Bella turned 6 on Friday. We had a park party. The weather cooperated for the first 20 minutes, then a COLD front blew in. It was so windy, it blew away almost all the party favors/balloons I had bought. That was just the beginning of the things that would go wrong- lack of jackets, camera, pinata, and glow necklace malfunctions, sick children, trying to see the kids in the dark... I'm just happy we all survived. But more importantly, Bella had a smile the whole time, as did 90% of the kids. So I suppose it was a success.
Bella loved the red soda! We had to hold onto our cups as the wind blew away some of the plates. I didn't get out the party hats or blowers that I had bought, because it was just too windy.
Bella helped make her birthday cupcakes. They were butterfly cupcakes made out of gummy worms for its body and twisted pretzels for its wings. We sung Happy Birthday to Bella, and she pretended to blow out the candles. It was about this time that the true coldness of the storm/wind started to kick in and it dropped about 10-15 degrees.
After the cupcakes Victoria yelled that we had jackets in the car, so the whole heard of kids took off running a block to our van. I tried to stop them, with no success. Little did they know, I only had back up jackets for my two kids and me. I ended up giving mine to Bella, so her jacket could be used for someone else.
I loved the determination of these kids with the pinata.
The pinata was a great time, until the twine ended up breaking. The guys tried to fix it and did for a short time.
But it kept breaking, so Jer gave up and just held it out in front of himself, letting the kids take a swing. Luckily no one was hurt.
Chickening out after 3 near hits, Jer ended up just dumping the candy on the ground.
Yes, it was so cold we cuddled in blankets.
Bring on the dodgeball! The kids enjoyed a game of pelting each other with soft balls while trying to hide on the playground.
He might be the King of Dodgeball, but his mom still ended up getting him.
The hideout shelter.
I have the nicest friends. Janie brought coats from her house for some of the kids that didn't have any. She also helped with an unanticipated potty break for a child.
Trying to keep warm.
Bella opens presents before it gets too dark. When I had first planned this party (a month in advance), I didn't think it was going to be that dark- note to future party planning self.
Thank you Bentley. I love my Diva hat!
Grandma gave Bella the Brave doll Merida and her dress. This is Bella's favorite movie right now.
We ended up cutting the party short by 20 minutes. It was suppose to go to eight, but it was just too cold. A big thank you to all of the parents that helped!!! It was definitely a night I will not forget.
The after party...
I let Bella have three friends spend the night. Luckily they were so worn out that they fell asleep at 9:30. They woke up at 6ish. I put a cartoon on for them. Jer said he'd watch them, so I could sleep for a while. I woke up to screaming and ran to find out that they were jumping on the trampoline.
When I came inside and looked at the time I saw that it was only 7:30, so I went back outside and told them that they had to jump quietly. The looks on their faces were priceless. "How do we jump quietly?!"
These are the only balloons that I have left from the 17 that I bought; they are now Bella's balloons instead of party favors. As my friend Chris put it- Look at it this way- 12 kids are going to be really happy when they find those uninflated balloons in their yards. It was definitely not the party I had planned for or expected, but nonetheless a good time was had.
