He was so excited about his party, but when guests started arriving, he suddenly went into Super Shy Mode. We had to drag him outside to "mingle," but he stood at the top of the yard with his hands over his face for the first 20 minutes.
All of the other kids were busy playing in the yard.
And yet there Jake stood, up by the trampoline, silent and observing.
One of his best friends, Alden, scaled the climbing wall.
His teacher's daughter Olivia tried the swings and the playhouse.
His teacher, Ms. Carolyn, tried to coax him out of his shell.
Finally -- finally! -- he decided to join the fun.
He showed everybody "how it's done" over at the climbing wall.
Once everyone was good and hungry, we headed inside to open gifts and eat lunch.
The party was loosely Harry Potter-themed, and we gave him a Harry Potter broom, wand and glasses.
He did a great job opening all of his own presents.
His response to each one was pure joy. He loved them all!
My parents gave him a SuperWhy! laptop, which he couldn't wait to use.
My cousin's son John Bart's 2nd birthday was on the day of the party, so we celebrated his special day, too.
We gave him a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse laptop, which he seemed to really like.
Next, it was time for cake. Our cake baker Vickie outdid herself once again!
She'd never made a Harry Potter cake before, but she did a great job on it.
She asked if I had anything particular in mind, and I really didn't.
I told her it could be Harry himself, the Book of Spells, a Quiddich court or whatever. I told her to surprise me!
And as usual, she did a wonderful job! Jake loved it so much.
We had a good crowd of kids to celebrate with us, although at the beginning of the week I was concerned because I'd only heard from a couple of parents. As it turned out, an hour before the party started, I had one parent call to say their plans had changed and they could come after all, which was great.
And then five minutes later I had a mom of twins in Jake's class call to say, "We're going to be able to come to the party today, and it will be the twins, their older sister and the little girl who spent the night with us last night if that's okay."
That was a first for me! It really was totally fine, since we were serving pizza and I'd ordered a large enough cake (plus some) for everyone. But it totally cracked me up.
Throughout the singing of Happy Birthday, Jakey was just DYING to get into that cake.
When it was time to blow out the candles, he huffed and he puffed.
And he huffed and puffed some more.
Aaaaaand, some more.
And he was like, "What the what? These candles are IMPOSSIBLE!"
"SOMEBODY FIX THIS!"
Alden to the rescue!
Alden had a real handle on the situation. (And Nathaniel might have been a little horrified that Alden was stealing Jake's birthday thunder.)
Success!
Once the cake was cut, it was enjoyed by all. John Bart particularly took a liking to it.
And Sprite Zero, which he'd never had before.
It's fun for these two to almost share a birthday (a year apart)!
Once the party was over, Jake basically spent the rest of the weekend being spoiled by his Mop and Pop. All in all, a great weekend!
5 comments:
Happy Birthday little guy! How fun!
Great pics! The cake was so well done. Certainly not a Cake Wreck. Jake looks like his Grandma. Love the family photo with the different expressions.
Beckie
AW, I totally relate to Jake's natural introversion. Remember when Dad had the Chi Chi's waiters sing the Happy Birthday song to me when I turned 8 and I started bawling because I couldn't stand everyone looking at me? Being the center of attention is THE WORST.
Rach, Thanks! It really was fun.
Beckie, Vickie's cakes are the bomb diggity. No doubt.
SET, I totally remember that! And your mortification.
Happy Birthday Jake.
OMIGOSH JB looks JUST like his daddy! Holy cow - that last picture is awesome, but is seriously like starting at a baby picture of B.
I just love the cake, it does look YUMMY and the parent who had the kids and the sister and the "girl who spent the night" - priceless!
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