Lorelai Is Eight Years Old Now

August has been a "wait and see" month for our family the last several years. Our kids are just starting school and figuring out their routine; my piano students slowly resume their regular lesson schedules; church activities start getting planned after the summer lull. This August, however, has felt like it's rushing by way too fast. Perhaps that's because my oldest daughter Lorelai celebrated her eighth birthday this August. She is now preparing for her baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in early September.

It's been wonderful watching Lorelai grow up, but this birthday has truly felt like something special. In the LDS faith, eight is considered the "age of accountability"...the age at which a child begins to understand the consequences of her choices, and when she is considered old enough to be responsible for her own choices.

As Nathan and I have talked with Lorelai about her upcoming baptism, it has made me so happy to realize how much she has grown and how wise she is. She may sometimes struggle to articulate her deeper feelings, but she has a strong sense of right and wrong, and her understanding of our Father in Heaven's plan has grown. She has shared her testimony, both in church and to her family, more often in recent months. She spends more time thinking of spiritual things than she used to. I am so grateful for everything Lorelai is and I am so excited to see what she will yet become; I hope her baptism will be the beginning of a great spiritual growth in her life.

But enough with all this talk of baptism--that's a few weeks off yet. On her birthday, Lorelai wanted some fun. And fun is just what she had...all week long!

Her actual birthday (August 12th) fell on a Monday this year, so we spent the weekend putting together some cute cupcakes for her to share with her class at school:

It was a lot of fun to assemble the little "chick" faces together.

When I arrived to drop off the treats, the whole class sang "Happy Birthday" to Lorelai (loudly!). She was pleased to be the center of attention.

And she continued to be the "center of attention" into the evening, as we made her favorite meal (spaghetti, meatballs & garlic bread) and invited Grandma & Grandpa Barrett over for dinner.

She got several pretty cool gifts this year:

...like this scooter...

...a "Plants Vs. Zombies" T-shirt that she'll wear with pride...

...and a stuffed animal night-light.

She also got some neat books from Grandma & Grandpa (they were National Geographic for Kids books; Lorelai has been getting into non-fiction books a lot lately). It was a fun evening, topped off with the cupcakes brought by Grandma & Grandpa.

Delicious! But too many for all of us to eat! Thankfully, our neighbors and my piano students were able to help us finish them off.

from fanpop.com

I spent much of the rest of the week getting ready for Lorelai's big birthday bash that Saturday (Aug. 17th). For months now, Lorelai has insisted on having a Phineas And Ferb-themed birthday party. Phineas and Ferb is a goofy, energetic, very clever television show about two brothers who spend each summer day having wild, improbable adventures, and building ridiculously complicated inventions. Their teenaged older sister is constantly trying to get them in trouble with their parents, to no avail. Oh, and the family also has a pet platypus who moonlights as a high-tech secret agent; his job is to stop the local mad scientist from wrecking havoc and taking over the city.

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Yeah, it's a little nuts; just go with it! Structurally, the show can be repetitive (it's not an easy show to marathon-watch for that reason), but seeing the endlessly clever ways they tweak their own formula is very entertaining and rewarding. Lots of the jokes are definitely too subtle for young children; Nathan and I often find ourselves laughing out loud at jokes our kids don't get at all. Plus, it's a very positive, upbeat show in which the characters are all well-adjusted, intelligent, and enthusiastic. The humor doesn't denigrate others, and manages to be clever and unique at the same time. It's a show we happily watch as a family.

Planning a birthday party around Phineas and Ferb was a bit complicated, but ended up being very rewarding. I decided the main activity of the party would be an "invention-creating" craft project. Since Phineas and Ferb are constantly creating new inventions (and Dr. Doofenschmirtz, the mad scientist on the show, is always building eeevil inventions of his own), it felt natural to give the kids a chance to let their creative juices flow. To start out, I hoarded a lot of recyclables over several weeks, and spray-painted most of them, to make them appear more "metallic" and "mechanical":

I also hired my talented friend Lexi to create a special Phineas and Ferb-themed birthday cake. This was the first time (well, since my wedding!) that I've hired someone to make a cake for me; I thought it would be fun to be a little more imaginative with the cake and try for something uniquely shaped. Lexi has hand-crafted several lovely cakes for friends and family, so it was fascinating to watch her work and see how everything came together.

We came up with the idea for this cake based on a couple of designs I found online; since the Perry the Platypus segments are often the most funny and exciting parts of each episode, I thought having a "De-Cake-Inator" as an edible decoration would be an awesome touch. To complete the image, I  splurged for a small set of Phineas and Ferb toys, so we could have our very own Dr. Doofenschmirtz standing next to the cake, while Perry/Agent P struggled nearby to undo his nefarious plan.

Here's how the "building" of the cake progressed:

It was so cool to see all the details come over, and even more cool to finally set it up at home with all the extra trimmings. Thanks again, Lexi, for all your hard work!

Here are some of the other decorations we made for the party:

After all the guests had arrived, we had a short "treasure hunt" through the house to find some hidden temporary tattoos (Phineas and Ferb tattoos, natch!). After that, it was time for everyone to build their inventions! Things were pretty bustling and crazy for a while...

After the "inventing" was done, we all retired into the next room to share our inventions and what they were used for. This part was great fun; it was really interesting to hear some of the ideas the kids had come up with! Here are the kids with their inventions; sorry, I can't remember what all of them do!! I'll let your imaginations fill that part in...

Conner N.

Ryan A.

Joey G.

Hyrum P.

Sydney J.

Emma J.

Elnorra S.

Abigail

Joey P.

After the "invention exchange," (thank you, Mystery Science Theater 3000!!), we all returned to the kitchen to have a light dinner. A few more activities followed:

We played "Pin The Tail On Perry"

Emma won this contest; I wonder if she was peeking... ;)

Then, of course, it was pinata time!

Everyone lined up to take a whack at Perry The Pinata...

...including Celeste!

Elnorra struck one of the killing blows...

The mad candy rush at the end!! Notice the drops of water on the ground; it was actually drizzling during pinata time.

Right as the parents started arriving to pick up their kids, we finally got down to the present-opening...

 

...and the cake eating!!

All things considered, it was a great party. It was a lot of work to put it together, but it was also very well-received by all the kids. It's so satisfying to see your child and all her friends have a good time together! That said, this is probably the last "large-scale" birthday party Lorelai will ever have; in future years, I may allow her to invite over a few friends and order a pizza, and that will be the extent of the planning! However, if this was to be her last hurrah, then it was a great note to end on.

There is one more birthday party to plan this year: Celeste's sixth birthday party, in December. However, there's a few more things to take care of in the next few weeks, like Lorelai's baptism! Now August becomes a "waiting" month once again; only this time, I am "waiting" for September to begin so we can see my eldest get baptized!