First up, last Saturday: Lexi's "Party Like a Third-Grader" bashment, featuring home-made mac 'n' cheese, cupcakes, and a monster kick-ball game.
From Lexi's we moved on to Josie's party, a relatively low-key affair requiring precious little advance preparation, thanks to our fabulous friends at Full Tilt in Columbia City. With both us parents working that Saturday, it was a huge blessing to be able to just show up at the appointed hour with the birthday girl and a tray of Borracchini's cupcakes in the back of the car.
Through some kind of logistical miracle we also managed to bring along a guitar, a bass, and a couple of back-up singers: we were planning to ask the band that was setting up to play later that night if they'd be willing to let Josie and her pals use their amp and mics to play a few songs -- a request they graciously agreed to. (Thanks again, Ethan and Zach!)
And so after ice cream and PacMan and pinball and presents and the aforementioned tray of cupcakes (on which I, in a moment of pure maternal denial, only put twelve candles -- an oversight I will never live down, apparently), the girls took the stage to revive an old favorite:
and to debut a song Irene had written just for the occasion:
Then Prawnyxx treated us to a song called "Eat Yourself Fitter" that blew all the cobwebs out of our hyperglycemic psyches:
Even with earplugs Simon found Prawnyxx's volume level a bit overwhelming, so we didn't stay too long. We hesitated, but couldn't resist reminding him of Ezra's old adage, If it's too loud, then you're too old.
Six exhausting days later our daughter actually, finally, really and truly turned thirteen. Friday night a caravan of neighbors, aunts, and assorted friends all fought their way through rush-hour traffic to Ballard for a quick meal at Zak's Burgers before coming to see Josie's roller derby bout. That's her in the aqua shirt, leading the pack.
The bout itself would have felt more celebratory, birthday-wise, if A) the Toxic Avengers (formerly the Poison Skid'les) hadn't mopped the floor with the Mighty Rollers (formerly the Evil Angels) and B) it hadn't ended with one of Josie's teammates leaving in an ambulance. (Everybody send good thoughts -- we're still waiting to hear how she's is doing).
We managed to salvage a semi-festive mood at home afterwards with the whole crowd gathered in the kitchen for presents and dessert. And fortunately I had arrived at a place -- only a week after that first party but it felt like a lifetime, honestly -- where I could put thirteen candles on Josie's cake without flinching.
Congratulations to all you Tauri for making it once more around the sun...
No comments:
Post a Comment