Being in a brand new city made this a birthday unlike birthdays in the past. A party was in order and we'd be having lots of party guests that have party games, cake and ice cream culture. Lola and I planned and then I planned some more. The dog party was happening.
I remember last year Lola only wanted Lydia to come to her party. She relented and we invited Tian Tian, her Chinese brother. Her other guests of choice were Tracy and Huan Huan, both her Aunties. She is so friendly but prefers a few good friends to a crowd. This year however she got the crowd.
The party started out with a dog show. The kids all ran the course and were delighted as they watched each other perform. Crawling, jumping through hoops and rolling over had never been so fun. Once the dog show was finished we played shake the cup. Or something like that. Two cups were hot glued to the ends of a large popsicle stick and filled with macaroni. The kids paired up to duel and shook their cups by only gripping the stick with their teeth. Macaroni flew.
The best part of the party was the doggie adoption. The party guests lined up to choose a dog, name it and fill out their adoption certificate. Once their dog had a name they made doggie collars with name tags. It was super fun. The cake cutting didn't go as well as I'd liked - the birthday girl was overwhelmed with the excitement and people and was already cowering when Grace and a couple of her friends decided to sing a special birthday song... something along the lines of "you're 3 and you still want your Mo-mmy". This sent the birthday girl crying into the bathroom because she thought she was being teased. Of course the big girls had no idea that their clever song had misplaced harmony. Who hasn't sung "you look like a monkey and you smell like one too." It was all in fun.
All in all it was the best party we've ever had. Well planned, well executed. Lola had a great time although she did get a little overwhelmed toward the end. We definitely feel blessed to have so many great little girls and boys in our community. I know Lola will have a memorable seventh year among these fun friends.
Posing with their newly adopted pups!
