Happy Birthday Audrey!

This week we celebrated Audrey's 9th birthday! We did lots of fun things to celebrate during the week! She spent most of her actual birthday surrounded by friends, as it was a school day, and she went to Good News Club after school as well as church in the evening. We also sang Happy Birthday that morning to get her out of bed, and again when we tucked her in that night. She had a yummy dinner cooked by Daddy at the end of the day! And lots and lots of hugs throughout the day. Friday night Randy took her on a Father/Daughter date to In 'N Out Burger and to see Alice in Wonderland. Audrey had fun taking her biggest purse (her Mary Engelbreit one from Grandma Janice) filled with Crunch n' Munch, Jelly Beans, and other Easter candy into the theater. I think that quite funny and apropos considering my mother always does the same thing. My mom considers it unjust that "they" would charge so much for a little candy or popcorn in the theater, thus vindicating her actions in "sneaking in" the food. I'm not judging; I do the same. She taught me well to pinch my pennies when possible. Or I could just learn to not eat during a two-hour stint. But I digress.

As if Audrey didn't feel special enough already, she had TWO parties on Saturday. She invited a few friends over around lunch time for a Backwards Party. What does a Backwards party include? Well, the invitations were printed backwards (you had to hold them up to the mirror in order to read them), and the whole party ran backwards. We greeted people by saying "Morning Good" and "Thanks for coming", but Audrey was a little embarrassed after a few greetings and said she didn't want to do it anymore (yup, it's starting already...the pre-teen embarrassment of perceivably un-cool things). ANYWAYS...after everyone arrived, we sang "You to Birthday Happy" and had cake!
Audrey wanted me to make ice -cream cone cupcakes, and the plan was to serve them upside-down, but Audrey thought that would be too messy. They turned out well and all the girls thought they were neat! Continuing in our backwards way, Audrey opened presents next. Littlest Pet Shop characters were the pick of the year. I think Audrey now has close to 40 little pets total...please, stop the madness! Then outside for a piñata, which they had to hit...you guessed it, backwards. It was great, considering we didn't need a blindfold, and they couldn't hit as hard backwards, so it took them a bit longer to break it open! Next we did some backwards relays. We split into 2 teams and set up cones, and they ran back-to-back with a partner. Then they ran backwards. Then hopped backwards. Then crabwalked backwards. They had a blast and screamed and cheered each other on! The team that won the most relays got to eat lunch first. But then we handed out the award, and in true backwards fashion, by winning they actually got to go last! Audrey helped me set the table with a simple lunch, and she made labels for all the items. We served sgod tod, spich, dalas tiurf, and sknird (the girls thought that word was especially funny). After lunch we brought out chalk for backwards hopscotch to keep them occupied until their parents came to pick them up. What a great party! After they left, I remembered the nametags for the girls, on which I was going to write all their names backwards. Bummer! My friend Christa joked, "But you remembered in the correct order. Wouldn't you get nametags ready before (or rather, after) a party?" Ha, ha.

That evening, some family and close family friends joined us for a dinner of home-made pizza, salad, and upside-down German chocolate cake (my final attempt at keeping with the party theme). Between dinner and cake we had a wonderful sharing time where everyone had a chance to share something about Audrey, either a special memory from the past year, a way they have seen Audrey grow, maybe a spiritual gift they have seen blossom in her for the year, or whatever they'd like to share to encourage her. This happened quite spontaneously last year at Audrey's party and we decided to do this for each family member's birthday last year. Now, it is a tradition I hope we can keep up! Audrey was so blessed to hear so many great words from her family and friends (much better gifts, in my opinion, than the material ones she could open with her hands). These, she can unpack in her heart and mind for years to come (since I've written them in her journal).

Thank you for all of you that came to her party, called from far away to wish her a Happy Birthday, sent her a card, gave her a hug, or encouraged her with your words. If you'd like to add to my list of encouragements/memories from the year, feel free to leave a comment and I will show it to her and add it to her journal. She had a wonderful birthday!