Ironman Came to the Party

In case you were wondering about my “three bears” theory on the weekend weather … it was totally wrong. So far, the summer weekends have been “too hot, too cold, and too WET.” Needless to say, Dec’s birthday party was effectively relocated from the backyard (or the back mud puddle) to the garage/basement. And you know what, it was still an EPIC day and he had the best time.

The nice thing about the pouring rain all day was that there was no doubt by about 9:30 am that it was not going to turn around. So instead of waiting and hoping, we went into action and got the basement ready for an influx of a lot of 3 and 4 year olds. [code: the art table and all the markers/crayons/scissors/etc went directly into the storage room for the day]

To help pass the time before the party, Quinn and Dec helped me ice, sprinkle, and decorate the cupcakes. It was so messy – and we had so much fun. The weekend before, all three kids had helped me make his cupcakes. He chose dairy-free chocolate (one of his buddies is allergic) and lemon blueberry. So there we were, zesting and juicing lemons. Fiona was completely scandalized when I put the zest in the batter – and now everyone knows what zesting means. The whole family also worked together to make the superhero cupcake toppers. They required several steps like laminating and cutting (twice) and hot-gluing. But they were totally worth it. And let's be honest - it's not a birthday party here if something isn't over the top.

It was Dec's first "official" kid party - where he invited his own friends. We invited all his little buddies from school and several were able to come. His buddy Jack (who is 14 and the son of our original Ms. A) had his lacrosse tourney rained out, so was able to come. Dec was in heaven that his hero was here. And for all the kids here - and having to be inside - it was surprisingly calm. And my house survived surprisingly well.

In addition to all D's friends, a special guest stopped by ... Ironman (did I mention it was an Avengers party?)! We had told Dec ahead of time that Ironman was coming and he had asked me to text Ironman and tell him not to bring his lasers. Safety first! Declan was so pumped that Ironman came and a few of his little friends were excited to get their pictures taken with him. Ironman asked Dec who his favorite superhero is - and D made everyone laugh when he answered "Spiderman." [My friend Todd made the suit and graciously agreed to make Dec's life.]

We ended the party with a visit from the cousins. Dec and Otto had a great time playing and he was so pumped that his cousins came. Then we ordered pizza, tested out his new Black Panther mask (another Avenger), and had a rather quiet bedtime. The rain could not ruin the day and it was the perfect way to celebrate our almost four-year-old.