Anouk celebrates!

What a surprise we had yesterday! After a rather chaotic week at school, we walked into the house and low-and-behold, my mom was sitting in an arm chair. What the...? Shock and surprise hit me like a 10-lb. brick. The kids, acting totally unfazed, said, "Hi grandma" while my mouth was hanging to the floor.

What a gift.

Grandma and grandpa travelled over 9,000 miles to surprise Anouk for her 6th birthday party which we celebrated today. If you've ever helped with one of my kids' birthday parties... you know I put a lot into every little thing. But as a working mom, some things have fallen to the wayside a bit. With grandma and grandpa helping out this morning, I could put on my "Martha Stewart" cap and do some really spectacular things. Here is a recap of Anouk's 6th birthday celebration.

With extra support for the birthday setup I slept in a little bit. Once we were all up and fed, it was all hands on deck as we transformed our house to a garden wonderland. As grandma put the finishing touches on the gift bags, papa and grandpa walked in with our super cake. The cake was made by Igor's Pastry (owned by a family in my class). They made a teapot to look exactly like the birthday invitation. They even made "cup" cakes to match. As a gift, they included delicious mixed fruit and apple tarts. Wow! We quickly started to brew the tea and the girls began arriving.

While the little tea goers were showing up, others were at the coffee table coloring their own designs onto paper teapots. Once all the beautifully dressed girls arrived, grandma began her important job as butterfly tattoo artist and I was face/hand/cheek painting. It was on the last cheek painting that we heard the first, "I'm hungry" comment so all the girls were whisked away to the dining room which we transformed to an outdoor garden. They sat on pillows on the floor and drank tea while eating tea sandwiches (really just cucumber or pb and j) and fruit salad.

Once lunch was finished, it was time to get the girls up, moving, and working off all of those sweets. This also allowed the cleaning crew to come in and tidy up the dishes so we could serve cake (another perk to living in a developing country--house staff LOVE overtime!). It was then that papa gave us the first clue which started us on a whirlwind adventure around the house--upstairs, downstairs, outside--with a few tasks to complete along the way. At the end of their adventure, the girls followed the clue to the spare bedroom where there was a paper parasol for each little girl.

At that point, the party was nearly over! It was time to move back into the dining room to sing a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday," eat some cake, and be on our way.

After all was said and done, we had 4 tired adults, one thrilled birthday girl, and one boy fascinated to see all of his sister's loot (he was at a friend's birthday party while his house was taken over by little girls in party dresses).

Happy birthday Anouk! You are one lucky girl!


Love, Mama