy one for everyone.

The kids were happy to play on our playground for most of the party, and after cake and ice cream I got the ridiculous idea to put our inflatable kiddie pool at the bottom of the slide, spray the slide down with the hose, and turn the whole shebang into our own low-rent Splash Montana. I didn't think we'd really do it, but while I was in the kitchen with Uncle Nate, he pointed out the window and said, "Mom's out there with the pool and the hose." And so - thanks to Grandma Sue - the water slide was born. This was both a failure and a success; while you all thought the pool was too cold, you were all perfectly happy to run around naked.

While you were playing by the pool, you got stung by a yellow jacket. You only hollered for a few minutes, then you were back at play. Not half an hour later, a yellow jacket flew up my dress and stung me on the inside of my knee. It hurt like a mother. Because I was surrounded by impressionable children, the only thing I could holler was, "FUDGE!," which was not at all the first word that sprang to mind*. But those were the only low points in an otherwise ideal afternoon.

So without further ado, here are some of the pictures I took at the party. I hope you'll look back on these years from now and appreciate what a great time you had, and how many people care about you.

Love,
Mom
The backyard

"Backpack" bags

Jojo on the slide.



Ice cream cake


Karen & Sam

A birthday hug from Tracy.


Uncle Nate - Your slide valet.



Trying to make the Dora kite fly. No dice.

Road warriors

Cedar

Sam


Sam & balloons

Nekkid peek-a-boo

* Mark Twain wrote, "Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." He also wrote, "The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." Both of those apply here.

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