Today we celebrated Asher, Levi, & Gabe’s birthday!

Asher & Levi were born June 25th and Gabe was born July 21st. The three of them wanted a Mario & Luigi Party and today was the day! It also happened to be Emma’s Birthday (our intern). She actually has been dreaming of her own Mario party so imagine her surprise when that’s exactly what we gave her! Speechless….

After spending the morning decorating – the party started at 4pm. We invited 13 boys to the party! They were so cute in their Sunday Best.

First we played some games

Musical Chairs – Haiti-Stye: So we have 6 boards that we scattered throughout the cafeteria. They dance in a circle and when the music stops they have to run and stand on the board. We remove one each round until there’s one person left. SO MUCH easier than using chairs! 

Dance Freeze – Emma & Susan made up dance moves to represent: ballet, contemporary, country, & gangster. The kids danced each round and when the music stops you have to stand completely still. If you move you’re out. 

Sack Race – So the first round the older kids competed. EVERYONE was able to jump in their sack to the volleyball net without much effort. HOWEVER the 2nd round  – well every single one of them took a nose-dive!

Hot Potato – Then it was time to play hot potato which is a crowd favorite!

Then it was time to eat

We put on a little Tom & Jerry while the kids devoured their pizza & juice! The boys sat so quietly & well behaved as their eyes were glued to the screen! Sometimes we forget how much the simple things can mean.

Then it was time for some more games

Sleeping Lions: The object of this game is to have the kids lay on sheets on the floor. They cannot move once they lay down. Then Emma, Susan, & myself walked around and tried to get them to laugh or move. We couldn’t touch them but we could tell jokes, act something out, be silly, whatever! I found that pretending to puke on them pretty much made them smile & move at the same time! 🙂

Sherrifs/Bandits: The object of this game is that you have 5 policemen. They have to count while the bandits hide. When the bandits are caught you have to put them in jail. If you aren’t watching your jail very well then a bandit could come in and free one of the kids!

After 2 Hours it was time to wrap it up

Cake: Yeah so…….the cake wasn’t as pretty as we would have hoped. We were decorating right until the kids showed up. The cake itself was a cookies & cream cookie with icing on it. Then we also had cupcakes. Yeah – wish I would have taken close-ups of the kids shoving them in their mouth!

Piñata: Every child got to hit the piñata and Tson who was last finally broke it open. Then it was Lord of the Flies as they all scrambled to get the candy. 

Goodies: Then it was time for everyone to take their candy & a special Mario good bag home!

The boys told me this was their favorite party! So thankful for Emma, Susan, Morgan, Jose, Momma Gigi, & Miss Beth’s help with all the festivities. The party continued on even after it was over. Emma & Susan brought the dance camp to the cafeteria. They were AWESOME!! I want to record them and try to upload their dance. It was beautiful.

Afterwards we worked on our CUPS skill. It’s a whole thing with clapping, cups, and silliness. I must say I haven’t laughed like that in a long time. I know how to work a cup – but I can’t seem to catch on to the extra things we add in between songs. I’d like to think it was really just my partner Susan that made me not shine like the star God has called me to be! LOL! We are hoping to perform this at the Evening Celebration at the town square…..should be interesting.

Then we brought out the Just Dance and projected it on a big screen. Though my knees were killing me – I had to school some of the staff & kids on the 2014 songs. I haven’t quite mastered the 2015. It was fun just being silly and hanging out. A great time was had by all.

Here’s some pics of this Mario & Luigi Extravaganza!