Dumb Party Stuff

We bought a bundle of decorations at the dollar store, but nearly everything else was serendipitously passed along from different people over the last couple of years, including all those beautiful blue jars. (Thanks, Sarah!) John bought baby's breath for us (Susannah's favorite), and Annika went out and gathered a bucketful of ferns.  Everyone pitched in, and then we sat back and admired it all.

The Party Proper, i.e. People

Lots of people make a party!

The happy birthday Wren, herself!

Whoah. That's one handsome dude. (Since the girls approached teenager-hood, John has told them to stay far away from boys with funny hair. Sorry, Andrew. I guess that's the end of the Owen-Newman friendships.)

John never did mention boys with antlers, though. Hmmm. Gonna have to add that to the Stay Away From list.

Luci! Your elf ears are on backwards. How embarrassing.

MORE funny hair. Sorry, Quincy, you're on the Barred From Life list now, too.

I took this picture to document Rundy-- a.k.a. Party-Party Man-- faithfully working to finish the outsides of the windows while all the wild things roamed beneath.

So, my original thought was that the party-goers would arrange themselves in groups of two or three in front of the backdrop, all cute and charming, like so.

This is what we got, instead. Ha! And it was so much better.

Grandma Owen bought a pinata and enough candy to choke a dozen horses. It was a big hit (truly, no pun intended there) and served the purpose of take-home favors, too!

I was indoors and missed most of the gift-opening, but snagged a few important ones of Tadhg and his lollipop.

The children played lots of games. I was mostly yelling orders at them through a bullhorn (you remember the last party?) or inside making salads, so, alas, there are no pictures.

But here's one of two grandmas in one frame. We are so glad to be able to share these parties with them both! :)

Magic and Mischief at Day's End

Here's the magic (note the forgotten lollipop in the jar).

I cranked up the ISO to capture the mischief.
These two right here.

Other People's Pictures to Fill in the Cracks

And before you protest, "Hey, you have enough pictures! There are no cracks!" let me assure you that invisible cracks need filling, and I'm going to do so right now.

Cadie shared some pictures with me that I want to bundle along with these for Susannah to look back on. Thank you, Cadie!

The fact that a lot of them feature Tadhg just shows that he's cute, and we all love him. We discovered in the past that when he's surrounded by people clapping, delight fills him so full that he can't bear it. So, in the middle of one of the games, there was a clapping interlude, just for Tadhg.

More clapping.

This is when a mischievous gust of wind blew all the candles out before Susannah had a chance to even try.

Let's do that again.

I didn't even bother saying "no gifts" on the invitation because it hasn't worked even once in the past, and Susannah was absolutely overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of her talented friends. DIEdre made the coolest wood-burned birdhouse for her. It's so pretty we haven't yet put it outside!

Tadhg watching his daddy (Party-Party Man) working outside the window.

Too much clapping does not exist around these parts.

And here are three lovely girls to round out this bunch.