party pictures post

Zoey had her 5th birthday party last weekend, and she pronounced it "The Best Birthday Party Ever!" Which was great, because frankly, I didn't put a lot of planning into the production. I just had a vague idea of kids, house, chaos, pinata and cupcakes. And it was all of those things.

I kept it small, and really only invited my friends' kids, but they're all kids she knows and plays with. My friend Kelly came up from Houston with her two girls, whom Z has known since their birth. And then there were my Austin friends: Janet and her family (literally my oldest friend--we met freshman year of high school and were briefly roommates when I lived in Austin for a year, oh, over 20 years ago); our neighbors from down the street; Z's best friend from her old school; and her new best friend from her new school; and Trey's business partner's family. See? just a small party.

Oh, and my parent's came up. They'd been meaning to come up to visit ever since my sister moved her for her new job. She's been staying with us, but just yesterday filled out an app for a new apartment in a great central location. Though I have to say, it's been fun having her live with us.

What was I talking about? Oh yes, the party. It was fun, for the adults as well as the kids. I mean, the kids just ran around the house, playing with anything they could find (including the Wii, which kept the older kids and some of the adults entertained). Kids always find something to do. I was happy to talk with the very cool collection of adults--it almost made me feel like I have something of a social circle here in Austin. Plus, the adults seemed to enjoy each other as well, even though most of them didn't know the others. I think there might have been a fair amount of, "who's your kid?"

In addition to the slightly scary-looking Dora pinata, I got the kids to play "Press the tail on the donkey," a game I found at Party City for $2. They enjoyed playing, but it was a challenge keeping them all from peeking. We had a couple of disqualifications...



The pinata was also a big hit. Kids love hitting pinatas. Did I mention she was a little scary looking? I find the idea of pinatas somewhat odd--I mean, you buy one in that resembles one of your child's favorite characters, and then they get to beat it to death. What fun! The kids did manage to destroy her, but somehow the candy ended up all in her head, so when the last kid took a solid swing at her midsection, and ripped her apart...no candy. Many confused faces all around. No matter. Mommy to the rescue. Besides, I was aching to get my hands on that stick and give her at least one good whack. It took two to the head, actually, good solid swings that reminded me of my softball days. And of course, I reveled in it, but I let the kids get most of the candy.

And I made cupcakes (ahem, my mom made cupcakes) and let them decorate it themselves, which went over extremely well. The kids really loved icing and then covering their cupcakes with an assortment of sprinkles and whatnot. One creative kid even grabbed some Nerds candy from his pinata bag and put them on top of the cupcake! That's a little thinking-outside-the-box--not bad for a 6yo. And yes, there were many, many sprinkles on the floor and table-top--big piles of them, but that's why I put a plastic tablecloth on the table. Clean up was surprisingly easy.



In any case, I have to be honest and say I didn't really take that many pictures. My friend Janet grabbed the camera to take some pictures of the gift opening (thanks!), but other than that, I pretty much just kept to keeping the party running as smoothly as possible.

I do, however, have a number of pictures to put up on the Smugmug account, though I didn't take them. My Chicago friends, Kilian and Tricia, sent Z a kid digital camera. And while Z was far too busy being the belle of the ball that day, her friend Olivia just went nuts and took about a hundred pictures. Even though the quality of the pictures is substandard, I have to say many of these pics are interesting in their own, low-rez, out-of-focus way. She really got some artistic shots, and I just have to share some of them with you.