Happy Birthday to You... and Me

suddenly 3

Despite being Isaac & Bethany's THIRD!!! birthday, January 7 was admittedly kind of an afterthought. Daddy would have to go to work, and all my attention was going to the party the following weekend, so I hadn't planned a single thing for their actual day. However, we managed to pull off a pretty fun but ordinary day, and I wanted to put it on the record.

Superdad Jared cooked up some delicious Mickey and Minnie blueberry pancakes. We stuck candles in them, sang Happy Birthday, and practiced holding up 3 fingers instead of 2.

Over breakfast I asked the kids what they wanted to do on their birthday. Bethany said, We want balloons for our birthday! and Isaac concurred. So after getting ready for the day, I took them to Vons and let them each pick out whatever ONE balloon they wanted. Their selections came as no shock: Buzz for him and Dora for her. We then went to our favorite park in town and flew the balloons around like kites.

We came home at the regular time for lunch and naps. While I had to take a deep breath before paying $10 each for those balloons, it quickly became evident that they were a worthy investment: Isaac, show Buzz how you eat that chicken! Bethany, let's read our favorite book to Dora! The things that are usually the hardest (like leaving the park, or getting both kids up the stairs at the same time-- impossible!) were so ridiculously easy that I was ready to shell out 20 bucks a day for new balloons as long as the good behavior kept up.

It got even better. After a couple of pre-nap books, Bethany started chasing Isaac and Buzz around their room. She gave Buzz's leg a bit too rough of a tug, split it open, and Buzz slowly leaked to his death. We all just stopped and watched. I didn't know what to say and didn't really want to intervene, so I stayed quiet. After a few heavy seconds, Bethany meekly said, Sorry Isaac. A few silent seconds more, and she said, Want to share my Dora balloon? and held her toward him. (Yes, I'm thinking, that was the right thing to do!) Isaac, who had yet to make a sound, said, Okay, and he took Dora. They shared her back and forth for another couple of minutes, and then they climbed into bed under Dora's watchful eye. I walked out of the room absolutely amazed by my incredible kids. The most incredible kids on Earth, I'm completely sure of it now.

After that short but blissful moment began one of the least successful naptimes of all time. Playing, fighting, crying, whining, and generally making their mama go BONKERS. Neither got a wink of sleep.

Suddenly... they were 3.

A Dr. Seuss birthday. There's not much fun that is funner than that!

You could not, would not want to miss
A celebration such as this!

The invitation.

Sure, there are some Dr. Seuss rhyming invitations out there, but none, I tell you, none are like this! Other than the quotes from The Doctor himself, I made it up!

The Party Card.

As soon as kids walked in the door, they each got a Party Card. Kids could earn a sticker for each task they completed on their card, and they could also record their answers/scores for certain games. This card was the best thing I did for this party-- it kept the kids entertained and busy, without me having to direct each activity. It was my mother-in-law's idea (although I will humbly take full credit for its execution), and it's what pulled all this craziness together and made it fun for everyone.

The Activities.

1. Make and wear a Cat in the Hat HAT.

2. Wish Bethany & Isaac a Happy Birthday with a high five or hug!

3. Pin the star on the Sneetch. Grandma Suzanne made this board and ran the game! It was perfect. Kids went back again and again to play.

4. Read a Dr. Seuss book out loud with a friend. Between the local library and our small collection, we had over 30 Dr. Seuss titles to choose from.

5. Eat some SEUSS FOOD. It's very GOOD. More on that to follow...

6. Play Fish in a Pot Toss. Grandpa Jared helped the kids with this one. They loved it!

7. Drink Pink Ink.

8. Balance your Act like the Cat in the Hat. I just left out a bucket of random toys and kids had to see how many they could balance. There was no more instruction than that, so it's funny that most kids had a friend help them pile stuff up onto their head. The winner balanced 8 toys.

9. One fish, two fish... Guess how many fish!

Cat in the Hat Hats

The Reading Room. 

The Food.

Green Eggs*

Sam I Am Ham**

Cheese Trees

Hop on Popcorn

Thing 1 and Thing 2 Cupcakes***

Green Egg Cupcakes*

*Made by their amazing Grandma & Grandpa Lee

**not pictured, really (you can see the corner of the dish by the cheese trees)-- it was actually cubes of Turkey Ham, surrounded by crackers

***Made by Thing 1 and Thing 2 themselves

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Red Red Fish

The spread.

It's a shame this terrible photo the only one I got of all the food (well most... it was before the Thing 1&2 cupcakes were set out). The chaos does come through pretty nicely though.

H2Oh! (water with cucumbers and plain water with colored ice cubes)
and Pink Ink (Pink C-Light-- what Jared & I call Crystal Light to make it sound... cooler?-- with raspberries) 
...shared a table with the Red Fish guessing game.

Told ya those cupcakes were made by Thing 1 & 2.

I just didn't tell any of the guests.

That buttercream frosting (I made it alone) was heavenly.

The cheese trees and Cat's Hats were stuck with toothpicks and wood skewers into these babies...

...Party napkins glued onto foam cones or cubes, glued onto paper plates. A middle-of-the-night-the-night-before act of desperation/stroke of genius.

The Decor.

I had so much fun putting the decorations together. These hands haven't done this much cutting and gluing since I went to preschool. It was pretty awesome.

As luck would have it, in the weeks before the party we happened to have a few waves of visiting in-laws, and I promptly took advantage of the extra hands for crafting. Sister-in-law Kristine helped with the invitations. She cut each invite into different, crazy Seussical shapes. My mother- and cousins-in-law Jennifer, Emma and Grace helped with the poms. They were all first-time-pommers and got so excited at how great they looked.

The kites were probably my favorite creation. With all the idea-stealing I did off of Pinterest and Google (there are sooooo many great/fun/crazy ideas out there!) I was probably mostly psyched about the kites because I came up with the idea myself. (At least I think I did.)

The Dr. Seuss cutouts came from Oriental Trading. Oh, that little temptress of a party planning website.

ALSO... I posted up a few Dr. Seuss quotes all over the house ("...Youer than you" on the bathroom mirror, for example) but it felt a bit like overkill when I did it, and posting pictures of them here certainly would be. Believe it or not, I do have a radar for when enough is enough, and sometimes I use it.

Outside, Jared wrapped the posts under the awning all red and white and candycane-like, and he hung more Dr. Seuss cutouts from the overhang. Little Cat in the Hat Hats were scattered on the tables like confetti. But because the party fell on what was probably the coldest day of the year (a high of 50 degrees, what?!), all of this was sadly and completely untouched and overlooked as all the adults huddled inside and the kids flashed right by as they played their games and ran wild. Oh well. We were just so glad they came and seemed to have fun.

But... what did the birthday kids think of it all??

The Recap, by Isaac & Bethany:

At breakfast the following Monday, I asked my kids about their favorite parts of the party.

Bethany: Pink.

Isaac: Silence.

So, I tried again. Remember how all your friends came to your party? Who were your friends at the party?

Isaac: Pablo and Austin. (Characters from Backyardigans)

Bethany: Uniqua. And Dora.

Remember how we made and ate cupcakes that looked like Thing 1 and Thing 2?!?

Isaac: YEAH!!!
Bethany: Can I have a cuckape NOW??

Sigh.

Well, I loved it.

Happy Birthday, babies!!