Sunday, April 01, 2007

Birthday celebrations

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. What can I say? It's been Anna's birthday WEEK. Thursday was the actual day she turned SIX. She woke up bouncing around the house, got some presents before school, some more after I got home from work, and a visit from Nana and Grandad on their journey moving to Houston. We made her a chocolate cake loaded with chocolate chips, and on the top the night before I made a stencil that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ANNA IS 6," with powdered sugar. Sadly this was absorbed INTO the moist cake overnight, so I had to do a hasty re-do. Anna didn't care, ate a huge piece. That plus the actual b-day excitement kept her up until almost 10pm.

For her party, we planned a smaller garden-themed party. I sent out invites 2 weeks before but only got 1 RSVP and that guest was to be 1 hour late due to a soccer game. By Thursday night I was getting quite anxious on Anna's behalf. What if we threw her a party and no one came? Compounding this was our phone service being extremely unreliable (it's VOIP and our internet connection is the source of the problem). So Friday night I was calling all the invitees to see if anyone was coming.

In the end, we had 3 of Anna's friends - a neighbor she adores (who's soccer game was cancelled so she was on time - hooray!), her favorite girl friend from school, and her friend Ruby, who she's been pals with since infancy and really, the party would have been lost without her sweet, sunny presence. Add to that her loving cousin, Henley, and the ever-helpful and much-loved Auntie Emily, and our party was complete. The weather was idyllic, as it always seems to be for her party. So we had it in the neighborhood park as usual, did a fun craft with flower pots, and released gobs and gobs of live ladybugs.

What else have we been doing? Eating outside on our lovely patio as much as possible, since it's gorgeous here (when it's not raining). It's as lovely as a good day in June in England, or August in Seattle. You wouldn't want to eat outside either of those months here, because you'd have to choose between death by drowning (in your own sweat) or exsanguination (by mosquitoes). If only the mild weather would last...

8 comments:

ColeBugsmommy said...

Happy Birthday Anna! I feel you pain about waiting for people to invite. I finally consented to a park party again for Cole this coming weekend and I haven't had any RSVP's yet, either...it was the same last year. We had several kiddos at the last minute. It was a beautiful weekend for a garden party!

peevish said...

What? No photos?
It was a wonderful party. Ruby had a great time, and she admitted that she was the reason that one boy ending up in tears. She ?accidentally? hit him with a stick! She was very remorseful.

That ladybug cake was so beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Aw, I'm glad Anna's party went on as scheduled! An all girls party, huh?
Give that 6 yr old a hug for me!

XOXOXOXOXOX!

Emily said...

It was a fun party, and all the girls were enchanted with the ladybugs.

Unknown said...

!Hola! from Las Ventanas. We are sorry we missed the party, but we did our part and released our bag of lady bugs in Houston before we left. That was a big hit. I, too, was sad to see there were no pics in this post. Oh man. Want to see the ladybug cake, okay? And maybe that swanky new patio with all the hard work that went into the landscaping.

News from here? Well, it's just perfect weather-wise. The resort isn't as serene as it once was. Plagued by throngs of wannabe Kid Rock and Pammies from Cali with their bratty ass kids, I'm afraid. Ours are being very well-behaved, endearing as always with their nursery rhymes and twin play. Al and I are sitting on the patio overlooking the ocean (Crash, rumble rumble a wave just broke...) with dueling laptop and blackberry. Modern day romance? Eh, well, at least our tikes are fast asleep and we are enjoying the full moon on the water each night. Nearby rooms aren't as lucky (whining and crying heard at all hours)Sorry to hijack your post with my world. Hope you were interested ;)

Antonia Cornwell said...

Happy birthday to Anna!!

You have English June weather already? Can you send some to England? We are stuck in April. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Well,Antonia, it HAS been a nice April up to now! sunny cool days...perfick! :o) Hi,Miss 6 years old from Aunty Norma.xxx

The Library Lady said...

Happy Belated Birthday to Anna!

(And I understand completely about people and those RSVPs--they seem to think it means "regrets only"