Bird's First Birthday Bash*

Bird Brigade! We know! You have been waiting on tenterhooks to hear of the Bird's first birthday bash. There were some fraught moments leading up to it (with which we regale you of course), but you'd never know it the end (except that we are going to reveal all!). As predicted, the day dawned cold and wet. Boo! We checked in with our Main Weather Man, Weather Dude, Paul Douglas. On his blog**, he stated that outdoor events beginning after 3pm should see clear skies and increasingly dry conditions. He was TOTALLY RIGHT! And that is why Paul Douglas is our Main Weather Man Weather Dude! By the party's start, the rain had stopped, and by party's end, the skies were blue and a gusty wind was blowing in some billowy white clouds. So we were able to open the porch, and people were able to flow in and out.

The other thing that began all wrong, but ended all right had to do with the snacks and cake. We'd ordered the lot from Target, and when Ted went to pick it all up, he learned that they didn't have the order. What?! He called Julie who had a moment of panic that she'd made some sort of awful, terrible, horrible mistake, but no! It was Target that had made some awful, terrible, horrible mistake. But they made it happen, and gave everything to Ted half off. Life: it's a moving target. But they hit the bull's eye. The cake was not the cake we'd originally intended, but it did have birds on it, and as Aunt Kate quite wisely pointed out, no one would know how it was supposed to be, only what was--until now of course!

Clara and Joe apparently both smelled the cake in the air, as they woke up earlier than usual from their afternoon naps, which was also right on time for the change into party clothes so as to be totally together as Birdie's flock gathered. She made a grand entrance in her party dress, crawling around the corner from the hallway from the bambini's room into the living room. Crawling is a little tricky in your party dress, but she carried it off with her usual can-do aplomb! She made the rounds, was held, had some snacks, sucked on her two fingers, and had two pieces of cake. She lasted the whole of the party, but was asleep soon after it ended.

Joe tore around outside for quite a bit longer. He closed the party down with Marco--Marco dragging an oversized slinky that apparently bisected an unsuspecting earthworm, and Joe trailing his own "snake" (a kitchen dish towel).

And so was she feted, just as a Bird should be, with her flock, in her nest--and with cake.

*The authors and editors of this blog would like to thank Mr. Pat, for being, once again, our official event photographer.

**Check it out. This man is into weather. http://www.startribune.com/weather/blogs/Paul_Douglas_on_Weather.html