We had the best time yesterday afternoon as we celebrated Mara's "pretend" birthday, as she informed everyone she saw during church yesterday morning. I always feel a bit like Mara's birthday gets lost in the shuffle of the Christmas holiday. It reminds me much about how I was feeling just before she was born--- rushed from Christmas and the cleaning up of all of it, and then like "Oh hey...let's get ready to welcome a human life into the world." Her birthday always feels a bit like that, and it did this year too. I was blessed with the New Year's holiday falling on Friday, though, since we had Friday and Saturday to get ready. (Please don't think that means I wasn't rushing around like a fool at the last minute, because I surely was.)
Mara had requested a Peppa Pig party, so we did our best. If you've never seen Peppa Pig, consider yourself lucky. She is a little pig who speaks with a British accent and likes to jump in muddy puddles. The theme song to her cartoon show is a little bit on the annoying side, and I promised Libby I would not have it playing on TV during the party. Those few details were really all I had to work with. So it wasn't our best theme job, but I don't think my "almost" 4 year old minded too much. I was lucky to find some Peppa and George cake toppers because....how on earth would one make a Peppa Pig cake? Even Pinterest failed me on that one with anything that looked doable and cute enough to make the effort worthwhile. We had some coloring pages that I printed that the kids actually seemed to enjoy. And we had some cute attempts at food that fit the theme--- pigs in a blanket, curly tail pasta salad, Muddy Puddle dirt pudding....get it? And then there were lots of dips and snacks for the grownups and all manner of junk food for the kids. The basket of cheese curls (somehow equated with party food in this house, I don't know how that happened, but don't even try to have a birthday party without them) was all but empty by the end of the afternoon.
Mara received some really sweet gifts that we have already been enjoying. She got a few new games and we love all of them! Last evening after the party mess was cleaned up, we got our tubs and then got right to game playing until it was time for bed. We LOVE the Shelby's Snack Shack game, and Brooke's new favorite called Blink will be a favorite here as well I am sure. We even played a Shopkins inspired "Go Fish" variation called "Go Shopping". I cannot recommend the line of board games enough that includes the Shelby's Snack Shack, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, Frankie's Food Truck, and a few others. They are absolutely perfect for smaller kids. But all three of ours like to play them! They're fast moving, non complicated, skill building games for things like colors and counting and shapes. I love them and we seriously play them all the time. (I will say, Josh isn't so interested in playing these, but he will for the sake of his sisters.) Nana brought some Peppa blocks that I know will be a hit, and some new Doc McStuffins accessories for her pet vet station she got for Christmas. Those were promptly removed from the packaging before the party was even over.
I failed in the photo department when it came to getting good pictures of all of the kids together. But I had to include this one of Mara and Kinley. Mara was SO over the moon excited about Kinley coming yesterday. This tells me two things--- 1. I love that they adore each other. And 2. We need to get these kiddos together more often. I noticed it yesterday with Josh and Cooper playing well and enjoying each other too. How blessed we are by these sweet friendships--- not only the kids, but the grown ups too.
We were missing the Dugan side of the family yesterday due to Grandma's cold and Aunt Sheri's store relocation, so that was a bummer. But we had a wonderful day with family, and friends who are treasured like family. All of these sweet people shared their last day of Christmas break with us--- when the to do lists were piled high with lunches to pack, backpacks to get ready, meals to prep for the week, laundry to fold and put away. And the Lewistown bunch travelled an hour + on top of it all. I know the sacrifice was not a small one, and I'm truly grateful for the sharing of this last precious day of peace to celebrate our not-so-little-anymore girl.
I hope Mara felt the love that we all poured into this day for her. By the looks on her face and the giggles that I heard, I think she did. And for me, that's all that counts.
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