Anna's Fourth Birthday

For Anna's fourth birthday, she decided she wanted to have a Dora the Explorer cake. Before her birthday, I think she mostly watched Dora at Grandma's house because we didn't watch it at our house. We actually had to watch an episode so that I could familiarize myself with the characters and plan a party around that theme. This was our first friends' party, so it was an adventure for both of us.

If you ask me the night that I decorate a cake, I will tell you that it takes too much work and I'm never doing it again, but secretly, I really do enjoy it even if it always takes me so much longer than I expect. I learned my lesson after the Princess Cake disaster and now I frost all cakes the night before. I think I started working on this one around nine and finished around midnight.

Saturday, March 3

All the party books suggest a craft and it seemed like a good gathering activity. So for we started Anna's birthday party by making birds with folded paper plates and pieces of tissue for the feathers. I thought they looked like parrots or something that might be found in Dora's world. The kids mostly just enjoyed gluing tissue paper to the plates, and most of them didn't look too much like birds, but no biggie.

Then Dan lead the kids on a treasure hunt. Dan wrote the clues up and hid the treasure (chocolate coins).

the bounty

We also played "what's in the backpack?" The kids had to stick their hands in and without looking, guess what was inside. It's not a Dora party without a backpack, right? They had a hard time with the not looking, but most of them were able to guess what was in the backpack.

Then the presents! These kids were so great about giving their presents to Anna, instead of thinking that the present they brought was theirs to open. They were all so eager to hand their present over.

Seth really wanted to be in the picture with Anna. 

I had Anna practice blowing out a candle a week before her birthday. I think it was about this time that Anna liked having "Dark Vader night," which meant we would turn off all the lights in the house and eat dinner by candle light. So we had lots of opportunities to blow out candles, but for some reason, Anna forgot how to do it. I think she was blowing up instead of down. At any rate, Dad had to help Anna blow out her four candles.

We ended with my favorite game of all: Monkey Tails. The game involves tying a marker to a piece of yarn and then around a child's waist, so that it looks like a monkey's tail. Then they race to see who can put the marker in a jar or cup first without using their hands. It was really hard for the kids to avoid using their hands and a little challenging to get it in the cup. But it made for some funny moments.

Anna's friend Hazel gave her this princess floor puzzle and after the party, Anna put it together almost all by herself.

Monday, March 5

Opening family presents

Anna decided that rather than have a big family party, she wanted one-on-one time with grandmas and grandpas. So on her birthday, my parents took her out for ice cream. Then a few weeks later, we met up with Heather's parents at McDonald's.