Week 261: Monkies, Birthdays, and Barak

Sam’s birthday, which is an event we’re starting to think of as an end to the year-end holiday frenzy, was this weekend and we apparently did it up right. Rather than having a nice quiet time at home we arranged a party for all her classmates at a local establishment called “Monkey Joe’s.” The place endeavors to recreate the great purple monkey’s natural habitat of inflatable bouncie structures, because basically it’s a giant warehouse full of those. Plus a snack bar and party rooms.

The kids absolutely loved it, Mandy particularly so. There was this one pen you could just dump her in and let her go crazy, and that’s where she spent most of her time. The event happened to be right over her nap time so I could tell she was really tired, and when Mandy gets really tired she tends to lose coordination, stumble a lot, bump into things, and fall on her face repeatedly. Fortunately this is exactly the kind of thing Monkey Joe’s encourages, so she just rolled with it and had fun. Seriously, she just ran and bounced off of vinyl inflated surfaces like a big giggling pinball.

That evening after a short nap we had Ger’s dad and godmother over for dinner and gift opening, but not in that order. Since we had failed to specify “no gifts” on the party invitations all the kids had brought along their own gifts and Sam ended up with a pile of gifts that required several oxygen tanks and a Sherpa to get to the top of. In addition to all that, she got an awesome train table from her aunt Shawn, which she loves.

On the non-birthday front, Sister Amanda Francesca continues to show her fascination with all things religious. The other morning I showed her a picture of Barak Obama and had this exchange with her:

“Mandy, who is this a picture of?”

“Jesus!”

“HA! Well, some people seem to think so, but no not quite.”

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One thought on “Week 261: Monkies, Birthdays, and Barak

  1. Oh my God! Icees and cake! No wonder Sam was too excited to talk when I called. It looks like a good time was had by all.
    I love the photo of Mandy sitting on the throne devouring her cake. You don’t get in between her and her cake!

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