Presidents day party

First decided he wanted to throw a presidents day party. He was the idea man and suggestions needed to go through him for approval. The party was today so that Anna, Elsa and Tobias could be invited and present before heading back to W-town after our already planned weekend visit.

The party started at 10:50 am. Kids and adults busied themselves with various activities and noshing.

• a 500 piece puzzle of a one dollar bill borrowed from Owen and Lukas (Baba and I could be found there for much of the party)

• a Lincoln logs and kapla blocks building area

• a donation bin where First was accepting bills and coins with either Washington or Lincoln on them

• 24 piece puzzles of a five dollar bill, penny and quarter made by Kinder and First

• Tobias' throw a coin over the river game

• the 50 state quarters computer game

• a book area with books from our own collection and the library with books about money, presidents and Washington D.C.

• the food was primarily brown/orange or green in keeping with the more powerful theme of the party: money

• lettuce, celery, carrots, veggie chips, hummus, guacamole, peanut butter, pretzels, hot dogs ("Lincoln logs"), mini meatloaf muffins ("oversized pennies"), cherries and chestnuts

• a spice cake frosted with white frosting and decorated with green sprinkles to look like a dollar bill

We ended up out back for sledding and snowboarding on the slick, hard packed snow. The kids received new Washington dollar coins as a favor. It was a lot of fun.

First had a good time though it was hard for him to face the unexpected (for him...inevitable in my mind) modifications to the plans and vision he had in his head. For example, he really didn't want Tobias to set up the game he had thought up on his own. In the end, First joined the kids to play it, but his stubbornness around it was intense.

We have been very busy lately and I'm looking forward to a quiet week. I just saw that Fiber Arts is cancelled tomorrow and am not going make other plans.

Our visit with Anna and the kids was special. There is such an amazing closeness that we share despite having lived all of the kids' lives so far apart. The children are true cousins.