Sparkle's Birthay

I forgot to post about Sparkle's birthday.

On the day of her birthday, we had a simple celebration at home. I got a cake mix and Sparkle got to bake her own birthday cake. I was grateful that she wanted a bundt cake, as I have a horrible time trying to make a traditional cake. Sparkle is getting quite good at cracking eggs. After supper we had the cake and some ice cream for dessert and I played "Happy Birthday" on the piano.

We had her party at a local park. We also got a reservation for the community building at the park so we could enjoy air conditioning. Several of Sparkle's friends came, but I am lousy at building a guest list. After the party Wander and I remembered some other friends that we should have invited. By taking the party out of the house and to the park, we could have invited more friends, and I didn't have to come up with an activity to entertain the kids. (This was the first time our girls had a party that wasn't a home party.)

The weather was super hot, but the air conditioned building was nice. The kids would go play on the park for a while and the dads would supervise. Then they'd get hot and exhausted and come back into the air conditioning to cool off and have a drink. Then when they started running around the building too much, we'd shoo them outside again. The moms mostly holed up in the air conditioning, and everyone had fun.

The weekend before Sparkle's birthday party she got to attend a beautiful ballerina/tea-party themed birthday party. As much as I'd like that sort of party, I can't do that sort of planning. So, we just had the park, balloons, pizza, and cake.





Sparkle got lots of presents. I'm really impressed with presents she got. She got some flip flops which have become her new exclusive footwear. She got the game "Guess Who" which is a new favorite game. (I even like playing it with her due to the combination of thinking and luck involved.) She got a make-your-own-fairytale-book and some paper dolls. She loved the craftiness of both of them, and glued and sticker'ed and accessorized to her heart's content. She got some new clothes which have become her new wear-the-day-after-mom-does-laundry outfit.