We are slightly past the official dates for our celebration, but life conspires to push things off sometimes. Monday was Junior’s third birthday, and Tuesday was Geneva’s 16th – and Paul was gone both nights at church events… so I decided to postpone our family party until Thursday. And it was a good thing, too, because I hadn’t managed to settle on gifts or a menu or anything until we were doing our shopping today at Wal-mart. And even then, having gotten out of the house without my carefully prepared list (I set it on the piano on my way out of the house… what a nimrod), I ended up shopping at a total of 4 stores in two separate trips before we got home with the requisite items. Megan helped me considerably on the second trip, which entailed a visit to Sports Authority, Safeway, and Walgreens. By the time we got home my head was aching, it was after 4pm, and I was glad I had not also planned to bake bread today.
Anyway, it was with much joy and festivation that we sat down around our table for a simple dinner of pizza, Diet Mountain Dew, and two kinds of cake – super hero cupcakes for Junior, and a delectable caramel cake chosen by Geneva. The Happy Birthday song ended in a bit of a downer when we all absentmindedly forgot to turn off the ceiling fan, and by the time the cake with its 16 twizzly candles was ceremoniously paraded into the dining room and placed on the table, all the candles had been extinguished. We re-lit one to let her blow it out, because one must blow out at least one candle, yes?
I had such a difficult time finding something for the little guy… everything I could come up with was too expensive or not available in any of the stores we visited. However, I should not have worried so. Junior was quite happy with his new plush Tigger that Laurent found at the amazing downtown Glendale antique store, A Mad Hatter, but shoved it quickly aside to open the Shuttle Smash game, which was even MORE exciting – but all paled in comparison to the Nerf Elite Firestrike Blaster. Once Jacob brought out his own Nerf gun, it was, as they say, on. We at the table simply had to duck the flying darts and hope for the best, for there was no escaping their war games. Obviously, for a three year old boy, if you give them something to hit, something to shoot, and something to cuddle, you’ve covered most of the bases. 🙂
Geneva was blessed by her sister Meg, the other half of a wild and merry twosome, with a set of matching necklaces displaying Timon and Pumbaa, from the Lion King, with the words “Hakuna” and “Matata”, which they claim as their catch phrase. Jacob gave his sister a poster of her favorite musician du jour, Lorde, while Laurent found a cool “Simba” pen and nifty journal in which to write with it. Some time tomorrow Geneva will get online and order her gift from me and her dad on the Holy Clothing website.
Here are pics of the evening, followed by a special treat – a command performance of Meg and Neva’s opening from the Lion King. (After listening to it, I clicked on the original broadway cast recording of the song, and was stunned to find that the girls version is pitch perfect! Just adds to the smirk factor. 😀 I love the fun those two have together so much!!)
