Cole, Alex, & Anna Grace

Monday, May 16, 2011

Happy Birthday, Mike & Anna Grace



For a long time I have been planning a big father/ daughter party to celebrate Mike's 40th birthday and Anna Grace's 3rd birthday & first Adoption Day. I love planning parties, and I wanted to celebrate this special time in a big way. So, with my mom's help, I started planning this party months ago.

Saturday was the big day that we had been waiting on. I had special pillows for the patio furniture and coordinating table cloths, Chinese lanterns, party favors... you name it and I had it all planned out. My mom and I both took Friday off of work so that she could decorate the cake and help me make the food. We planned hot dogs and a homemade edible fruit arrangement for the kids and Cajun food for the adults. However, the day would not go without a glitch.
The weatherman called for rain, and we invited way too many people to move the party inside our house. Even though there was not much rain, it did cause an extra layer of stress added to the weekend. Another problem was that our hot water heater went out late Friday night while we were preparing for the party. Mike worked on it until after midnight with no luck, and he wound up spending all of Saturday morning working on it. Thank goodness that his dad was able to come help, but it put us behind in getting ready. The third thing that went wrong was that the moonwalk that we had borrowed from a neighbor did not work. Mike wasted a lot of time setting it up only to find that it was broken and had to be quickly put back into the garage. An hour before the party, the wind kept blowing away my table cloths, I was exhausted from all of the stress, and I was in tears. I felt like after all of the planning, our party was not going to be the perfect evening I had envisioned for so long. Somehow though, it all came together in time. My mom put the final touches on the food and got the kitchen cleaned while I got Anna Grace and the boys ready.


The guests started arriving just as the wind died down. We got a few sprinkles of rain, but it was just enough to make my tablecloths stick to the tables so that they wouldn't blow way.

Mike started cooking the jambalaya in big pots outside while the kids blew bubbles and jumped on the trampoline and the adults ate appetizers.


Anna Grace had a great time playing with all of her friends. Her mentor, Grace came and brought her family. I enjoyed chatting with her parents about China.


All of the food turned out great. The fruit was a hit with the kids and the adults enjoyed the jambalaya and craw fish pie.




After supper, it was time for presents. Anna Grace enjoyed opening all of her gifts, but I think her favorite part of the evening was just playing with her friends.




I don't think it mattered to her that we did not have a moonwalk. She enjoyed blowing bubbles, getting her face painted, and decorating party hats with stickers.






To celebrate Anna Grace's Adoption Day, we had the same kind of candle that we were given last year when we celebrated her birthday in China. It was a lotus flower that flames and spins around in circles while playing the "Happy Birthday" tune.

Mike and Anna Grace had to work together to blow out the candles in the flower.

I was really happy that everything finally came together and everyone seemed to have a good time.

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