Reap what you sow

Preparing for a birthday party takes hard work.

Hard work by Daddy and birthday girl.

Hard work by Mommy (and dear friend Susie--a million thanks, Suz!)


But every single second of the hardwork was worth it for this moment.

The birthday party was a great success. M had a great time and was doing great until it was time to open presents. She even got a few open before falling apart. We bribed her to finish opening them, which she did. This afternoon and evening, she had a great time looking through all of her new stuff.

I think her friends had a good time, too. We had games set up like a festival. When the children arrived, they made their goodie bags at the bottom of the driveway. The games were set up on one side of the yard. As they finished playing the games, they earned prizes for their goodie bags (caramel apples, chocolate suckers, bubbles and toys). After they played the games, they played in M's play area, ate lunch, sang happy birthday and had cucpakes (seen above--made from scratch!!!!). Most left while we were opening presents. I'm proud to say that we stayed mostly on schedule.

I'm glad birthdays only come once a year. We had fun getting ready, but it was SUPER hard work. This weekend marks the end of our busiest month in a long, long time. I'm looking forward to some down time for everyone around here.

Thanks for all the well wishes as we prepared for the big day. You were right: it was a lot of fun.