type='text/javascript'/> A Latte Talk: Messy Messy

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Messy Messy

You may have noticed a lot of talk on this blog lately about birthdays. July hosts 3 out of 5 birthdays in my family. Plus, 4 others in our extended family.

That's 7 birthdays in one month.

I think Minnesotans get bored in October.

Anyway.

My two sweet girls are still young enough to want to share a birthday party. They were so excited about it.

So they came up with the idea to have a "Messy Party". You know, where they get to do messy things, and Mommy won't freak. out. Mommy will actually plan these messy things for them to do.

I am not a good craft mom. I fully admit it. I'd rather get on a bike and go for a ride, or sit and read a book, or dig in the dirt, than plan a craft.

Actually, I'd rather be hung upside down by my toenails than plan a craft.

So obviously, painting is a huge novelty to Corene and Ava. Crafts just don't happen in our house.

Aided by the internet (in .31 seconds, Google found 265,000 websites under the search "messy kids party"). There were lots of ideas to choose from.
We planned the messy party to beat all messy parties.

There were signs of warning.
"Messy Art" shirts were donned.

It is oh so appropriate that by total chance, Taz ended up with the only shirt that said "Messy Messy".
Hand prints and foot prints were painted Shaving cream and food coloring (who knew this would be such a hit?).

And, two, yes, two cakes. It is a really good idea, in theory, to let each of your children have their own cake, so they get to have something at the party that is their own.

Making two cakes completely took over my weekend, but who can resist creating midget barbie (who I performed major limb removal on to make the cake work, may she RIP) and a horse cake, complete with licorice reins and jellybean nose?




And then, the activity that brought out my inner OCD. 4 pounds of spaghetti, cooked, cooled, and tossed with oil. And dumped in here:


Is this not a kids' paradise?

I was enjoying myself fully until the fun play was suddenly transformed into a lively food fight. And then somehow there was shaving cream in the mix again. And all I could do was laugh. Seriously, WHEN do kids get to be this crazy and not get in trouble for it?

Check out this video. It's only 4 seconds long, but it shows just a glimpse of the fun madness that had been taking place.
After you watch it the first time, watch it again and look at Corene in the background with her pants around her ankles.
And, while you're at it, note that at the beginning of this "game", there was 4 pounds of spaghetti IN the baby pool. There looks to be maybe 1 pound in the pool now. You figure out where the other 3 pounds went. And who cleaned it up.






I promise that I did not spike the punch. It was juice and sparkling water. Promise.

It was so very fun to watch them be so filled with delight at the novelty of getting messy.

Speaking of delight.
But we are never doing this again.

It's your turn.

14 comments:

Dawn S. said...

Ahh, but we DID have the most delightful time, did we not? My gut hurt the next day from all the laughing!!

Unknown said...

I watched the video over and over, absolutely cracking up! The girl in the background - did she lose her britches?

Those kids will remember the messy party FOREVER. Good job, mom of the year award for you!

Heather said...

I can hardly type because my body is shaking with laughter! What a hilarious video!!!! Totally captures the essence of that evening...

And I think we left our hand-print, foot-print bag at your place!

I'm going to need some pictures, because I didn't take any. I'm in this "I don't need so many pictures, especially of other peoples' birthday parties" mode. Hmm. Wouldn't you know that once I leave the camera in my purse, the most memorable party EVER occurs!

See ya in a bit -- Dora, here we come! Madeline asked me last night as she went to bed, "Does Dora sleep?" Then she prayed that Dora would have a good night's sleep....

Innocence.

Shari said...

What a great idea!! Of all the things mom avoid most.. messes, the kids must have had an absolute blast!
P.S. LOVE the horse cake.. so cute!

Anonymous said...

Jenny,
You rock as a mom. I love the theme. Man I would have loved that as a kid. I should do that for Bradley's birthday. What a great idea. You can tell they loved the day. I love the cakes too.
Michelle

Kelly @ Love Well said...

The idea of a messy party makes me laugh with delight AND twitch. I'd be willing to do it in a heartbeat if I was in a spot where I didn't have to clean up the aftermath.

Looks like your girls had a BLAST though. That's all that matters.

Jenna said...

great party. great post. love phrases like, "my inner o.c.d.".

Sheryl said...

YOU are a great mom!!

Martha said...

That sounds like so much fun! And the cakes turned out wonderful. I enjoy decorating cakes when I can--I've made a habit of making the cakes for my daughter's birthdays and holidays, and they're a hit every time.

Anonymous said...

I don't like crafts either. The best I get is drawing shapes so Bradley can work on his cutting skills and then we make something out of them to put on the sliding glass door. We made a sun yesterday to put above the house and tree we made the day before. Pretty sad I know but he loved it. So see you are not alone. : )
Michelle

tiffany said...

so fun. so fun. jeneva still talks about all of the spaghetti in her hair. how on earth do i plan jeneva's party now? maybe we'll have a quiet reading party. hahah. your "inner ocd" yeah, I'm chock full of that a lot. how is your yard looking by now?

Sarah said...

Ohhhhh!!!!! How fun! I so wish we could have been there. That definitely beats sitting in Urgent Care with a sobbing 1-year old... :-( Elle would have had much more fun there! Great cakes too!

Jennifer Mulvihill said...

Oh Jenny! You are SUCH a good mom! What I love is the Barbie cake! Every girl's dream! Great work! Your girls will remember this party for the rest of their lives!

Anna - Three Sneaky Bugs said...

So much fun! You did a great job.

But.... how in the world did you clean that spaghetti out of your yard?