A Tale Of Two Birthday Parties

 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness. And so begins the story of the twins' 5th birthday party.

THE INVITATION

THE DECORATIONS

 

Brayden was very excited to watch me make this decoration. When it was finished he gasped and said, "That is like a total BOY decoration. I love it!" He also chose to help me make the Shade Shack sign instead of watching a movie with Kenzie. He was totally into party planning mode!

The surfboard fence on our "beach" was supposed to serve as the backdrop for pictures of the twins opening presents. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. But more on that later.

 See the umbrella on the deck? That plays an important part later as well.

THE GUESTS

BACK: : Theodore, Alvin & Simon!  FRONT:  Saria, Mykinze, Kayla, Birthday Boy Brayden, Jack, Ben, Brody, Lyndsey, Birthday Girl Makenzie, Evelyn & Kara  NOT PICTURED: Korvin, Kyla & Bailey

THE GAMES

As they arrived the kids did the limbo, complete with a beach party playlist. A big thanks to Jess, Dallin & Jenna for helping with all of the games. After that, we were victims of a shark attack (each of the 72 balloons I blew up had shark teeth drawn on them for authenticity). The kids vigilantly fought off the sharks with the Aquabats song Shark Fighter appropriately acting as the soundtrack. 

Once the sharks were out of the water, the mermaids came out and passed seaweed to one another using their mermaid tails.

After that it was free play time. The kids went crazy splashing water on each other, playing with the giant beach ball. It was the best of times. . .

. . .until the season of darkness set in. And boy did it set in quickly! A little more than half way through the party we heard thunder. It looked like the storm was going to go around us, but we were not so fortunate. It had been windy all day, but it really picked up speed.. As we were grabbing the presents, party favors and herding kids into the house the wind knocked the umbrella on the deck over and took our patio table with it and completely shattered the glass. My iPad and some speakers were on the table playing music for the party. They got a bit scratched up, but are still functional. The balloon arch that I put up for each birthday was also smashed to smitherines. It was the worst of times!

And that's how we ended up eating cake and opening presents in the garage.  

 

THE CAKES

I was pleased with how Makenzie's flip flop cake turned out.

 I was a bit disappointed with Brayden's shark cake though. He asked me what color it was going to be and I told him it would probably be light blue. When he asked why not grey, I looked at him and in my best southern Steel Magnolias accent said, "I can't even begin to think how you make grey icing!" My humor was lost on him. At the last minute I decided to try and make it grey. . .not a great idea.

A big thanks to my friend Tasha for grabbing the camera in the midst of all of the chaos and snapping pictures of the kids in the garage and blowing out candles. Another big thanks to my MIL for keeping the kids entertained with songs while we got the tables in the garage.

 One little girl had too much cake and threw up. Fortunately, she made it out of the garage first!

Wouldn't a picture with surfboards in the background be much cuter than all of our clutter? Oh well, none of the kids seemed to mind. All of their friends gave them very fun presents!  After that, the party was over. As I was handing out their goody bags, I noticed that the gummy sharks melted and had turned into blobs. Of course.

THE AFTER PARTY

As soon as the kids left, the sun came back out and it stopped raining. So all of us big kids decided to play a little game we like to call "Rhodes Rio Ball Ruckus!" It is a lot of fun, and also brutal at times. But lots of fun! Andy was the man! Even when it was three-on-one, he couldn't be beat.

 Dallin's team finally scored on Andy's team and claimed victory! Unfortunately, during the last game the wind picked up the ball and threw it into the fence, put a hole in it and then blew it across my dad's garden where it flattened the corn and some giant sunflowers. Yet another casualty of the party.