Happy Birthday, Leah!

Leah's 3rd birthday was right at the beginning of the pandemic. Things were starting to get a little weird, but nothing in our orbit had shut down or really been cancelled yet. In fact, when I went to link to the post about her last birthday party, I saw that the very next blog post was labeled "Coronavirus Shutdown Preparation."

Her 4th birthday is I'm hoping the start of the end of it. Her grandparents are all vaccinated with both doses, and Sam & Uncle Luke, too! 

Turns out that you can rent out the whole of Tiger Bounce just for your family for one hour before they open (when theoretically it's the least germy!) for $50. 

We made & decorated the cupcakes the day before. She wanted her cake to be "Orange Foot" (her imaginary friend, I think somewhat similar to Big Foot, just orange) and exclaimed very disappointedly when we got out the strawberry cake and vanilla ice cream (and food coloring) from the groceries "That's not what I wanted!" I'd told her that we could make it orange, but I guess she didn't believe me. Apparently she tattled to Nana Jana that she'd have to settle for pink, but behold: 

The cake fail line is maybe a little thin on the amateur kids birthday party, but she liked them.

She went for the sprinkles with both hands: 

If I recall correctly, Leah tasted one a day early and Spark got the other. 

The theme for the party was (loosely) "Orange." 

Look how big she is!

And then here are the roughly one million photos from the play place. Her two cousins got to come, too. 

James and Ben showed up in matching outfits.

I didn't even know there was such a thing as double-decker bounce houses! 

James made an attempt with the skates, at least. 

After Tiger Bounce, the plan was to go over to Bethel Park and have some orange treats, but it was ridiculously windy. I duct-taped the table cloth down but everything blew off of it. The kids' Cheetos (orange!) kept blowing away (& we ran after them so the animals wouldn't get junk food.) No one was much interested in the clementines or carrots but some of the kids had orange peppers (and grapes and strawberries).

Candles and balloons & singing "Happy Birthday" later at home, plus round two of cupcakes (since candles and balloons at the park were a no-go): 

Anyway, I think she had a very nice 4th birthday (one day early)!