Saturday, February 7, 2009

Everyone loves a good party

Today we had friends and family over to celebrate my youngest daughter's 3rd birthday. All the kids helped to organize the house (read: I put my kids to work like Cinderella) and decorate.

They were charged with the task of cleaning their own rooms, but decided it's much more fun and faster to do it together. There were many treasures found (under Kalyna's bed) that had been lost for many months, as well as a few dust bunnies (where'd they come from???). I was quite proud of the way they all worked together to get each job done.

At one point I paused just outside Annlise's room to watch the team work in action. Annlise was explaining to Kalyna the importance of placing dirty clothes in the laundry basket. The dialogue went as follows:

"Kalyna, if you find some dirty socks under my bed, they belong in the hamper or else they will make my room stinky."

"Ann-eeze, why your socks not on your feet?"

"Because they got dirty with my smelly feet, and I took them off."

"Ewwww. I don't want to find your socks, I will find your Barbies and you find your dirty socks. Okay?"

I'd say that was a good deal!

When it came to decorating, I had four eager helpers. I put Alec and Kalyna on the 'chain' duty, where they linked pink and brown construction paper together to make a long rope to hang on the wall. Kalyna got to hand Alec the pieces of tape as he painstakingly bent each paper to make a loop. Somewhere along the way she decided her job wasn't fun.....so she began putting tape in his hair, on his nose and all over his back. The giggles that came out of her were worth the $4 I spent on the tape roll.

Ethan helped to set up the living room to seat about 15 people, and Annlise went on a mission to find the 'perfect' party dress. She settled on a black spandex dance top and a see-through skirt. Perfect.

Everyone arrived on time and the kids all had a blast with their cousins and one friend. As wonderful as the gifts were, Kalyna and her friend spent most of the time on our gliding rocking chair. They would glide forward and the back cushion would flop on them, then glide back to make the cushion fall back into place. Each time the cushion would topple on them, they erupted with fits of laughter.

What a great sound!

Everyone is now sleeping soundly after a full and happy day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe she's 3! Smart girl leaving the stinky socks. LOL I hate hate hate picking up Craig and the boys' socks to put in the wash. I feel like a big dork, but I always have to wash my hands after I load the washer.