Bluegrass Birthday

I love parties. My kids love parties. When the opportunity arises to plan a party for my kids, I'm all about it! For Lucian's third birthday party, we had only one option for a theme: The Okee Dokee Brothers! It is the only thing that Louie is passionate about, and boy is he passionate! He acts out concerts and scenes from their DVD, he knows almost every word to every song, and he doesn't leave you alone until you join in.

We based his party theme around the Okee Dokee Brothers' latest CD, "Can You Canoe?" (If you don't own it, you should). The songs are all about camping and canoeing and everything that goes with it, so it made for some fun possibilities for a party! We set the scene with a paper campfire and tree-stump seats, with a "canoe" (sled) and "paddles" (kitchen spoons) parked nearby. The kids got to play in a tent, eat off of tin plates and "roast" marshmallows after lunch. 

But the highlight of the day was the singalong! Grandpa brought his guitar and a stack of Okee Dokee songs that he had been practicing, and we all joined the birthday boy in singing and rocking out to the music. All of the kids added their own musical talents along the way; we had Lucian on guitar, Augustine on drums, and Anna on ukulele. It was priceless.

After the jam session, we broke out the banjo cake. I am pretty proud of this creation.

Here's another picture of it:

Oh, ok, I'll throw in one more for good measure. 

The time and stress it took to make (Paul will tell you- he had to remind me to breathe while I was frosting) was totally worth it to see the look on Lucian's face when he first laid eyes on it!

We enjoyed our cake, although I may have cried a little as it got sliced into pieces, then Lucian opened presents (in the canoe of course). It was such a fun day. Now we have a short break before the next celebration... time to sit back, relax and listen to some bluegrass!