Birthday Round 2: Audra Turns 6

Audra ran into my room this morning at 6:30 and said, "Mama! Guess what day it is!" To which I lovingly responded, "Go away."

Later I told her she wasn't allowed to have a Birthday and she had to stay little. She told me "no." Apparently cancelling her Birthday was not an option.

We spent the entire day either preparing for, hosting, or recovering from Audra's Birthday party.

Whew!

We decided to do her party at our house this year. All of the Easter, Halloween, and any other parties I have ever hosted all prepared me for today's event. It was a dosey!

For two hours we had seventeen 3-6 year olds running around our backyard, playing games, eating ice-cream cake, and having a blast.

When all was said and done, I would count this party a great success.

But I am very, very tired.

It was a lot of work.

And in 2 weeks I get to do it again, only with 3-4 year olds.

My kids had better repay me someday!

It really was a lot of fun, and it really did go exceptionally well. The biggest problem is that I wanted it to be an outdoor summer party with sprinklers and the slip and slide and such. However, the weather didn't quite cooperate. It was in the 70s and overcast, which meant it would be too cold for sprinklers (I know, in Seattle it would have been an answer to prayers, but in CO we are wimps and it was too cold). So I had to redo my game plan and come up with a bunch of party games for 17 kids.

Thankfully, my plan worked. The kids all had a great time, they didn't get bored, and the time went really fast.

Both Ben and I were glad when it was over!

We started out with the Limbo and some other group games:

 Then we broke into groups and did some relay races:

 Here's the cotton ball on a spoon relay:

 Then we did a craft. Audra REALLY wanted to do a craft. I wasn't too excited about getting 17 little kids to do a craft, but it actually went quite well. Thankfully, 3 moms stayed to help out- and Ben and I needed it! Without them this would have been a disaster, but it really did turn out well.

The kids made little monkeys:

 Then we broke back into our groups and rotated between four different stations. We had fishing for silly prizes:

 Here is Audra with some friends as they wait to throw ping pong balls into Mason jars. The Mason jars had colors in them, and whatever color they threw the ping pong ball into, that is what color of candy they got for their goody bags:

 This station was the best- eating dangling donuts. The kids were hilarious! Ben was in charge of this station, and he LOVED it because he got to laugh a lot:

 In this station they use a water gun to squirt a ping pong ball off a golf tee. When they finish they get a squirt gun for their goody bag.

 The kids enjoyed the stations- it kept them moving and doing different things. With so many kids, I knew I had to divide them up because otherwise they would get bored waiting in line. With groups of 4, things moved smoothly. The kids really did a great job, I didn't have any problems with any of the kids. Again, though, I am indebted to the moms who stayed and helped. I owe them!

Here's Audra's Birthday cake:

Audra was very particular about what Birthday cake she wanted. It's a DQ ice-cream cake. She wanted Hello Kitty but the one she picked out broke. They had another Hello Kitty thing but it wasn't edible,and she really wanted a decal that was edible, so she ended up with My Little Pony. She was fine with that.

 Camille slept through the whole party- a HUGE bonus! I couldn't believe we were lucky enough for that to happen!

When she woke up she had fun playing on Audra's new blanket from Grandma High. She kept snuggling it- such a cutie!

 Audra's favorite preset for the moment is a remote control dog. She would walk around with it and Camille would follow- absolutely fascinated.

We ordered pizza tonight for dinner, and I think all of us will sleep very well tonight! I can definitely say the party was an absolute success, and even though we are completely exhausted, I'm so happy with how everything turned out.

All in all, it was a great day. And I'm glad it's over.