On October 3rd, Lauren and Grace turned seven. Since the 3rd fell on a Thursday, we had a miniature celebration with Skip and I joining them for lunch at school followed by a spaghetti supper and concluding with cupcakes.
Thursday being a school night really limited our celebration, and the following morning Gracie asked, "Is my birthday over?" On the contrary, we assured her that "birthday weekend" had not even started, and that we would be celebrating all weekend long. Woot!
They returned from school to a balloon arch across the front porch and a fully decorated house (top photo). As a special treat, Skip picked them up from school, and he reported that they started screaming as soon as they drove down the street.
Although we have celebrated all of their past birthdays "off site," we decided to have this year's party at home. We knew doing so would be more work, but what we didn't know is how much more fun the party would be.
The bounce house arrived Saturday morning, and the duo conducted many test bounces to make sure their friends would like it.
While they were bouncing, we set up the tables, chairs, etc. (Remember, this is not a design blog so grade on a curve, please.)
Besides, the star of decorations was the birthday cake bounce house. The trio were astounded that this inflatable was in our back yard. They watched the guys set it up, and they climbed in and out of it countless times. George's bedroom had the best view of it, and he has looked out of his window all week, saying, "Bounce house ALL gone."
The only thing more important than the bounce house are good friends. The duo had sweet friends who came to help them celebrate. They were so sweet and so much fun! (Normally I wouldn't post a photo of our guests, but their friends are either in the bounce house or are looking away in this photo! :)
This year the duo had very specific cake requests. Lauren opted for coconut cake, and Gracie wanted chocolate cheesecake from Ruth's Chris (after having the dessert at her grandparents' 50th anniversary luncheon). Since the latter was cost prohibitive (When I inquired about ordering one, the hostess was not sure of the price... she only knew it was "outrageous"), Gracie opted for chocolate on chocolate. When we have a cake consensus, we have one large, shared cake, and when they choose different cakes, we have two.
And when the cakes requests are so specialized, we pick up a third cake to be on the safe side. On the plus side, William George was able to blow out candles during the birthday song.
The duo were so excited to have their friends over to celebrate. As everyone left, they stayed in the bounce house until the crew returned to retrieve the inflatable. William George, on the other hand, was confused by the crowd and was a little thrown for the rest of the night.
After church on Sunday, we took the trio out for a special birthday lunch -- to Ruth's Chris, where Gracie got to have her dessert of choice, along with a rendition of "Happy Birthday".
Lauren and William George opted for vanilla ice cream.
Afterward, we admired the koi and tossed pennies into the wishing well. George may have tried to join the fish.
All in all, the duo had a wonderful birthday weekend. Happy 7th birthday!
For our quick reference:
1st Birthdays (pre-blog)
3rd Birthdays (here)
4th Birthdays (here)
(How did the list become so long?)
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