Apl’s Birthday Bash!

Zero, one, two, three, FOUR!

We gathered up Apl, some of her dear little friends, some sparkly playdough, some snacks, some treats, some ice cream, and some cake, and had a big ol’ 4-year-birthday hullabaloo.

The party opened with sparkly playdough that Apl and I made. We also gave samples of the playdough in the goodie bags. Of course C managed to put his own spin on it…

It’s hard to know what food to serve to 4-year-olds, really, so we went for a fairly reliable “dip anything in chocolate” approach. Hey, it’s whole wheat pretzels under the chocolate, so it’s healthy, right? Ruby also designed some soynut-butter-banana finger sandwiches, as well as soy dog bites and bagel wedges. I tried to run the gamut of kid-acceptable food.

Ruby made her that crown, from the leftover crown bits from Ruby’s own birthday party. There was only half of a paper crown left, though, so Ruby just stapled some other paper to it. Good enough…

PS. Thanks to Grandma Susie for the girls’ dresses. They definitely get plenty of use out of them!

Apl wanted “clouds and rainbows” cake. I think this was pretty good.

I love her little revved-up arms!

Apl’s new bus-ride-friend Naomi looks like she’s having a good time, too. She just started at school, and lives nearby so takes the same bus as we do; Apl calls her “Meow-mi”.

There wasn’t enough room at the little table, so Ruby brought in the stool. Resourceful! She brought down the Harry Potter book, too, which she is so excited about reading. I saw her reading it to one of the parents. She’s so proud she can read it!

S is a big Potter fan. She is reading for the second time through right now.

Who knows why… daily occurance.

Hey look, Chris in the background!

I love this photo of Rav… so relaxed and happy.

We did fishing over the porch railing. We pulled the old switch-a-roo a couple of times and sent up an old sock, or the octopus bath toy up, instead of a goodie bag. C thought it was hilarious, but I think the rest of the crowd was just confused.

Also, I can’t believe this is the only picture we got of Tanya (I recognize that batik skirt!) I feel like it was also a pretty good party, as far as the adults go; I had so much fun chatting and hanging out with all the parents!