Anda's Birthday

We are now the proud parents of a five-year-old. How did that happen?!

We thought we'd go low-key for Anda's birthday this year, but we found a great deal on a bounce house rental, and what's a bounce house without nine five-year-olds jumping around in it? Things spiraled from there, and this is the year we braved our first friend party. 

Unfortunately, two days before the party, Anda got sick. Very sick. Up-all-night-writhing-in-pain-in-Mom-and-Dad's-bed sick. To give some perspective on the severity of the situation, this was what the child who stopped napping before she turned two did the next day:

This called for a doctor's visit, which called for several prescriptions, which led to even more napping (and let's be clear--I'm not complaining about the napping). She had a nasty double ear infection, but I was glad it wasn't anything worse (or contagious). 

Fortunately, the medicine started helping right away, and although she wasn't 100% on the big day, she was at least ready-to-party %, which is all we ask. 

Apparently I'm clinging to her youth as long as possible, since I only put four candles on her birthday pancakes that morning. Whoops. 

And she got to bring her Jake and the Neverland Pirates cupcake cake to school (which I didn't  take a picture of until after it was half-eaten, but it was cute).

Dan swapped his days off so that he could be there all day to celebrate (and help out). We all picked her up from school together to surprise her with the bounce house, and we got exactly the reaction we've come to expect from surprising Anda: no reaction at all. 

But don't be fooled--she loved it. 

After another significant nap and a little more medicine, it was party time. I wish I'd got better pictures of the party, but being 10 months pregnant and trying to herd the cats that are small children full of sugar does not lead to great photo opportunities.                                     

Everyone started in the bounce house, which was a big hit, of course. 

But the storm that had been causing me anxiety all week rolled in about 20 minutes after the party started, so I ushered them into the house for some inside activities while we waited out the rain. 

We kind of went with a pirate/island theme. Dan had even dressed in his pirate shirt with a bandana on his head, but we hadn't stressed the pirate theme enough so some of the moms just thought he was trying to be "hip." He ended up changing his outfit, but I thought it was fun. Too bad we couldn't find my Jolly Roger flag Halloween decoration. 

I did make a "pin the patch on the pirate" game, though. 

The sky cleared up after that, so we went out and did a water balloon toss. I guess the concept of the game was a little old for our group, but they had fun throwing the balloons around and chasing each other, which was the end goal anyway. 

We passed out little plastic doubloons for prizes (I couldn't find chocolate coins), and Dan's best contribution for the day was an off-the-cuff game called "Whoever brings the most popped balloons to Anda's mom gets the gold doubloon!" It was very Mary Poppins of him and saved us from doing a lot of bending down to pick up garbage later. Way to go, Dad! 

After some more bouncing, we decided to skip the limbo and go straight to cupcake decorating. I meant to do them about three at a time with the kids, but they all heard cupcakes and came running. I was very grateful for the couple of moms who had decided to stay at that point, since they could help spread frosting and pass out sprinkles for everyone. 

I made rainbow cupcakes that turned out really well, but forgot to take a good picture. Just trust me. 

It was Anda's friend Maren's birthday as well, so we lit candles and sang for both of them. (They were born on the same day at the same hospital in Utah, and we ended up in the same ward in South Carolina four years later.)

After cupcakes, Anda opened her presents. 

Then they bounced some more until their moms came to pick them up. 

It was a completely exhausting and really fun day. Although we all went to bed tired and sore, I have to point out that no one broke a single bone this year. Victory!

Happy birthday, Anda Chicken!