Aloha!

This year for Abby's birthday we had a Hawaiian Luau. She was so excited! We invited nine of her little friends from school, playgroups and church.



Here she is waiting for all of her friends to arrive and practicing her hula dancing.









Most of the hula dancers posing with their grass skirts and waiting for their hula lessons. (Yes, there were even boys dancing!)

Sammy had a hard day watching Abby with all her friends and feeling a little left out. She also may have been annoyed because we had to pull her grass skirt up to her armpits so it wouldn't drag and it kept falling down.

This is still not everyone who came to the party. I couldn't get some of them to stop dancing and sit down for a picture. One boy refused the grass skirt all together and said he was having his "own" party by himself on the couch...

This is right after we finished making leis and they could assemble their hula outfits. We then had some hula lessons and they all practiced their moves to the sound of the Beach Boys. We also did the limbo but I didn't get any pictures of that.

Pizza break

playing outside in the backyard

Abby was so excited about her cake. We were originally going to have a Hawaiian cake with palm trees and a little girl wearing a grass skirt but she saw the Tinker Bell cake and had to have it. I gave in. One of these years, I really want to try decorating the cake myself but this year I could not be bothered. I will probably say that for the next ten years though...


Blowing out the candles!

As you can see, I avoided the pinata this year after last year's disaster. (For those of you who don't know, I bought a pinata and didn't find out you had to stuff it with candy until after the kids had practically bashed it open - oops!) Anyway, I think it was a good time had by all.

I decided to do a party at home after going to several extravagant parties of Abby's classmates. I am so blown away at how much parents spend on parties. One girl's party was held at the Enchanted Castle (which is like Chucky Cheese on steroids - an indoor theme park) with rides and games and prizes. The parents paid for each kid to go on four rides and get one hundred tickets toward games and prizes. Another girl in her class rented out a place called Airtastic (trampolines and bouncers etc). These parties are way over-the-top for a five-year old, if you ask me. That was my little soap box. I am done now.