Happy Half-Birthday!

Lilia was born 2 days after Christmas, so sometimes it seems like her birthday gets lost in the chaos of the holidays.  Particularly this year, when she was going to the parties of her class mates, and talking about having her own party.  We had decided many years ago that we'd do a half-birthday party type thing, in the warm weather.

This was the first year we actually went through with it.  It was a fun time, albeit stressful, trying to get stuff done in 90º weather.  But I'd say Lilia had a good time, as did her guests.

I tried to keep it simple.  Really, I just wanted the kids to have fun.  I tried to not focus on decorations "too" much.  In one corner of the yard, I set up a cheap bubble machine that had some pretty positive reviews.  For 12.99, it worked really well.

 I also wanted the kids to keep cool.  So I set up both a sprinkler, and a kiddy pool, although that was supposed to be for a little "pick a duck" game with prizes.  By the time guests arrived, Liam had already crawled in, threw out the ducks and was swimming happily.  At least he was cool!

 I attempted to do a little streamer fun on my clothes line, which looked really nice, until the wind picked up.  Ah well...

 The kids wanted to feed the chickens.  Not gonna say no to that.

 Pin the Bow on Hello Kitty.  Fairly sure Lilia could see, because she got it right on the money.

 Lilia picked a Hello Kitty cake.  I think this is her favorite part of a birthday party, more than opening presents.  You gotta love that big blob of green frosting....

Piñata time.  They wanted to beat it with the bat, despite it being a pull string (Is that all they make nowadays?)  Each kid got a turn, and it fell off the rope before it broke open.  Eventually we had them all grab the strings and rip it open.  It was quite carnivorous.

 The candy aftermath.  The poor Candy never stood a chance.

In the end, we caved, and let the kids in the pool.  It was just too hot, and they were all really good.  And it was a nice to end the party, for them at least.  I think I was ready to pass out from the heat and the cake.  I think once everyone left, I floated in the pool for an hour, and then slept on the couch for an hour.  But I had a happy half-birthday girl, and little brother, and happy guests.  So it was a great success.