Claire (Almost) Turns Four

Summer Birthdays are tough! Not only is everybody else going to be gone over Claire's Birthday, but WE will be gone for Claire's Birthday. Well, we'll be on an airplane on her Birthday, which isn't a great way to celebrate. So we decided to throw her Birthday party early.

But then she got sick. So we had to postpone her Birthday.

Finally today we were able to celebrate.

Claire was so excited! We had to keep reminding her that it's just her Birthday Party day- not her Birthday. It's all so confusing.

But the party went well.

We pretty much duplicated what we did for Audra's Birthday- with fewer activities. We did the same stations that we had at Audra's party, but we did not do relays or a craft. Instead, we put the sprinklers on (it's over 90 degrees today!) and let them play with the Slip N Slide. The kids had a great time- it turned out really well!

Audra made this sign to put on the front door for the guests to read:

 It says: Look. Listen. Have Fun. Be Yourself.

Great advice for all of us!

 I asked Claire what kind of cake she wanted, and to my surprise she said, "A carrot cake." I don't know if she was remembering Camille's cake and she wanted that one or not, but I couldn't even convince her to get an ice-cream cake, she really wanted a carrot cake. So I made one. I am not the greatest cake decorator, but thankfully Claire helped me out and added all the sprinkles to make it look pretty.

 Camille did a great job running around and getting into things:

 The doughnut game was our favorite from Audra's party, so we knew we had to play it again. It proved awesome:

 They all got water guns:

 The octopus sprinkler was the biggest hit- everybody loved that:

 They had fun just running around and playing:

 We had a water balloon toss- a HUGE hit!

 And, the Slip N Slide:

 Camille discovered the water table:

We had hot dogs for lunch, which didn't go over as well as I thought they would. Oh, well.

I think we had 12 kids there, counting siblings. It was definitely a crowd, but the kids really did great. We had a few tears as some kids missed their moms and one kid fell on the stairs, but overall things ran smoothly.

Overall, the party was a success. But I have to say that I am SOOOOO glad that party season is over! No more Birthday parties for a VERY LONG time!

Both Ben and I are beat! But, I am so glad that we were able to have some of Claire's friends come over and celebrate our special little girl! We are so blessed!