What's so Magical About It?

Saturday I lit a candle to

El Nino de Atocha and prayed for this petition: God, please let the weather be nice on Sunday for Isobelle’s 6th birthday party. Then I began the tedious process of cleaning the house as much as I could before Sunday at 1 pm. Oh yes, I also had to make a Jiggly Puff Pinata. Jiggly Puff is a Pokemon that has the special ability of singing its opponents to sleep and then it takes great enjoyment in writing all over its slumbering victims. Isobelle is obsessed with Pokemon.

Sunday morning I awoke to a partly cloudy, chilly but nice day. Kevin was cooking two dishes for the adults to enjoy at the party while the kids ran around screaming and ignoring the sliced turkey and cheese, rolls and snacks I set out for them. He made a to-die-for roasted red pepper and cream cheese dip that was kept warm in the crock-pot and a Southwest chicken and rice dish that was mighty tasty.

I had to run out to the store to get a rope for the piñata, beer for the adults and ice. In the ten minutes it took to gather these things the temperature dropped about ten degrees and it was clear that it was snowing like mad in the mountains. Not a good sign.

The jumping castle arrived along with extra tables and chairs. The castle was hysterical. It was a giant Spiderman themed monstrosity with a jumping area and a slide. Heaven for kids. Isobelle was out riding her new birthday bicycle from her Grandma and Grandpa with her friend Laurel. They saw the jumping castle delivery truck and came running in the house and out the back door straight into the castle. So much for having a bath before the party.

Kevin was cooking away while Diana (grandma) was icing cupcakes. She had also made a chocolate castle cake with powder sugar sprinkled on it that looked ominously like snow.
The kids and parents began to arrive. The kids were in and out of the house and in and out of the jumping castle for about two hours while the parents chatted and ate. I think there were a total of 16 kids but I lost track. The weather was holding out so far.

Time for the Jiggly Puff pinata.

I walked through the house and outside in the backyard yelling “Pinata!” and everyone came running to our dilapidating swing set where we hung Jiggly Puff. I had to draw a line in the dirt to keep the little devils behind so they wouldn’t get whacked by the kid that was swinging at the piñata. We don’t do the blindfold thing. Too scary! So all the kids had a crack at the thing but it wasn’t budging. Some of the boys tried to poke holes in it, but I said that was cheating and yelled “No poking the Pokemon!” Finally we enlisted Izzy’s teacher’s 13 year old daughter Bridjette, to break it open. It fell off the string but it still remained intact. Before everyone lunged for it I swooped in grabbed it, ripped open the bottom and showered the kids with candy.

Time for cake.

The kids at Izzy’s school sing “Happy birthday to you, cha cha cha…” and so on. It’s really cute. Everyone had a piece of cake and a cupcake.

With all the kids running on a full sugar high they ventured back out to the jumping castle. Unfortunately it began to rain.

Time to open presents.

I sat with Izzy trying to write down all the gifts for thank you notes. It felt like I was sitting in the middle of a beehive. The kids were swarming around Izzy and I trying to get as close as possible to see the gifts and to make sure everyone knew which gift was from whom. Of course Izzy raked it in with tons of Pokemon stuff, crafts and more. It’s almost shameful.

Little by little they began to leave. I painted Pokemon characters on the faces of the remaining few. Finally only three girls remained.

Time for a beer.

Suddenly, someone yelled “It’s snowing!” Which is crazy because we live in Tucson, Arizona in the desert. . . it almost never snows. But sure enough flakes were coming down. The girls threw on their coats and ran outside to try to eat snow flakes. So cool! Pretty soon they were all freezing so we put them in a warm bath. Rub a dub dub, three girls in a tub giggling with glee.

The last guests departed. It was pouring snow!

Kevin and Izzy were throwing snowballs at each other and I took pictures. It was glorious! Then we made a snowman, and a snowcat.

I looked up at the falling snowflakes and thanked God for such a magical day and for my wonderful family.

More pictures to come...