Pirate PARRRRty

Much of Rush’s life is centered around costumes.  He saves his red shirts to wear on days where he is most likely to see his friend Barrett, so he can be Lightning McQueen.  A green shirt isn’t just a green shirt, it’s a Hulk shirt.  Cowboy boots are useful for being a cowboy, Thor, a pirate, or a Viking.  I already had to set the No Capes At School rule.  Much of the discussion about what kind of birthday party to have involved what kind of costume he could wear.  Finally it was decided:  a pirate breakfast.

The easiest way to make a sign look creepy is to hold a crying baby in one arm while you paint with the other. 

For every kids’ birthday party we host, I think about a black and white photograph of one of my dad’s (or my Aunt Kay’s?) birthday parties in the 1950’s.  All the kids were huddled around a homemade cake on a table in a backyard or driveway, with all the mothers in their shirtwaist dresses.  It’s the subtle inspiration behind all our kids’ birthday parties.  The ultimate goal is a good-time feeling, kids running around the backyard.

Let your eyes go out of focus on this magic eye pan of cupcakes and you might notice that it’s a treasure map.  It looks to me like a mom made these cupcakes and iced them while she was on the phone.  I love those cupcakes, so full of homemade love.  That’s the same overconfidence that compels me to bring clothes that are way too small into dressing rooms, then be surprised when they won’t fit.  Wait, I’m not the same size I was in high school?  Probably from all the cupcakes and childbearing.  Aaaannnd cornbread.  (And college and candy and cheese…potential diet plan is avoid anything that begins with the letter C…sounds miserable.)

My favorite way to decorate:  wander into the garage at 9 PM the night before a party that starts at 9 AM and look around for possibilities.  The elevator rope wins again!  This was right after Trent dug through his scrap wood to whip up a plank for the yard, just in case anyone needed to walk it.

Remember newspaper hats? 

Holly spent most of the party snoozing in the arms of her soon-to-be godmother. 

 

Rush proclaimed that the party was, “The Best Birthday Party I Have Ever Had.”