our little party on the prairie

Before I embark upon this long-overdue post about Evie's birthday party last month, I thought I'd update you on all things flu-related. Evie and Eloise have both turned the corner and are feeling much better. Unfortunately, Mr. B woke up this morning not feeling well; although he never did throw up, he had some of the other symptoms, so he retreated to bed where he slept the day away. I, on the other hand, spent a lot of the day washing sheets, towels, pajamas, and rags, and disinfecting the house from top to bottom. It certainly feels good to be this clean, but I'm exhausted all over again! Thankfully, Audrey has avoided everything so far (except for her herpangina thing, which seems to be disappearing slowly but surely).

But onto happier things...like parties!

Evie and I had a good time planning her first-ever friend party. Evie allowed my dad to attend, but mostly because he was our event photographer (so thanks, Dad, for the great photos!).

As the guests arrived, we gave sunbonnets (made out of wallpaper) and pinafores to the girls who wanted to wear them, and we had a brown paper "farmer's hat" for our sole boy guest. Then we had everyone sit on a quilt to make butter (shaking cream in a canning jar) while I read a couple of the "Little House" picture books aloud. It took a while, but we finally got a good chunk of butter in the jar, which we later tasted on a biscuit.

After the "churning," it was time to do laundry.

We had each child wash one of Pa's handkerchiefs (bandannas) at the washboard and then hang it up to dry.

[I've never seen laundry seem so fun!]

Next, we made simple corncob dolls. I'm pretty sure Laura Ingalls didn't draw a face on her corncob doll with a Sharpie or Marks-a-Lot marker, but they still were fairly authentic-looking.

Everyone had a blast when Mr. B started up a rousing game of "Blind Man's Bluff."

I don't think any of the kids had ever run a three-legged race before...

it was definitely a challenge for most of them, but everyone was a great sport!

Everyone was so thirsty after the race that we headed inside for some lemonade--and the cake and ice cream. The cake was a log home. When Eloise first saw it, she said, "Mom, are those hot dog logs?" Interesting concept, but no: everything was icing...big globs of very heavy icing...so heavy that some of the logs kept trying to roll right off the cake...

and the chimney was definitely bowed...

but it worked!

We lit the candles and sang to the birthday girl.

Would you believe it took her many, many tries to get any candles out? Seriously...hasn't her musician mother taught her anything about air support yet?!? (She was so cute trying, though!)

It appeared that the cake was every bit as yummy as it should have been, considering it was covered in a double recipe of chocolate buttercream!

Evie received tons of wonderful gifts. [We're still working on the thank you notes...please don't talk to me about this.] Once the gifts were opened and the cake had settled enough to induce a massive sugar high, Mr. B attempted to lead them in one more game involving balloons...instead, the kids decided to play their own game...I think it was called LET'S GO CRAZY!!! Just before the party ended, we gathered the kids for a group photo. Much to my delight, each and every girl (except Evie) decided to wear a sunbonnet and pinafore for the picture, and Tristan agreed to hold his hat.

Evie definitely had a great time, and I think everyone else did, too.