Sebastian's birthday party

We hosted Sebastian's birthday party today, with Nathan, Cason, and Wyatt coming over for an afternoon of sports and games and food. It was really fun to have the boys here - they played so well together - and Seb loved it. He was a bundle of nerves and anticipation all day, asking repeatedly what time it was and counting down the hours and minutes. By 1:30 he was sitting on our stoop awaiting the first arrival. (He's self-aware and mature enough now to have a sense of humor about his own proclivities, laughing at himself, and even trying to find useful and helpful ways of channeling his energy.)

We printed out a whole bunch of sports silhouettes and put the kids to work cutting them out and hanging them all around the living room - the stairwell was home to a Messi series. The kids blew up 25 balloons - 25! - to have them available for play.

We had chips, pretzels, and popcorn, grapes and oranges, hot dogs and veggie dogs, and chocolate cupcakes with a topping bar (whipped cream, sprinkles, strawberry sauce).

The boys started arriving at 2 and immediately jumped into balloon volleyball. We prepared by removing all the breakables, pushing the furniture against the walls, and even taping the outlines of a court on the floor.

We invited Nathan's younger sister Diya to come over and spend the afternoon with Liesl. We knew Liesl would feel left out of the boys' sporty events and Diya had been too sick to come to Liesl's party last week, so it was a good chance for the two of them to have a long playdate. And exchange presents. And eat cake. Liesl set up a tea party in her bedroom, complete with popcorn and honey tea.

The boys headed over to the school to play football, their current sport of choice for recess and after-school. They played two-on-two on the pavement because the field was full of league soccer games.

  Liesl, my fearless bird.

Next up, tossing a ball into a plastic container set on the chair - they had to stand behind the line and throw it. Wyatt was the clear champion at this one, getting it in directly and then off the rebound on multiple occasions.

They took a break to eat some snacks, which turned into a popcorn throwing contest to get it into the mouth of your partner across the table. Steve and I tried to participate as well, but we had the longest distance from head-to-head and utterly failed.

 The aftermath.

Next up, a scavenger hunt with clues. The treasure hunt was tougher this year - riddles, word games, sports trivia, the different clues forming a puzzle which turned into a map of our neighborhood with a clue taped to a mailbox.

 Presents!

 Chocolate cupcakes! With optional whipped cream, ice cream, strawberries, and rainbow and chocolate sprinkles. It was a make-your-own-adventure dessert.

It was a wonderful birthday party - exactly what Sebastian wanted - a day with some friends playing sports together. We were all pretty tired by this evening and ready to crash.