Birthday Party!

Grace had a fabulous time at her birthday party today!  She was so excited to play with her friends and open presents!  This is a picture of her birthday cake that we decorated last night.  It wasn't perfect, but Grace loved it!  This morning when she woke up, I showed it to her and she just sat on a chair and stared at it in awe for several minutes.  Score!

I scheduled the party from 11-1 so we could eat lunch, play, then go home to naptime.  We ate hot dogs, chips, and fruit for lunch.  Then, we played Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey.  Hopefully I didn't traumatize too many children with the blindfold (a first for several).  Then, it was pinata time!  Todd hung it up from a crossbeam on the ceiling and we let the kids hit it with a baseball bat.  The girls were so cute....most of them barely tapped it.  Then the boys got up there and gave it a good beating.  Todd ended up having to break it open for them, then they all scrambled to pick up the candy and prizes.  

We sang "Happy Birthday", ate cake and ice cream, then opened presents.  At first Grace didn't realize that she got to keep the presents she opened.  She thought that since it was "from Will" that she had to give it back to Will, etc.  Towards the end she started to understand then was so excited to see Todd loading her presents in our car to go home.  She didn't want to go to naptime when we got home knowing her toys were waiting to be opened.  As I type, she is still not asleep after being in bed for over at hour.  I'll let her get up soon and explore her new things.

When the party was over, all the moms helped us get the fellowship hall cleaned up.  It was so sweet to look around and see my friends sweeping and wiping tables down.  How precious our friends are here at my parent's home!