Birthday week

It was a fun week, but I'm still kind of glad it's over.   Birthday week.  Two birthdays in one week and unless we schedule their parties close to each other, it can feel like the whole month of January is focused on those two special days.

I'll just tell you about Alice's birthday today. 

The tradition is for us to take the birthday girl out for lunch to their restaurant of choice.  Sometimes it's just me, but if Yvon has time he meets us as well which is nice.  I find that the girls on their own with the adults are different people.  Capable of conversation and good company.

Alice's choice:  Hap's Hungry House, an all-day breakfast place near home (and therefore near school).  It was a cold, cold day and the van refused to start.  One of the teachers from the school gave us a ride, otherwise frostbite may have played a part in our birthday celebration. Whew! 

Alice initially wanted a music theme for her birthday and Laura wanted to contribute by decorating the cake. 

I see birthdays getting easier in my future if the kids start doing the time-consuming work.  I love the cake.

Her party changed themes somewhat when I mentioned maybe showing a movie.  The music theme was dropped (because I couldn't think of anything to do with it) and we brought on the movie idea.  It turned out great, actually.  Thanks go to my sister for some of the ideas. 

Using Alice's new camera, three big girls directed and filmed a movie that ended with the discovery of a treasure.  The treasure was a popcorn box for each child, and inside was a bag with coins for the movie concession (Halloween sized chocolate bars, fruit kabobs, and popcorn), the movie ticket and a couple of items that were useful for the "interaction" part of the movie. 

We borrowed a projector and created a theatre in the basement for an interactive viewing of "The Princess Bride".  I can't find my pictures of  theatre, but it was quite cute with little Christmas lights around the screen and chairs for the kids.  While they watched the movie, Beth and I edited their own treasure movie so that it could be viewed on the big screen before they went home. 

As moviestars themselves, they were all given prints of themselves and they gathered autographs on the back from each other.  I'm not big on treat bags (I've never done them really), but it's still nice for them to go home with something.

A fun party with some hectic moments and some downtime for playing too.  And everyone gone at 4:30 so I could do something about cleanup and supper.  One down, one to go!