May 5

Another day, another birthday! Today we celebrated my dad's birthday.

In the morning, Caleb and Daisy spent a crazy amount of time playing happily in the sand box.

That was seriously the best birthday gift possible for Daisy. I'm so glad we thought of it!

After naps, we headed to the lake for a birthday barbecue picnic for my dad.

Sweet Lil was excited to celebrate Grandpa!

Jenny and Ryan came, too, and Caleb and Daisy were delighted to have big kids to play with in the water. (Yes, Jenny counts as a big kid. She may be over thirty, but she's still one of the kids!)

This girl is so close to crawling. It's so strange for me to see her getting up on hands and knees like that!

Caleb and Daisy made a pinata for Grandpa's birthday. We like to call today "Cinco de Grandpa". 

Fun fact: we started making this pinata a year ago, after watching an episode of Curious George in which George's friend Bill makes a pinata. But Curious George led us to believe that pinata-making was quick, which is not actually the case. When small children help apply the papier mache, it takes a very, very long time to dry. So when Cinco de Grandpa rolled around last year, our pinata was a mushy, soggy mess. This year, we were prepared. 

Several days ago, Caleb helped me apply sheets of tissue paper to the newspaper shell we made last year. He refused to touch the papier mache paste, though, because he didn't want to get his hands dirty. Today, we filled it with treats.

Another fun fact: we have no pinata-type treats in our house. None. We just don't roll that way. But since Caleb and Daisy have never actually had a pinata before, they didn't realize this. So I asked Caleb what kind of treats he wanted to put in the pinata, and he replied, 

"Chex!

Raisins!

Granola!

Chocolate chips!"

And so we filled little baggies with a trail mix of sorts, and Caleb was pleased. To round out the treats, we also added some apricots and some bubble gum eggs that ended up at our house after Easter. Caleb and Daisy had a little bag-filling assembly line, and they had so much fun!

I was shocked, but Caleb wasn't even sad when it was time to destroy the pinata. He even went first! 

I think he could see through his blindfold, because he hit it dead on. Luckily, the pinata held.

Daisy went next and knocked it loose from its duct-tape mooring, but didn't break the pinata open, so we taped it back up.

Jenny and Lily were entertained by the zaniness.

Ryan's turn came, and Chris spun him around so well (while singing "Ring Around the Rosie!") that I don't know if he even got a hit!

Eventually I guided him closer to the pinata, but still nothing.

Then it was the birthday boy's turn! He chose to cover his eyes with his hand instead of a blindfold, and he smashed that thing to pieces. Caleb and Daisy were so happy!