Birthday girl

Julia had a great time at her birthday party today; I mean, really, what's better than having all your friends over, getting to watch one of your favorite movies, eating popcorn, then two pieces of cake, AND getting a bunch of presents? And I have to say, as much as I found humor in the fact that, instead of renting a space like Creative Movement or the play room at the Y, Julia preferred to have all her friends over to watch "Dora Saves the Mermaids," the movie really was a hit! The kids were totally engrossed in it for the 45 minutes that the movie ran, making noise only to shout out the friendly commands Dora asks for help with ("SWIPER NO SWIPING!") So, after all my worry about cramming 15+ kids into our small condo, it turns out Julia's idea was a great one and the kids had a blast.

Madeleine spent a lot of the day getting into mischief, which is really to be expected considering the adults were being boring and cleaning the house all morning. At one point, while I was in the kitchen checking on the cake in the oven, I heard noise in the hallway. Since I knew Madeleine was playing in the living room, I assumed it was Julia, who had been playing in her room, and called her name. After I didn't get a response, and called a few more times, I peeked my head into the hallway, only to see this:



Wait a minute. She was playing in the living room, and the gate between the kitchen and hallway was locked. I was confused. I couldn't understand how on earth she got in the hallway. Then I looked up and saw this:



Apparently she has figured out how to open the door between the living room and hallway.

Furthermore, while the kids watched "Dora Saves the Mermaids" in the living room, Madeleine decided to wreak havoc on the set-up I was doing in the dining room. As I put out plates and napkins to get ready for cake, Madeleine decided to do this:



She climbed up onto the little table, which was set for four kids, considering the big table could only fit about 10 at most. Then she proceeded to pick up each plate and napkin individually and drop them on the floor, proclaiming, "Uh-oh!" after dropping each one. Luckily she wasn't big enough to climb up on this one:



At any rate, party is done, Julia is playing with her presents, Madeleine is crawling around eating things off the floor, and in a few hours, parents can (finally) relax!