(Thanks for the picture, Elena Alvarez!)
This has rarely factored into my thinking before at CDA birthdays, but because of all my memories of Sophia's "birth day", I was a little sad to not have joint memories of June 12, 2004, or know much of anything really about this child's birth. I do know that in June 2004, I was in Texas getting ready to move to Bolivia the next month, so I would have been busy getting ready for that. I didn't meet Samuel until 4 years later.
Getting the icings ready!
Joel and I talked for weeks about the special cake we planned to make. I worked on it four days in a row, a little at a time, as I had time. In hindsight it was pretty cool and worth it, but during the process (particularly the last few hours assembling it) I admit to thinking it might be the first and LAST elaborate cake for a child, ha!
Joel making the flags
One evening, Dad kept Samuel entertained in his bedroom while Joel and Michael and I worked on various details of the cake.
Michael decorating the "trees"
Preparing the white chocolate windows and draw gate
Then on the big day, Jake took the boys out for a fun time of lunch and bowling while I stayed back to finish the cake and get the house ready for the party goers. Sophia had a fussy time in the middle, which meant that she had blue icing on various parts of her clothes and body by the end, ha!
Joel posing by the finished cake
Ta-da!!!
The jello moat didn't quite work out as I wanted it to, partially due to buying just one bag of blue jello when I probably needed four, oops!
Ready for the party, just in time!!
With the boys of Casa de Amor II and Tia Adelaida
Blowing out the candles
Love this picture!!!
Baby Sophia with Adelaida, present at her birth
Samuel (and Joel) playing with his new lego set from grandparents
The boys can think of nothing more wonderful than new LEGOS for birthday or Christmas!
While Jake and Michael drove the CDA II boys home, Samuel had a blast with his remote control car, the first ever in his life (and how he has wanted one)!
Sophia had some entertainment when he would run the car up on her play mat, and just as she reached out to grab it, it would back away!
Samuel wanted spaghetti for his special dinner, apparently according to tradition. I made a new Baked Chicken Parmesan dish with spaghetti noodles and a big salad with Italian dressing.
I think it was a great day overall - I certainly fell into bed exhausted, having done party prep and clean up the entire day - but Jake and I were not prepared for a similar scenario as at Christmas. Once again, I can't say that Casa de Amor is wrong, but we have certainly set the bar high with a whole entourage of staff and volunteers ready to make every moment memorable! Now that the boys have a family, we quickly realized they expect double the fun, double the presents, and perhaps double the sugar of their Casa de Amor special days. And, certainly, an all night (or at least late night) slumber party!
Jake and I, on the other hand, think that low-key family celebrations can be pretty cool, and hey - you have a family now!! Guess the boys will have to mature quite a bit before they think the same way. In the meantime, we'll try to find a happy medium that doesn't break the bank...or Mom's back!
The boys all reacting exactly according to their personality - later, we reflected on how we could have predicted it!
That evening, we had an extra surprise when Jake handed out everyone's airline tickets! Just two days later, we would take a great family vacation to La Paz via plane - a big first for the boys!
And that will be the next blog post. :)
Wow, that cake was truly incredible... You are going to have a hard time topping that party, but it will be fun seeing you try!;)
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