I didn't know if she was serious when she first said it. A few weeks ago, Leah mentioned that she thought we should host a birthday party for Cayla.
"Sure, it'll be nice. Just the three of us," I said, already knowing that Leah intended to invite our entire clans. She knew I knew and quickly dismissed my weak smoke screen. In fact, I don't even think it got a response. She was already into planning mode.
"We can have a fire out back we can grill we can have a pinata we can have a big birthday cake we can have ice cream lots of fun games..."
The happy birthday girl!!
I think she continued for a while but I'm not sure I caught it all the first time. It's not that we dread hanging out with our families. Not the case. In fact, we love our families dearly. It's just that our house isn't exactly large. So while the Leah-Brainstorm-Express was churning down the tracks, all I could see was 25 people--including eleven kids--in our house. It freaked me out.
Lining up to take a swing
After much discussion (I wasn't going to win), we decided to go ahead and go for it. We both have big families and once we committed, we went all out. 25? 30? Bring 'em all. We planned on letting the kids play outside, putting up the pinata in the garage, and grilling outside. We
were praying nobody would get any broken bones.
Did you think I was exaggerating??
Well... we survived. 24 of us came to celebrate Cayla's first birthday. And while the weather didn't cooperate (we ended up having pizza in the garage), the kids did a great job playing in the small living room and unfinished basement. It would have been nicer to have more space, but we made it work. Our families are amazing! The Heefner clan came all the way up from St. Louis! Our nephews Seth and Ethan even beat Uncle Dan and me in ping pong, although Seth may have made up some of his own rules... (39,000 points for hitting it off of an adult) :)
Leah made a sweet cake! Thanks to Becki for the tutorial!!
We were all here, eating pizza and swinging at a pinata, because the God of the universe wanted us to be the caretakers of a special girl named Cayla Joy. She is truly a gift. And the pain and frustrations that come sporadically don't compare to the joy she has brought into our lives. We look forward to many more years with her! Thanks to all who helped us celebrate her, and who continue to help us celebrate her.
I love sugar!!!
4 comments:
Aww, fun! Good job with the cake, Leah. Love the little birthday crown for the princess :)
Happy Birthday, Cayla Joy! You live up to your name already for you are the crowning joy of the hearts of so many!
XO's, Love, Rainey
Happy Birthday Cayla!!! I love the princess crown, just what any princess deserves on her birthday!
Looks like a party fit for a princess! Happy Birthday sweet Cayla!
Thanks for hosting us all-you guys did a fabulous job! I know how much work goes into it, so THANKS! I hope you were able to rest on Sunday:) What a fun day it was celebrating Cayla...she is such a joy to us all. Almost every time I looked for Josie, I found her next to CJ, and usually she was caressing her head or patting her. What a blessing God gave you in Cayla. We love you all!
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