You say it's your birthday!

Claire recently attended her good friend's fourth birthday party. The party was held at the local Lifetime Fitness Club where the kids swam and played in the toddler pool before relocating to a private room to dine on pizza and birthday cake. Much to my dismay, there was no keg in the corner of the room where I could show off my mastery of the one-armed keg stand. I know - that's what I thought. What kind of party is this? Anyway, it was the first and only time Claire has ever attended a real life birthday party, and she hasn't stopped talking about it since. The party was more than four weeks ago, and she's still talking about it. Seriously. She needs to give it a break. Seriously. I mean, I'm often teased for bringing up again and again (and again) the time I sealed a victory for my high school basketball team by sinking a couple key free throws with just seconds remaining on the clock to defeat the mighty Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles. But it was totally awesome how I did that. Winning the game that is. Well, technically, I didn't win the game. I simply put our team's score out of reach by displaying a steely determination under intense pressure from the free throw line... which is way cooler than some lame party without a keg. Therefore I refuse to ever stop telling this story.

But Claire had so much fun swimming... at least after the lifeguard was able to coax her into actually dislodging herself from Linda's leg and stepping into the pool. And since it was a princess-themed party, the guest of honor donned a princess-like dress before making a grand appearance in the party room. She even performed a wardrobe change just before cake was served and reappeared wearing an official Snow White outfit - complete with little blue and red sparkling Snow White shoes that blinked when she walked. I guess it was a pretty cool party... if you're a three or four year old.

So this past weekend, Claire again started talking about the party and how she wants to have a similar party (and even wants to share her cake with Nick). It was cute, and a nostalgic feeling swept over me. So I ran downstairs and dug into the box of the stuff I'm not allowed to ever display in the house. And there under my pink Alpha Xi Delta Crush Party 1989 beer tumbler from college was my high school yearbook. I pulled it out and took it to Claire and showed her how it says "Mr. Clutch" under a photo of me sinking a free throw my senior year (it didn't hurt having a best friend on the yearbook staff). Claire wasn't impressed and wandered off soon after I started in on another awesome story about "...the game against the Brookings Bobcats where I went 10 for 10 from the free throw line."

On Monday, while in the coat room at preschool, Claire greeted each classmate who entered the room with, "Will you come to my house for my party and eat cake?" Of course, she always received a resounding "Yes!" I mean, what kid (or adult for that matter) doesn't want to have cake? In fact, I'd be eating cake right now if we had one in the house. Damn you, Weight Watchers, and your no-cake allowed in the house rule! Instead, I'm sitting here - starving and craving cake - while I plan Claire's birthday party. Heck, I might as well post a picture of Claire "helping" her Grandma Thullner make a cake for her Auntie Karen's birthday last month. Why should I be the only one hungry and miserable?  Now, back to the party... so far, Claire's pretty much set on inviting every single kid she's ever met - even the four year old boy at preschool who says Claire can't be friends with Addison because HE alone is Addison's friend - so we're going to need a big venue. And fast! Because this morning I had a parent approach me to say, "We hear Claire's having a birthday party... when will it be so we can get it on the calendar?" I didn't realize Claire's birthday party chatter had made its way into other people's homes. So with a sheepish grin on my face I replied, "Well... what are you doing in October?"