I had been prepping Asher for a while by repeatedly telling him about the event, so he knew that he was having a party that day.
It was held at The Pantry @ Loewen Gardens, and the invite list was the same as last year :) Besides his very dear cousins, there were the playmates he meets more often who are basically the second generation of Mummy and Daddy's long-time friends. It was nice that more of the kids (and parents) could come this time around :)
Think The Pantry suited our needs very well. We wanted somewhere fun for the kids, somewhere with nice food (good coffee was a bonus!), and somewhere not too far from our place. It worked out well, I think, with the children occupying themselves at the many play spaces, the adults seemed to enjoy the food, the cake which the cafe made was delicious, and we even had an impromptu post-party of sorts at the trampoline. And at the end of all that, no cleaning up to do!! Yippie!
Didn't really deliberately set out to have a whaley theme. It kind of just fell into place. Whales are one of the creatures that Asher really likes, and basically his party centred around what he liked. He liked the place the last time we went there, he likes whales (among other things), and whatever was in the party pack he also personally liked. Yes, he really liked what was in the party packs. After packing them the night before, I had put them in bags on the floor all ready to be picked up and brought along. In the morning, Asher didn't come to wake me as usual, but I awoke to the sound of rustling plastic bags and realised he was rummaging through the party packs! He wanted to take everything!! He wanted to keep the water squirters, to play with the aeroplanes, to blow the bubbles....he didn't get around to seeing the cookies or he'd ask to eat them I'm sure, and if he saw the stickers, he'd probably have peeled them off already.
I extracted him from the treasure and told him it was for his friends, but he didn't want to accept that. Somehow in the end, I can't remember how, we managed to distract him, and at the party we covered the party packs in case he refused to have them be given away :) Yes, like I said. He really really likes the stuff in there.
Prepared some noise makers or 'shakers' for the kids to decorate. It was quite a hilarious process to make them though. I had put some beans inside the folded paper plates to help create the noise, then glued it close. After making the first one I happily beamed at Jon and said, "Ta Da!" while shaking it. It make noise for two shakes...then silence....the glue hadn't dried...my beans got stuck to the side!!! So I had to quickly pry open the plate again and try to stuff in more beans. But cos it was half glued shut, I had a little bit of difficulty holding the plate flat, with the result of having more beans get stuck to the side! But in the end managed to get some in the middle. Then I left it alone to dry :)
The second try, I thought I left the plate long enough to dry, but again, after two to three shakes...silence!! Scrambled to get more beans inside again. Decided to not shake any of the rest until the next morning, just to be sure! :))
All ready for the guests to arrive. Those yellow balloons didn't last beyond 30mins. Either cos some burst, or cos they were hijacked by the kids. But that was the whole intention anyway, for the kids to play with the balloons, and not just be decor :)
Lots of spaces for playing
Checking out the Christmas decor
The giant cake. The owner of the cafe, Jane, told me that it was a 12 inch cake. But she didn't say how high! I generally like savory food more so I found the icing much too sweet for me, but the chocolate sponge was really good, and by the end of the day I had eaten wayyy too many slices of cake.
Gathered the kids together in the hope of getting a group shot, but in the end could only get 6 of the 7 on the sofa
More play spaces
The start of the post-party trampoline fun
Fun with adults
Even more fun with no adults!
Group hug!
Tao pok!
Getting tired
This was super fun. Emma's Dad went under the trampoline and pushed the kids up with his legs, making them fly! The kids had no idea what was happening and why they were flying cos the bottom of the trampoline was opaque, but they absolutely LOVED it! :)
Taking a break
Post post-party!
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Asher, I love you more than you know. You bring me so much joy, and I feel so blessed to have you in my life. You have taught me many many things by what you notice, what you say, and I have loved all our little excursions together. You enjoy going to the zoo, to the beach, to the Botanic Gardens. You absolutely adore running through fountains. You love the playground - in school when it's time to go to the playground you always eagerly shout "outdoor!". You are very observant, and often spot little things that I don't even notice, like the way some animals move and tiny aeroplanes in the night-time sky. You love books, and you enjoy reading together very much. Your memory also often amazes me, like how you rememered what the fat penguins did on Philips Island, how the rhino in the zoo looked at you, what characters are in your books, etc. You are also getting cheekier and chattier, and I love getting an insight into what goes through your mind.
You are such great company, lots of fun, very sweet, sensitive, and loving. Caring for you has not been without it's difficulties, but the love and happiness you bring more than out-weigh all that. I love you for who you are. I am so amazed by how much you've grown, how much you've changed, how much you've developed, and I can only thank God for all this. Happy Birthday Sweetie!
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