Emmalee and Kaylee's Carnival Birthday Party

 So, we decided to brave a birthday party during COVID-19. Before you get upset with me, we are three families who decided to be in each other's bubble, and we celebrate only amongst us. We have done two birthday parties from the other families and a Christmas get-together. We felt safe to get together, but we had to follow regulations as to the number of people inside the house, so we did only moms and kids. I gotta say, planning a party having only six kids in mind is pretty awesome. 

I had several decorations and plans made, but it all got downsized by 75%, but I enjoyed the party so much more. Small space to decorate and clean, only six kids to feed and entertain! I loved it! I don't mind it one bit. The initial idea was to invite 20 something kids like we had on Emmalee's Pirate Party. I had made favor boxes and favor pinwheels for 25 children. The plan was to have it set up as a real carnival, with game stations the kids could go play on their own and redeem tickets according to how well they did. I was gonna give each parent a page where they would keep their kid's score and redeem the tickets while teaching their kids honesty because they could have written whatever they wanted. I had even started making cardboard booths for each station and had already made three. These all ended up in the garbage after months of holding onto them and my husband losing his mind seeing them in the house taking up space. I made a doll-sized ticket booth to hold the tickets because I would not have my life-size ticket booth. I had to eliminate many of the games because space would not allow for more, and noise would be an issue in an apartment building filled with quarantined people. I had to let go of the stations idea and do one game at a time with the kids making a line for each game. Again, the six-kid limit came very handy. 

Because we had done Kaylee's birthday with no kids and it had been almost six months of the girls not seeing their friends or doing things with them, we had to sell the party to the girls as a co-party. While it was closer to Emmalee's birthday, we were doing Kaylee`s chosen theme. They did not mind and got onboard with whatever mom said with no complaining and much gratitude in their hearts and faces. I tried to keep it as Carnival themed as possible. 

I hope the carnival theme is obvious.

I loved making these pinwheel cookies. A mom posted a nice tutorial online that was surprisingly easy to follow and the result was just perfect for me. 

I did not expect the cake to turn out like this. I had zero ambitions or expectations with it. I just colored some frosting inside folded baking sheets and went for it. I made the roller coaster first and as I went on, I just kept adding and adding. I loved the childish look it has in colors, design, and texture. 

Here is a peek-a-boo of the roller coaster in the back of the cake. 

I specially loved the cute horses.

They tell you food color gets darker with a little time, but I am always amazed when the red food coloring actually starts looking red. 

This is another view of the roller coaster. I didn't get a single picture of it completely, so no picture of the riding cars. 

My piping handwriting is getting better. The girls were clear it was a party for them both.

You can see an "E" and "K" cookie beside the cake as the only nod to their names.

I really loved the circus-style font.

Keeping those boxes and the roof of the carousel favour boxes was realy, really hard. The roof has even some water damage. 

The hubs picked those popcorn boxes for me to print because he said they matched the girls' personalities. I agree.

I really enjoyed the different carnival themed digital paper I was able to download. The pinwheels are made with a pencil that the kids can repurpose. 

The ice cream truck from Emmalee's doughnut party made a reappearance, but it was so on theme.

I was considering making the theme more like a county fair, but I couldn't push that more. Those mini baskets filled with gummy berries was the only thing that survived that idea. I also loved the mini pinwheels decorating the soda bottles. 

At least one of my girls will pose for me!

Can you believe I've been saving that plastic tablecloth since Kaylee's Bunny birthday?! It's plastic! You gotta make it count.

Here is full view of our little party setting.

I had these banners that Aunt Lilly salvage from her preschool days that I used on Emmalee´s Pirate party. I wasn't expecting them to look so well, but they really pushed the carnival theme.

First time putting place mats. I wish I had taken better pictures of the mini paper amusement park. I´ll share the videos of us using them as a doll amusement park in the bottom.

Toss game!

Not the prize booth I had envisioned, but, considering I had nothing made and Aunt Lilly surprised me with this improvised masterpiece, I was ecstatic.

They said they were the horses on the cake's carrousel.

Easiest and funniest photo booth ever. 

Got creative with the rails using tinfoil. 

The roller coaster cart is a simple trifold cardboard kids use in science fairs.

There are no chairs there. The parents are squatting as best as they can.

Of course we had to have hotdogs. What is more carnival than that?

Our first game was a kinetic carrousel made with paper and thread. You can find the template here and see it spin here.  

I really wish I had made more of those pinwheel cookies and not just exactly six for six kids. They were so good, they left no leftovers for moms. 

Someone was excited to trade her tickets for prizes.

Our little Adri was the only one who was able to get the arrow to stick to the target. The boys were especially challenged because she did it twice.

Santi kept practicing even after the games were over.

The fishes had numbers underneath to determine the number of tickets each fish was worth. Adri also got the special one. 

I love that their age difference has no meaning in their friendship, and they are pretty much inseparable every time they see each other.

We made good use of our DIY foosball table. 

I was surprised how well all the kids were able to use stilts for the first time.

For pics with our lovely Lyla (grandma) we had to use our masks!

While the party was a co-party, I did do a Dear Kaylee and birthday interview for her on her Covid party. Here are Emmalee`s letter and Interview.

Emmalee Birthday Interview Age 8. 

Here we go.

1. What is something mommy always says to you?To do the three things (make her bed, brush her teeth, shower)

2. What makes you happy? Um, when you brings to the park or give us many toys or make us our parties and you be kind to us.

