Jumpin' at Jac's

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As usual, backwards and just for fun--skewed! Annika, last night, blowing out her candles with Jake and Roan on either side.












The perspective from Will's end of the table. We had 16 kids and about ten parents.









More shots from the party room...



















Nathan, Annika, Kiersten and Riley (and Charlotte peeking from behind). The girls with her are her classmates.







Riley, Annika, Mikayla, William and Kiersten





William on the inflatables--last year when I brought him to Jac's, I had to climb along with him. This time, he was like a spider--no problem climbing the biggest ones on his own (and no fear).



Hmmm...whoever does he get that nasty pout from? Roan and Will "driving". I guess Will doesn't take kindly to riding shotgun. Weird that our child would want control.



Our neighbor and friend, Michael. Also one of Annika's classmates.



The birthday girl. She wore a dress! She let me curl her hair! Oh Lord, her hair is so beautiful and fun to style...I wish she'd let me play with it every day. Sigh.



Ivan and Marguerite





Their youngest (as for now, baby boy #3 is on the way), Xavier



Miss Charlotte, lost her second front tooth on Saturday!



Aubrey, Joanna, Mikayla & Riley (Annika's classmates)




So--one of my challenges for February is done: hosting Annika's birthday party. I really don't know why I had such a fear of hosting a party--it was so much fun and everyone had a great time. It's so silly, what we're afraid of, isn't it? I'm learning to throw caution into the wind a little more and stick my neck out there--often the reward is worth the risk.




It did help that we threw the party at the bounce house and that they had a staff there who decorated, brought in and served all the food and cleaned up all those spills, puddles of puke (yes, we had a puker) and all that frosting afterwards. All I had to do was bring the kids, the cake and the presents and socialize with everyone. The kids ran around until they were red-cheeked and sweaty, then we went into our party room (decorated in Littlest Pet Shop per Annika's request), ate decent pizza and had cake and ice cream. There was so much fun and merriment going on that we didn't even have time to open gifts...we did that later on at home.




Thank you, friends, for being part of her birthday party. I'm thankful to you and to the parents of Annika's classmates who made the effort to be there and show their love for Annika. They don't read this blog, but I'll put that karma out there anyway...it was appreciated!

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