PIRATE PARTY CONTINUED

They had macaroni and cheese and root beer (and salad for the moms).
We played pin the patch on the pirate. I made this about a week before the party and he hung creepily larger than life on our wall, just staring at us for days. He was the first thing to go after the party, but Joachim got a big kick out of practicing.
Here's the picto-treasure hunt. This was one of the things that Joachim and I did not work so well together on, but the treasure hunt itself went well, I think, I sort of missed it because I was trying to help get a woofle ball off of one little pirate's finger.
I liked the mob bunching from one clue to find the next.The cake, this cake could have an entry all to itself. I was completely ready for the party ahead of time and only had to make the cake the day before. We baked one from a box, which I've learned not to do again. This is my second box cake that absolutely crumbled. I think it has to do with our altitude because we're right at the cut off. I've asked around about this and no one else seems to know what I'm talking about. I think that's because they don't know any differently. I've noticed at church most of the cakes crumble while being served. My dad said that he's not successfully made Bisquick waffles since moving to Colorado (and he used to make them every Sunday for years, he's given up now).

So, we made the cake and I started to shape it into the ship I'd been envisioning and it was not going well. I had to stop to put Anna to sleep and when I came back out Joachim had sifted his fingers through what was left of what I'd cut and turned it into a little hill of crumbs. I was frustrated, but it didn't really matter because the cake wasn't working anyway.

Anna woke up so I left him to wash his hands while I patted her back to sleep. She wasn't settling back in and a little voice told me I should check on Joachim (who's usually very responsible when left to himself). The first thing I noticed when I entered the kitchen was the river of water running out from the sink cabinet. I very quickly realized he'd discovered that the faucet ran perfectly down the hole where the water filter was supposed to go... and it had been running the whole time I was trying to put Anna back down. Joachim had no idea it was coming out the bottom because he was standing on a chair.

Well, you can imagine the scene of Anna crying on the floor, Joachim crying in time out and me emptying the cabinet. I poured what was left of the dish soap in the soup pot, I had to spread out our garbage bags because they are compostable and will dissolve and all of our onions, potatoes and other miscellaneous cabinet stuff. I sopped up the water with all of our available bath towels and then picked up Anna and went in to talk to Joachim.

So, I recovered knowing this happens to everyone and we made the cake over again with brownie mix and Joachim decorated it. It was the richest, densest 4 year old birthday cake ever, I'm sure, but it served it's purpose and with a little dressing up, our handless lego people got a taste of pirate life.

In an effort to be prepared for the unexpected I have an extra of all of the pirate accessories except for the treasure box. I made the felt hats using the old newspaper hat pattern and there are belts from my scrap fabric. I have a sword, compass, treasure (assorted buttons and chocolate coins), a bandanna and some dinosaur tattoos. Since we've had internet I've discovered more blogs and I've been introduced to this giveaway concept.

I'm offering a giveway to my friends with kids or readers who know kids that might be interested (I think there are only a handful of you so the odds are better than on most blogs, although the giveaway is much humbler than on most blogs). All you have to do is leave a comment, send an email or write a letter to tell me you're interested. Joachim will draw the name on March 30th.

And, if you think this was a lot of pictures, just know that there we ten times this many and they were all cute and funny to me. Especially the ones outside in the yard. Kids at play are amazing, they set up the tee ball on the ship to use as a cannon!