Patrick had SUCH a good birthday! He could tell from the party preparations the night before that something good was going on. He watched me decorate his birthday cake… and then was too happy and excited to go to sleep.
He did, though, finally, and when he got up in the morning, he was again just HAPPY! It’s like he knew this was a big day.
Because Patrick’s birthday is on Halloween, we dressed up and invited guests to do the same. We chose a circus theme for the party. Patrick was dressed as a monkey. Brian was the ringmaster. I was a clown.
We spent the morning finishing things up for the party. He thought watching me hang streamers was great fun! (I used red and white streamers to create the feel of a circus tent in our living room.) About 1 we changed into costumes.. he loved my clown wig and played with it for most of the rest of the day.
Slowly the guests arrived. Because Brian and I have brothers, sisters and parents nearby, we knew there would be a lot of grown-ups… so we made all the circus activities self-serve. The adults helped the kids paint their faces and learned to make balloon animals for them. We had popcorn and animal crackers and caramel apples.
Of course, most everyone came in costume. Some carried on the circus theme… My dad came as a lion tamer, with my mom dressed as his lion. My brother was a magician.
Some of the friends and family who dressed up
Once everyone arrived, we sang Happy Birthday and Brian blew out Patrick’s candle. (Patrick was too confused about why everyone was singing and just kept watching me to see if it was OK.)
He’s not allowed sugar, so he couldn’t have cake, but he was given permission this week to have cheetos and hulless popcorn, so that’s what he munched on instead.
Daddy’s better than any boring old snack.
Then we opened presents. He got lots of new toys and some new clothes. He loved them all, but I think his favorite thing about the party was not the gifts, but the fact that all the people he loved best were there.
Patrick & “Papa”, Brian’s dad
Patrick and Grandpa, Emily’s Dad
The party wrapped up around 6. All the kids went home with hands full of balloons, balloon animals, caramel apples, and cracker jacks with faces all painted. I think everyone had a really good time!
That put us just on time for trick-or-treaters. Patrick didn’t go trick-or-treating this year… he’s too little and not allowed candy anyway. At first he liked seeing all the people who came to the door. Eventually he got tired and not too happy when people would ring the doorbell. Eventually I sat him on my lap and we read books until we were sure he was good and tired. Then, we turned off the porch light and put him in bed. He was exhausted, and so were we.We all crashed for the night.
Patrick Hoopes 