Sunday, May 3, 2009

First Olympiad Birthday Party!

Ah, four years! Stellar athletes spend 4 years to become an Olympian and my son spent the last 4 years to become...himself. And he is quite stellar in his own right.

Yesterday we celebrated his birthday and it was a glorious event. My son was born on May 5th - Cinco de Mayo - so we always have a Mexican-themed fiesta the first Saturday of the month of May.

Every year it rains. I remember this upset me quite a bit for his first birthday party.

Around the time of his second birthday I learned of the Law of Attraction and used the "energy flows where attention goes" principle to my advantage for his second birthday party. I looked for what I wanted to see (happy children) and not what I didn't.

Last year it rained in the morning but then cleared and was sunny and beautiful by the time his third birthday party started in the late afternoon.

This year it rained all day, but it didn't phase me a bit. I *knew* it was going to be a great day with a wonderful party and it was!

I have lots of pictures to tell the story (and more should be coming in a few days from my dad's and sister-in-law's cameras):

Me and my little Olympian:

Me and my mom.
Me and my dad.

Every morning I ask my son if he remembers any of his dreams. For quite a while he has been saying, "I dream that Grammy and Papa give me the big Optimus Prime Transformer." (Thank you, YouTube!) Well, that long-awaited day finally arrived!
Thank you, Grammy and Papa, for making a little boy's dream come true! (And p.s., this morning he said, "I dream that Grammy and Papa give me the Bulkhead Transformer.")

Luckily we have a large wrap-around covered porch so we put all the tables and chairs for dining on one side and created a kids' play area on the other side. My sister-in-law is a genius and created a game that everyone loved: She cut a swim noodle into 5 pieces to create bats, blew up a balloon and let the kids at it. Such a cool (and thrifty!) idea and the kids LOVED it.

The kids - especially mine - REALLY loved this game!

Even when the balloon popped (look in upper-right corner) he was delighted. (And luckily, Aunt B. had a whole bag of them so we got right back to playing again.)


It was so wonderful to have Doug's sister and her family with us!

And then - the Taqueria Truck arrived! Folks place their order for exactly what they want and go back as much as they want. The food is incredible. My dad got pictures (and I hope to post them as soon as he sends them) of me with the owner, Wily, inside the truck - with a kitchen - it is so amazing! I want it in my driveway every weekend!


This is what I love to see at my parties - people who are happy and sated.




We have so many wonderful friends of all ages. Here we are with our next-door neighbor who just celebrated her 14th birthday. I asked her dad if he thought 4 or 14 year-olds were more challenging and he joked that they just keep turning up the heat in the pot, but you don't even notice.

Here's my tip for a kids' party on a rainy day: buy bright yellow balloons - instant sunshine!

Remember Olga of Olga's Desserts?


Here's the cake she made for the party!


It was the largest cake she had ever made and she was worried. She needn't have - it was SO delicious! Everyone LOVED it!



It's not a real fiesta until you get a piece of that pinata!








Everyone had such a wonderful time. It was so fabulous. I've already received emails from folks saying they are counting down the days till the next fiesta and I'm with them.

Some others may need a little more time to recover. After everyone left, and I cleaned up, I went to check on my boys. I found this picture :
This week I am rejoicing in my son and our family and friends that love and celebrate him!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Que fantastico! Thanks for posting so many pictures, it looks like you all had a wonderful time. How great that you have that amazing porch and could stay dry but still have fun. I've got to try that balloon game with my son. And lastly, my husband is a fan of a local Seattle band that had a song (back in the 90's before we got so old!) called "Taco Wagon" and your taco truck made me think of that. Birthday wishes to your son from us up here in the (also rainy) Pacific Northwest!

Stacey said...

Thanks so much Julie! Yes, absolutely try out the noodle game! I definitely want to track down the Taco Wagon song - hopefully it's on iTunes. :)

Unknown said...

I got the scoop from my husband (Mr. 1990's Seattle music guy): it's by a group called Young Fresh Fellows. After I finally remembered to ask him about it last night, he was humming it the rest of the evening...