Michael's 5th

Michael's fantastic birthday cake (Sarah's masterpiece)

Michael in joyful spirit

Emma clinging on to a card for her birthday she got from the Guscotts

Pass the Parcel

Mother and daughter share a moment

In the blue corner we have.......

Dancing

Free play time = guns!

Emma poses

Waaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh!

Michael has a go at the piñata

Rebekah seems not quite sure whether to hit the donkey or Michael with the bat

Michael and olivia watch the bashing of the rainbow-coloured donkey

Daddy finally breaks open the piñata (note wooden baseball bat)

We had a party at the house for his 5th birthday on Saturday. Sarah had put a lot of preparation into it, and it all paid off. Like Hannibal in the A-Team always said "I love it when a plan comes together".

Sarah had put a lot of effort into the cake, and I think all agree that it looked absolutely fantastic (despite her assertions to all that the piping hadn't quite worked out like she'd wanted).

Michael was up quite early, and was really excited to be 5 and to be having a party. Grandma Adam had also come down to help out which was much appreciated. Emma had been sick the night before, which made us all a little worried about having lots of kids over, but the next morning she was fine, and it seemed pretty obvious it was just a result of her wolfing down two plates of penne pasta without some of it touching the sides on the way down.

About 15 of Michael's friends came to the party, which we somehow managed to fit into our living room/dining room area. There was overspill at times, and at one point I found 4 girls hiding in Michael's bed.

I missed the first hour and a half as I had to rest, but Michael said later that he really enjoyed the games of musical bumps, musical statues, duck duck goose and the farmer's in his den. It was free play time when I got up, and by that time I think Michael was beginning to crash after having been totally hyper for most of the morning. He was crying because he wanted to use his light-saber to cut off other kids' hands. That's one that I've still to find in a parenting guidebook, but he was coming to the end of his energy having had a great morning. 

The piñata was great fun. I'd talked Sarah out of hanging it from our light fitting in the living room, but as soon as we went into the back garden to hit it, it started raining. The kids were using a plastic baseball bat that wasn't really making a dent, so I went inside and got the wooden baseball bat Auntie Maggie's family had given to Michael and had a go with that. Unfortunately I got a little carried away, and managed to not only crack open the donkey, but also break a lot of the sweeties inside.

The rest of the day was taken at a much slower pace, but Michael had a great day. He didn't get a chance to talk to everyone on the day as he was either too up or down, but he got a chance to talk to a lot of the family on skype the next day.