As Glo said in jest and with a touch of sarcasm, "Thanks, Mommy, for teaching me how to throw an amazing party." It's not like we could just have a cupcake and call it good. No, Glo felt the desire to go all out. And as she told everyone, "Clarkie's birthday is really just an excuse for the family to get together and have a party!" Well said, Glo.
Party or not, I stumbled upon a website a couple of months ago, Hey Jen Brannen, that demonstrated making felt crowns for celebrations (specifically birthdays). I wondered if it would mean anything to Glo, but I knew it would mean something to me.
Back when Glo was in German Kindergarten, he teacher, Rita, made her a paper crown for her October birthday, decorated with different color fall leaves. The picture of her wearing it has been displayed in our house since I had the film developed (ah, the days of film...). It seemed fitting to make a crown for Clarkie as well, although I decided to make it a little more permanent.
Glo and I got to work, printing templates and cutting felt, and then I did all of the embroidery during General Conference. It turned out even better than I could've imagined.
My worry though was that Clarkie would take it off as soon as we put it on, so we made him a practice crown. Every time he was wrangled into the high chair at our house for a meal, we put it on him. As long as both hands remained busy eating, he was happy to wear it. Good to know! ;-)
Glo very kindly asked if John and I would host the party at our house and allow everyone to stay there. As much as she didn't need to ask, I really appreciated her doing so. It's good to know that we aren't taken for granted. Then she started doing everything.
She decorated our house for Halloween.
She spent a good week, hunting down the best price for pumpkins.
She sent texts out to everyone, keeping them abreast of the plans.
She asked me to make him a cupcake for his actual birthday, and a cake for his party. You would think that would be easy, but I ripped open so many NOT pastry bags trying to frost the cupcake that I wondered if I had ever learned to bake at all. Hence the CAKE for his birthday. Easy and delicious.
Glo had seen a trend on TikTok that felt perfect for the party. Carving Jack-o-Lanterns and putting them on our heads. We would then strike different poses. I wondered if everyone would be down for it, but seeing how much everyone loved it, I suspect it's going to become yet another Kennedy family tradition ;-)
She had thought to do a corn maze, but I have a hate relationship with corn mazes. Running and running and never finding the end, sweating through my clothes and worrying about twisting my ankle. Since Mark particularly wanted to do fall activities, I suggested apple picking. And bonus? I could try and snag some family photos ;-)
Everyone LOVED it. And seeing Clarkie and Imogen chowing down on apples? Soooo sweet. Blake's always comes through with the wagon and the apples and the sunshine.
Then it was lunchtime. A year or two ago, I went to the Meijer deli counter and got four pounds of deli meat. The woman behind the counter asked me why I needed all that expensive meat. When I told her it was for my family coming into town, she said, "Girl, you need to make yourself a big pot of chili instead." Having never made chili, I mentioned this to Nancy Carlson, and she told me she had a great recipe (she literally has ALL great recipes). She sent me a Wendy's Chili recipe that was easy to make, gluten free, and ridiculously delicious. Needless to say, it was GONE by the end of lunch.
Glo had then planned The Floor for the family. Once again, I got the weirdest category and was out in the beginning, but it was fun watching everyone else play. I think Hannah won in the end.
Onto pumpkin carving on the deck. Since Glo had test-driven the idea on me a day before, I didn't need a pumpkin, but I needed my sweet baby grandbabies in my lap. So Imogen and Clarkie and I sat in the afternoon fall sunshine, watching everyone else try and fit a pumpkin on their heads ;-)
Uncle Jake and his wife, Spring, came over at this point, and we talked to them and opened a few gifts.
Then we headed outside to take our photos!
Uncle Mike stopped by just as we were wrapping up, so he got to see Clarkie eat his cake and open more presents.
And wouldn't you think the party would be over after that? Yep, you would think so. But no. We still hadn't done apple bobbing or donut-on-a-string. So in the dark of night, we headed out to the deck. Glo and Gordon won their respective events. Glo even had to demonstrate to Mark exactly how she fishes all those apples out of the water.
In the end, what a fun get together. The next day, everyone went back home and the house was quiet again, but the memories always live on.
Comments
Post a Comment