Rewind: Miranda's 6th Birthday

Miranda was super excited to have a birthday party this year. She wanted a "SPY PARTY" theme, and to invite all the kids in her kindergarten class, the neighborhood, and church. We had to limit it to 12 kids. Still!

I made lots of cakes- a rainbow cake, and then a bomb cake (for the Spy Party), and then some cupcake bombs (left over batter from making so many cakes. Lots of fondant, too!

The chocolate fondant was really stiff and broke a lot so I covered the ugly spots with the explosion. I thought it worked out pretty well!

We ate the rainbow cake on Miranda's birthday. The hat she is wearing in the photo above she got in her Kindergarten class.

Rainbow cake- inside and out!

Miranda is holding up a "Balloon Bomb" that I assembled for her Spy Party. She was opening presents while Grandma and Grandpa were watching via Skype.

If you know Miranda, you know she loves, to sing!
Thanks for helping get her this Ukelele/Guitar, Grandpa!

The Spy Party was a great success. We were (thankfully) even able to go outside a bit, but most of the party was indoors. We had each child get their picture taken and then we printed out ID cards. They had a checklist of activities to complete in order to earn a certificate. The list of activities:
1. Disguises- printed mustaches, lips, glasses, etc and let the kids put them on. Zoë took pictures of the kids.
2.Avoiding Lasers- strung up red yarn in the kitchen between cabinets and the kids had to move through without making the bells ring.
3. Balance Beam- 2x4 on cement blogs, kids had to walk across.
4. Bomb diffusion- black balloons filled with a magnifying glass covered in red cellophane (see below) tied with a long piece of yarn. You had to try and stomp on as many balloons and pop them as you could.
5. Message decoding- using the red magnifying glass, find and read the secret code (which said, "Happy 6th Birthday, Miranda. Let's eat cake!").

The kids had sooo much fun! Zoë and Megan were a HUGE help- playing with the kids and helping them get through everything. At each station the guest received a goodie: backpack, paper, pencil, (toy) binoculars, screwdriver, magnifying glass), and then they received the badge and certificate of completion.

Zoë was testing out the disguise props.

Doesn't she look like a police officer? Or Gestapo?

Lazer Dodge! They had to stand up right in the middle and get their pencil and paper, then continue on  through.

Megan, Pume, Dean, Ella, Kearstin
Molly, Emma, Hannah
Avery, Hailey, Veronica, Miranda, Olivia, Madison, Ella-Elizabeth,

We all had a lot of fun that day. It was a bit of prep work, but still a lot of fun to put together and to play. But, I'm glad that I don't do this every year!

Happy 6th Birthday, my Exclamation Point Girl!