Birthday party: Activites

On July 23 we hosted a 3rd birthday party for Justin. He had requested an "animal party," so that was our theme for the event. In addition to family, we had four of his friends over for crafts, games, lunch, and cake. Thanks to my mom, sister, and niece, there were plenty of fun activities planned, despite the fact that I was using every spare moment I had during the weeks leading up to the party on an effort to meet my first major dissertation deadline and prepare for a lecture series in Gettysburg.

One of the activities they planned was animal paper bag puppets. Here Audrey helps Riley and Justin make their giraffes:


Then Justin helped his friend Madeleine:


Showing off the finished product:


The second craft was decorating foam visors with animal stickers. Here is Riley making hers, while her little brother Gibson enjoys trying on one of his own:


My lovely niece, talented enough to model two at once:


Madeleine enjoys the monkey bean bag toss:


My family also hid a bunch of little animals around the living room, and the kids went "on safari" to find them. Each kid got to keep the first three animals he or she found. As soon as I said the word "safari," Justin ran to put on his safari hat!


Some grown-ups were there, too:



Christopher, Riley, and Gracie take turns down the little slide:


Madeleine, Gracie, and Christopher looking at a squirrel on the back deck:


Part two of the party to come later...