Although Arthur was only turning one and doesn't really have any friends yet, Ada had been asking to have a summer party for a while, so we decided to have an actual party for Arthur but invite all of Ada's friends.
We were planning to have everything outside and let the kids go crazy, but then the weather intervened and it was meant to be rainy all day. So Mark brought the party inside:
It may have been an excuse for Ada to have friends over, but for me it was my chance to have an "American" style birthday cake, courtesy of Costco (which, as a result, was enormous):
We invited all of Ada's NCT friends (the people we met through the antenatal class, who we still keep up with, almost four years later), plus a friend from swimming. Ada has a bunch of friends from daycare, too, but we wanted to keep the numbers down. And I'm glad we did because we ended up with nine kids (counting Arthur and three-month old Imogen), plus associated grown-ups and I can't imagine how we would have fit in more in our house!
We had the usual American and British party games including pin the tail on the donkey, pass the parcel, fishing for prizes and musical statues.
The rain stopped long enough before everyone had to go to do the treasure hunt we had set up outside.
Everyone seemed to have a good time, especially Ada. Amazingly, with seven three year-olds in the house for a couple of hours, there were no meltdowns. The only downside is that Arthur went down for his nap (we do not interrupt sleep even for birthdays!) and everyone had to go, so we cut the cake before Arthur had a chance to blow out his candle. But we gave him a chance when he woke up, and he didn't seem to mind.
Unlike Ada, who mostly ignored her first birthday cake, Arthur scoffed it down and asked for more and more with obvious delight. I think the fact that he's genetically predisposed to having a strong sweet tooth combined with his interest in eating everything at all times means that he's going to be going great guns for sugar from now on.
The next day wasn't his birthday but was a day we were at home, so we Skyped with Pa and Mimi and opened Arthur's presents. Ada "helped" but Arthur at least managed to get a look in once or twice.
And then, finally, on his actual birthday in the middle of the week. he got once last present--a remote control of his own, since he loves ours so much.
The Horn-family multi-day birthday tradition continues!
