And let's just clear the air-- it is not nearly as cute as it was last year!
In July, I started planning what weekend we'd have his party. After all, his baby sister was due two days after his birthday (ironically on the same due date Michael had when I was pregnant with him!). So, I knew that I wanted to have his party after his actual birth date just in case the baby came early (to which, she did). I also wanted to pick a weekend when my sister-in-law could come with my four-year-old nephew. So, we chose Labor Day weekend and it worked out well!
Although Michael is in school now, I don't really know the classmates or parents yet. (Such is life when your birthday is in the same month school starts.) I'm sure this was probably the last least-child-attended birthday party Michael will have in his life because I'm sure that there will be school friends in attendance at his party next year.
So, early in the spring, Michael tells us he wants another Mario party. Hey, who am I to say no? It's his birthday. And I'm all for letting my kids pick the themes of their own parties. Since we did Mario party last year, I wanted to find some different decorations for this year's party, though. Amazon and Publix to the rescue! I found slightly different invitations, plates, and tablecloth from amazon, and I got a huge cube-shaped balloon from Publix (which is STILL inflated and bopping around my kitchen-- tethered down, of course). The balloon was a favorite of Michael's. Noah actually went to the store with me to pick out party food, and therefore, Noah got a free balloon at the checkout. So when we got inside, I said "Here's Noah with his balloon!" and Michael turned around to look and smile at the "Luigi green" balloon. Then I pulled the mondo balloon out from behind my back, said "And here's MICHAEL'S BALLOON!" and Michael's face lit up, you guys. It was the sweetest. I love doing that kind of stuff for my kiddos. I want them to feel so loved and appreciated all the time. I love seeing their faces light up in joy. There's hardly anything better in life.
Michael had told us that he wanted pizza at this party since Mario eats pizza. So, Noah and I grabbed some Totino's party pizzas. We also grabbed some Capri Sun Roaring Waters (lower carb choice than the regular ones), some Lay's potato chips (which we called "Golden Coins"), and some cheddar cheese puffs (which we called "fire balls"-- sans label of course, because it was low key). Michael chose to have a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting this year. I whipped up the cake while the boys "helped." We made two 9-inch rounds. That night, Aaron frosted the cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. Holy smokes that was good! In the morning, Aaron decorated the cake with some characters from our Mario chess set-- the perfect cake decorating size. I totally forgot about a candle, though, so my parents came to the rescue on that one and brought over a "5" candle.
We had family over, and my friend from work whose son is 4 and has been attending Michael's birthday parties since he was one. We scheduled the party for lunchtime so that my parents could attend Auburn's season opener later that day. We knew the food was more geared towards the kids (hello, my three year old picked out the chip selection) :) and I told myself it was okay if the adults didn't choose to eat. My mom brought over a veggie tray, and a meat/cheese/cracker tray, which was a big help.
Everyone had a good time. It was low-key which was perfect. My sister-in-law and my coworker both got to meet Avery for the first time, and each grandparent got to hold her (which was the first time holding her for some of them).
After the party, we all took good naps (which I was in DIRE need of), and later that evening, my sister in law and nephew came back over for dinner since my parents were at the game. We had pizza for dinner (plus one of my freezer meals that I wasn't sure would thaw in time, but it did) and watched Zootopia. It really was a great day.
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
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