3. What makes you sad? When we want to go out and it's a rainy day and going to the park and our friend comes and we can't play with them because our mom said not to be close to other kids.

4. What makes you laugh? Kaylee doing funny faces. When daddy talks funny and makes funny faces and sometimes I make fun of him. Now that Kaylee laughs of and daddy gets angry. (Kaylee cut in: and then I call him a baboon). 

5. How old are you? 8 and I'm about to be nine, or it's the year I`ll be nine. 

6. How old is Mommy? Mommy is 34.

7. How old is Daddy? 33

8. What is your favorite thing to do? Play with you and I love playing video games and play and um.... spending time with my parents.

9. Who is your best friend? Xavi and Santi because they invite us to do things and go to their house.

10. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Karate girl. 

11. What are you really good at? Helping my sister.

12. What are you not very good at? mmmmmm....... I'm not very good at obeying my parents.

13. What did you do today? I went to the park and did my school.

14. What is your favorite food? My favorite food is mandarine, lasagna, and spaghetti white (Alfredo Fetuccine).

15. What is your favorite song? mmmmm.....Chandelier and She Wolf by Sia. I sing those a lot in Smule.

16. What do you want for your birthday this year? A remote controlled car.

17. What is your favorite animal? Cheetah and wolf

18. What is love? Love is a good thing you do to others and say it with kindness.

19. What does daddy do for work? Daddy teaches his class.

20. What does mommy do for work? She does everything. She usually does everything in the house like teaching us, doing our food, teaching her computer students. 

21. Where do you live? I live in... what is it called again? PH Genesis Plaza Camino Real de Bethania?

22. Where is your favorite place to go? Picnic, the restaurant you have to pay $15 and has many games and video games!

Dear Emmalee, 

I can't believe it's been eight years since I carried you inside me. Today you came to my room to scold me because many hours of the day had passed and I had not given you a morning hug. You jumped from the bed and landed on my arms. I held you in my arms with your legs wrapped around my waist. You are still small enough for me to carry you, small enough to fit you almost completely between my arms. I asked you to stop growing. I don't know why I was feeling so emotional last night. You came to give me a good night hug and tears began flowing from my eyes. I felt compelled to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I thank the Lord for the privilege of being your mom. You make me so exceedingly happy. I am still amazed by your intelligence. Mom dropped the ball a bit in your Spanish education, but you just picked it up so quickly. You are reading and speaking so well in Spanish. I can't believe I raised you two so immersed into English that Spanish is actually your second language. It saddens me that the opportunities to grow and practice your Spanish have been cut so short from your inability to talk to your friends in the swim team and the gymnastics team. I am so sorry I can't let you play with other kids at the park, even when your heart is aching and breaking to do so. I don't know what the Lord is preparing you for during this time of the pandemic, but I trust Him that He knows what He has  for you, my little warrior. You and your sister are the warriors for His Kingdom I will leave in this earth. You have started to ask me to teach you how to read your Bible and study it. It fills my heart. You have a Bible camp coming up, and you just can't wait for it. I love your heart opened to hearing your Lord's voice. I love how you are tough on your daddy. You always make sure he looks his best. I love to see you bully him (the sweet kind of bullying). You laugh with your whole body sometimes even bending over because you can't contain it. You still hum or sing songs when you think no one is watching you or when you are doing the mundane things like brushing your teeth or getting dressed. The sound of you and your sister's voice is the best sound in the world to me. I always smile when I catch any of you singing. The pandemic has hit you harder than your sister, but you both have made good use of your imagination to make the best of what you have. You got that from your mother, baby! You’ve become quite the party planner. You made games and even prizes and written instructions for moms birthday. You even directed your sister into making the decorations. Even though this Christmas was so different and closed up, you had prepared makeovers for us and a fun movie night. We watched the new Croods movie. Of course, your sister and you made us watch it a few more times afterwards. I love how you get into "big kids" movies now. You remind me of myself. I would also watch The Sandlot and The Karate Kid and fantasize of being "one of the boys." We even watched The Little Rascals and The Goonies, all of mom and dad's favorites. The best thing about you getting bigger is that the number of things we share only grows. Last time you made pancakes for the family almost all by yourself. I want to teach you how to code, bake, sow, paint, build! And I want to see you far surpass me and even become my teacher. I want to make more singing videos together playing the piano and the guitar. I'll make sure not to drop the ball on that because I haven't been to consistent with that. I love you, my little sweet girl. You and your sister asked for new hair cuts. You look so much like I did at your age. We have these face covers with some round eyeglasses, and daddy swears it's like looking at my old pics. Mom wore glasses since she was 4. I praise the Lord for having guard you and your sister from needing to go to the doctor for the entirety of the pandemic. Not a accident or even flu. You struggle with allergies like I did, but at least mom has the experience to battle it. You are the one that worries the most about mom. You don’t like hearing the word “cancer” on the tv or movies or watching anything where the parent dies from a disease. Disney does you no favors in that department. But mom’s last cancerversary meant so much, probably as much as it meant for me. Mommy finally feels like a cancer survivo, and you felt that change. I am so sorry I’ve been a source of worry for you. We’ve had to work together to avoid you getting your mom’s bad habit of nail biting. You worry for anyone in need or trouble and celebrate as earnestly as possible when anyone has a victory. Your heart just loves so earnestly with no reserve. I pray that part of you never changes. Keep teaching me kindness and love, my sweet child of mine.

love, 

Mom

Here are the videos of our doll amusement park!