A Birthday Party with an Ornament

What a weekend! Robb and I attended a Christmas party on Friday evening and had a wonderful time, but stayed out way past our bedtime, especially considering I had a birthday party at 10am the next morning. A birthday party for my daughter, at my house, which I still needed to tidy before it was invaded by a small army of 6 and 7 year old girls. OK, that's an exaggeration. Four nicely behaved children came.

Anyway, I awoke groggy and began to clean and prep. I planned on serving mac and cheese, figuring every kid likes that, and we always have a case stashed in the basement. Of course, when I went to fetch it, there was only one box left. Humph. Not quite enough for 6 little girls. And by that time I only had an hour before they showed up, so I quickly changed the plan. Turkey soup was in the freezer. Not the expected birthday fare, but it happens to be my daughter's favorite, so I lucked out. Big sigh of relief.

The girls arrived and we painted Christmas tree ornaments. That seems to be a theme around here, lately, isn't it? (It's day 20, after all!) Here is Madison painting hers:

And now my mother knows I let her paint in her new dress. Bad mommy! It was her birthday, what can I say? (Well, I could have said no, I suppose!)

Madison had been requesting a pinata for her party since last summer. She would randomly remind me, "Mom, don't forget. I want a pinata for my birthday party."  I'd always respond, "Yes, dear, but that is months away, and I'm likely to forget before then. Can you remind me in a few months?"  (I always claim, lovingly, of course, that my children have given me brain damage.) The birthday approached, however, and I remembered all by myself. Must be some kind of minor mommy miracle.

So we bought a pinata. And a $9.00 bag of candy. Ya think that's enough candy for 6 little girls? Ya sure, you betcha!

Now we had a problem. This is December and there is snow outside and it's cold. Brrr, freezing, as my husband says. And a pinata is safest broken outside. So how is one to destroy a pinata inside without destroying a house or worse, some precious girl's head? (I've seen way too many Funniest Home Videos of people getting a bat in the head.)

So we improvised. The girls jumped on the pinata. And they just tore into it with their bare hands. I highly recommend this method. The girls seemed to enjoy it, and no one got hurt. And they got to the candy much faster! Screaching and squealing and general mayhem abounded. Until Megan took over and decided everyone should be able to go home with candy they liked. She had them all dump out their bags, organize it into piles by type and then pick what they liked. It was a very organized process. She must take after her father!










Of course we had cake too. I had planned ahead on that. It didn't quite measure up to my old standards when I was making fantasticly detailed cakes, but once again, Madison was easily pleased. Cake crumbs showing through the white frosting are of no matter to her. And easily concealed with pink sugar sprinkles. Another sigh of relief.











 Pleased as punch birthday girl. Happy 6th sweet girl!













A happy time was had by all!