Cian wanted a Ninjago birthday party. Ninjago is the Lego ninja universe and my kids love it. Birthday parties make me nervous. I want them to be great for my kid but also the other kids and I worry that kids won't come and that my kid will be disappointed. Basically, there's a lot of anxiety in my head about them and my kids are totally fine and just excited. It's hilarious that I can do all these high stress things at work and then can freak over a childhood birthday party.
Since our house isn't completely ready from the longest renovations of all time we decided to have the birthday party outside of our house. BEST. DECISION. EVER. Cian invited a number of kids from his class and Keith had the daunting task of trying to slip invitations into their bags at school without making other kids not feel bad. Cian would have invited everyone but that was a bit much for us. All but two of them could come (including 2 girls) and Cian was excited for weeks. I had showed him the website for Kid City but he had never been and both Cian and Emily were VERY excited to go.
We got to Kid City and they prepped everything. It was a well-oiled machine and totally worth the money. The party was for 3 hours and the kids ran around for almost all of that time. Only stopping very briefly to eat and have some Ninjago cupcakes. I got to interact with his friends while pouring juice and handing out pizza and they are all lovely kids. It completely warmed my heart to see how fantastic these little humans are. One of his friends was sick but wanted to come so much that he came for the last hour with his dad and Cian made sure that he was set up with juice and food and sat right beside him. Basically these kids were great and it was amazing to see. My anxiety evaporated and I loved watching them have so much fun.
After the kid party we had our Winnipeg "family" come over for a noodle making party. I had made ninja headbands for the kids (they weren't that into them) and for the adults (who were psyched to wear them) and we set up our noodle bowls for dinner. It was all topped off with the Lego ninja temple cake (not my best work but Cian liked it) and lots of hugs and laughter.
I can't believe my oldest "baby" is seven. The time has gone so fast and despite the challenges he faces he is such a wonderful, kind and caring human being and I was truly touched to see that other kids can see that too.
Happy Birthday Ninja Cian! Your ninja parents love you so very very much.
