Beca's birthday parties

FINALLY I finished this post - and just a warning - lots of pictures! We had 2 birthday parties on Saturday (the 7th) - one for her friends and one for our family-friends. The kid's party was fun but it was so hot. Payton, Kate, Allie and Forrest all helped Beca celebrate. We had decided sprinklers would be amusing and it was!The beach ball sprinkler is the best invention - turn the water up high and you're covering a 15 foot diameter (at least) with water. It was crazy and the girls loved it. So did our grass. There were also bubbles and everyone had to take turns catching bubbles on their legs.
Then they all decided about the same time that they were done and they wanted to dry off and go inside.
Inside, there was several naked girls running around for a little while (no happy daddies). And there were all of Beca's toys! Then they had lunch, which everyone ate well at! There were also Rocket blow-outs - lots of fun for everyone. Beca remembered her party hats before her mommy did. oh well.


I made a Rocket cake for her Little Einsteins birthday. Really, it is way easy. The most frustrating part was baking a cake in a batter bowl (Pampered chef's big one - make sure yours can go in the oven!) on a hot night for over an hour. It was a 9-inch round, the dome cake, icing in 3 colors and 2 ho-hos (original recipe called for twinkies but EEEEWWWWW!). I used a toothpick to make the antenna - my favorite part about Rocket is how they use his antenna to give him his personality so it had to be there. And I don't know why but I keep buying the Duncan Hines Whipped frosting and I don't even like it! Next year, I'll have to make my own - but of course, I said that last year. The "red" is more of a pink but maybe that's because I've used those icing colors before. The only thing Beca didn't like about the cake is that I wouldn't let her have a piece of it during the first birthday party.

Aidan, Elijah and Baby Emily were at her evening party, along with many of the adults that "belong" to Beca. We get a lot of "it's my Oma, it's my Cynthia, it's my Nici" - everyone is hers and not somebody else's. We have a lot of fun teasing her with "Oma is my mommy and Pop-pop is my daddy" and then she gets wound up about her Oma and her Pop-pop. We do it with all of our family members right now - Uncle Kyle, Uncle Bobby and Aunt Jenny being brothers and sisters is not acceptable!

Anyway, we had more bubbles and bouncing fun and present opening.
This is her magic wand. It does not actually turn red into green, rocks into gold or anything else, contrary to what our project manager at work seems to believe. It's just pretty and fun to wave. But, oh, if it were real...
No, magic was not a factor - Jason is just way cool to Beca and she "let" him wear a Little Einsteins hat while they waved the wand over the grocery cart. Now if she could just do the grocery shopping, that would be even cooler.

After most everyone had gone home, the sky fell down. Literally. Next post, I'll cover that event.