Bagels and Balloons

Yesterday we celebrated Zeben's birthday by having a bagel brunch in his honor. We had debated about whether or not to have a party for him--clearly at age 2, he has no concept of what a birthday party is, and wouldn't miss it if we didn't have one--it's not the best time of year to host any gathering, especially not in our smallish house. And there was also some question as to what the party would entail if we did have one. Being the former preschool teacher that I am, I'm always eager to go way over board with the party activities. We didn't have a party when Luke and Jaz turned two (we were in the midst of moving), but for their 3rd and 4th birthday parties, we had puzzle-making, treasure hunts, and homemade piñatas, along with serving lunch and cupcakes. When they turned 5, we didn't have a party at all because I felt like I was still recovering from the fourth birthday extravaganza.

But I wanted to do something for Zeb, in part because we've now instituted our new gift policy (each child receives only one gift on any given holiday), and I didn't want "no presents" to mean "no celebration." And, of course, there was my usual, "any excuse for a party!" reason to do something. So, on Tuesday evening we settled on having a Saturday morning birthday brunch, and quickly sent out evite invitations. We decided to keep things easy by providing bagels (from a local café) and toppings and having the "theme" of the party be simply "balloons."

We bought 30 helium balloons and I quickly sewed up some little bean bag balloon weights (which doubled as party favors). I used scraps of canvas fabric leftover from previous baby carriers, turned some printed fabric into iron-on appliques, and added a snip of ribbon to the seam of each bean bag so that balloons could be easily attached.

A pile of balloon weights

On Thursday night, I taught myself how to make things out of long-skinny, "balloon animal" type balloons. The internet is full of incredibly helpful instructional videos, and I was quickly hooked on this new hobby (and I now lust after the "faster blaster" balloon pump). With Lukas and Jasper's encouragement, I mastered pirate and knight swords, several different hats, and the octopus.

The beginning of the party

Elijah and Aryeh with their swords

Jaz holding out the Octopus

The head of a teddy bear that Lena made
(the body, unfortunately, did not survive)

Jasper's very own balloon creation

Aryeh all decked out

And, of course, there was a cake. Actually, there were two cakes since I ended up making a mini gluten-free cake for Lukas. I always use this fabulous carrot cake recipe (for the gluten-free version, I simply substitute gluten-free flour mix for the flour):

ingredients:

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinammon
1 tsp. salt

21 tbsp. melted butter
4 eggs
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup crushed pineapple
2 tsp. vanilla

procedure:

1. Sift together dry ingredients
2. Beat together wet ingredients
3. Add the dry to the wet, mix well
4. bake in buttered pans at 350° for 40 minutes

Zeben (wearing his "2" shirt that I made him, and which he wore for 3 days straight, refusing to take it off, saying "I want to be twooooo!"), getting ready to blow out his TWO candles:

Lukas with his gluten-free cake:

Yum.

It is hard to believe that there were 12 adults, 10 kids, and 2 babies all together in our house (it was pouring rain outside), and it didn't even feel especially crowded (though it was plenty loud). Already today our house is back to normal, aside from a dozen or so remaining helium balloons, which are now slowly making their way towards the floor. And now, I suppose, we sit back and let the wild rumpus of life with a two-year-old start!