Makeshift Story: Birthday Week!

Nature walk (complete with backpacks full of self-packed snacks and other necessities)

WHEW. What a week. With Juniper's actual birthday on Tuesday (July 30th), and her party on Sunday (Aug. 3), it was a long, celebratory 6 days. It involved a lot of excitement, and more eating out than we should have. I kind of feel as though Clark and I managed to pass some sort of convoluted "parents of a 5-year-old" test. But pass we did! So, without further ado, here are the details:

TUESDAY, July 30: Juniper's actual birthday.

1) It began with a brand-new birthday crown, presented at breakfast. (This also meant that we had to dig out Linden's old birthday crown, of course.)

(Royal) Birthday oatmeal

2) Post-breakfast, Juniper got to open two presents - one from us, and one from Mary and Bob (my parents)

A card with a brilliant stick-family portrait

From us: a custom-made pencil case, and a whole lot of art/school supplies. Clearly I had a ball making/ shopping for it all. I also might be guilty of indulging my unhealthy love of school supplies through my daughter

... and the highlight? A real digital camera from Mary and Bob!

3) Fancy dance party, of course.

Wild twirls

Quick hug break

4) Linden heads to daycare, and Juniper and I go out for a nature walk/photo-taking session.

A possible fairy hole

Pond shot

Bees and flowers

5) We head to the Village Café (Juniper's choice) for a girl's lunch

Mango-banana smoothie (complements of Sarah!) and a grilled cheese

6) Off to the pottery studio (after about an hour, Clark picked her up and brought her into work for the rest of the afternoon, but I don't have pictures of that)

Working on some important documents with her new art supplies

7) We pick Linden up and go out for dinner. We had told Juniper a few days earlier that dinner was her choice, and so naturally her knee-jerk reaction was Friendly's.

"That's great, if that's what you want", I told her.

"There are also other places", suggested Clark, a bit later, trying to test the waters.

"Well..." Juniper thought for a bit. "We could go out for Thai, but would we be able to go out for ice cream after?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Clark

"And could I get my OWN ice cream, no sharing?"

"Yes!".

And that is how we managed to dodge Friendly's. However, while at the Thai restaurant, we ordered crispy spring rolls, thinking they'd be a nice treat for the birthday girl. When Juniper picked one up, however, she looked at it, wrinkled her nose, and said,

"I don't know... it looks like a penis"

Clark and I both looked up in shock, and neither of us managed to respond. Thinking we hadn't heard her, she repeated loudly, "IT LOOKS LIKE A PENIS". She didn't eat it after all.

Sigh.

The birthday cones. Juniper had her own, of course, and Linden had his "own, to share with mama and dad"

Fast Forward to Sunday, the big birthday bash. I was already trepidatious about throwing my first real kids' birthday party (which wasn't at my parents' house or the farm) , but decided that it would be do-able if we held it at the park. That way, the kids could spend most of their time running around and playing, with pit stops for snacks and cake and big bubbles as the mood hit. No biggie. Early on in the week, however, the weather forecasts started looking iffy. We had decided to go the the park rain or shine (putting a tarp over the food in the case of rain), but as the day drew near, the forecasts had upped the ante to thunder and lightning. So, of course, we sent out a mass email, and did a last-minute switch to our house. This was EXACTLY what I had been trying to avoid in the first place (our house is really quite small, and therefore not super conducive to big groups of people). It also meant a whole lot of last minute everything - namely, cleaning, decorating, rearranging the living room/dining room, and coming up with indoor activities (and shopping for supplies for said activities at 9pm the night before).

And you know what? In the end, it was actually really quite fun! The rain held off, for the most part, so we still had a whole lot of bubble fun outside (thank GOD - it would not have been very fun with everyone sardined in the house for 2 hours). Inside there was a "stained glass"-making station (tissue paper and confetti sandwiched between mac tac), a table with a massive batch of freshly-made play dough, and an on-going dance party. And loads of food. Plus, all that pre-cleaning was really a very good thing to have been forced to do. There were a few hiccups (food I forgot to put out; a bra hanging on the bathroom door that I only noticed after everyone left...), but overall, I'd say it was a jolly good time, and a big success. Final tally? Including the four of us, there were 33 people here. THIRTY-THREE. Here are some photos:

My tree cake! Complete with jelly fruit in the leaves. It wasn't quite as polished as it was in my head, but I was pleased with it in the end. I thought there would be loads of left-overs, but it was completely devoured - not a single crumb left.

Bubble fun

IMMEDIATELY post-pop of a particularly huge bubble

A high-riser

Play-dough station

Dance party

Cake time! (look at that cheeky monkey, smiling at the camera!)

Some balloon fun with Helen, at the tail end of the party (all the kids got to take home a balloon, and a bag of play-dough, if they wanted to - who needs a treat bag?)

I should also mention how sweet everyone has been to Juniper on this special week. She was given some really wonderful surprise gifts (especially from some of the amazing pottery ladies that she has grown to know and love over the last few months), and some lovely, thoughtful, hand-made cards from everyone who came to the party. We're pretty lucky to know such amazing people here!

Juniper, opening gifts and reading cards post-party

"What is that really shiny thing she is wearing?", you ask? Why that, of course, is her birthday tunic. I rummaged through all of my fabric to find the shiniest, gaudiest pieces that are currently on my shelves (with a special lookout for her two current favourite colours - red and blue -), and then threw them together into the splashy little number you see before you. We both agreed she looked very much like a superhero in it. Here is a little photo-shoot we did before calling it quits after the party day:

Holding up her "5"

Super-intense super hero pose

And, of course, hanging from a tree branch.

And finally, I will leave you with an assortment of pictures that I pulled off of Juniper's new camera. She has had it for less than a week, but she just loves it, and feels incredibly joyful (and important and powerful, I'd imagine), being able to just take photos of whatever she wants, whenever she wants. And I have to say, it has been a super-huge treat for me to be able to look at the world through her eyes, even in these little glimpses. See you next week!