eKeehn

Our little friend Louise has a birthday in October, too. They were on vacation during Obie's party so we had a little belated celebration this week. I've been thinking about Little Red Riding hood because of Halloween and my friend Ava. She's dressing up as Red and so I was searching Pintrest (again!!) looking for ideas to help her mom make the riding hood and came across a little Red Riding Hood plushie. I thought she'd be perfect for Louise... so I whipped one up. : )

This picture doesn't do her justice!

It was a big hit!

When I start sewing, everyone gets ideas. Beatrice made Louise a hippy-colored cat with a curly tail. And Maggie put together the flower hair clip in Louise's hair.

We Love Louise! Happy Second Birthday, Louise!!!

(BTW: I got a picture of Ava in her Red Riding Hood costume today - her mom didn't need my help at all! Looking good, Ava!)

Yes, it's true. Earlier this month Obie turned four. He's a big guy now. He told me a while ago that he wanted an Angry Birds Birthday Party. That got my wheels turning.

In my mind we were going to collect lots of big boxes and paint them to look like wood, cement, and glass so that the kids could set them up with some mustachioed Green Pigs and hurl themselves or Red Bird soccer balls into them. And I was going to make a big King Pig piñata. And decorate balloons with Angry Bird faces. And set up an Angry Bird photo booth replete with hand-made Angry Bird masks. I pinned a whole bunch of other really great ideas to roll about in my head. I wanted to take over the local park pavilion and just let the kids go a little bit crazy.

Then, of course, time disappeared and I realized once again that it is too bleeping cold in MN to plan a huge kids blow-out birthday party at the park. And then none of the families that I wanted to invite were in town that day. (And here I thought I was getting ahead of every one's schedules by thinking this up in August!)

But Grandpa came through for us by suggesting he and Grandma rent a room at the hotel so the kids could go swimming. So, Obie got a big fourth-birthday, October-in-Minnesota, swimming party. And I didn't have to think up any more activities... or paint all of those cardboard boxes...

But I did go all-out with the snacks. Oh, yes.

Red Bird decorated marshmallows and Yellow Bird orange-shortbread cookies

Green Pig rice crispy treats for our gluten-free friends (well, and everyone else, too)

The Red Bird nest was put together with very, very old and stale bran-twig cereal that no one was eating. There was a bit of a dare going on for one of the adults to eat it, but no one took the bait. I loved the anger in these Red Bird's faces!

And the Piece de Resistance! The Green Pigs built a big number four to protect them from those flying Angry Birdies. I have to admit the cake was beyond awesome. I mean Perfect. Excellent. If I never decorate another cake, this one will live on in infamy in my honor. AND it tasted delicious AND it was whole grain.

Here's my four-year-old boy. He has still slightly wet simmer's-hair. He loved his cake! (Note the mustachioed Pig. Lolololol!)

He got lots of great birthday gifts... mostly Angry Bird related, and also Star Wars related. His friends and family know him well! For what I felt was a little bit of a last-ditch effort compared with what I had initially envisioned, it was a truly great hotel swimming pool party. Everyone had a great time and ate waaaayyyy too much sugar.

* * * *

A few days later, after Grandma and Grandpa left, I asked Obie how it felt to be four. He told me he wasn't four yet and I asked him, "why not?" Well, although we had remembered to bring the candles to the hotel, no one had matches to light them up. (And honestly, I felt we'd infringed on the kindness of the hotel employees enough that it was wise to spare them from possibly setting off the fire alarms.) So, in Obie's mind he wasn't actually four until he'd blown out those four candles.

What's a mama to do? Go get doughnuts, of course.