A Baking Birthday Party

When we were in Champaign weekend before last, we stayed with our good friends Andy and Maria. Their son Will is about six months younger than Sam, and they are fast friends. We spent a weekend with them and our friends Matt and Jaime and their twoddlers Zach and Rissa last fall and since then, Sam hasn't stopped talking about Will. It's always "Will and I" this and "Will and I that." Will and Sam have such a bond that Will enters into Sam's pretend play almost as much as his cousin Eli. They enjoy each other's company so much that on the way over, Sam had his first round of "when will we get there" as he asked repeatedly if we were at Will's house yet.

Will's 3rd birthday was the week after we visited, so Maria kindly scheduled his birthday party for the Saturday we were at his house. Here's his cupcake birthday cake complete with gummy letters and fish:

Will's birthday party was a chef party, so all the children received aprons with their names emblazoned upon them and the adults brought their own aprons to wear as well. The aprons were a great idea, because the children made their own pizzas with parents acting as sou chefs. Naturally, there was flour and pizza toppings everywhere. Sam had a great time kneading his dough and kept asking when his pizza would be ready.




It took a while for the pizzas to cook, so while they did, Joy lead the children in a bit of food-inspired Kindermusik. They sang songs based on the kitchen and different foods, played kitchen utensils as instruments (in the picture, you can see them all coming to get cookie cutters, pots, pans, and lids to play). The kids and adults had a great time dancing around and singing and working up an appetite.

After music time, the food was ready, so we all went in and ate pizzas and cupcake birthday cakes and in general enjoyed ourselves and everyone's children. Maria certainly knows how to throw a party, and Sam had a great time. He already loves to cook, and we regularly have to tie up our refrigerator to keep him from cracking eggs and pouring milk, all without our supervision (and I do mean tie up since he's long since mastered the toddler locks; I literally tie a rope around the fridge). So this party was right up his alley. I suppose we'll live with several more months of Will worship at our house.