Beary? Bairy? Berry? Baerie?

So, yeah, I got my wings today and the ladies at the party discussed my unenthusiastic response to being a fairy, so someone seemed to find it amusing to call me a beary instead, but I'm not sure I like that any better.  Besides, I have no clue how I would go about spelling it without sounding like I'm some kind of fruit, which I'm not sure is much better than being called a fairy to begin with.  I think you humans just delight in the embarrassment of a poor helpless bear, and all I can do is smile and pretend I'm equally as amused.  Well, I suppose I should be comforted in the thought that I provide amusement for others, and grateful that I get included in such events to begin with, so I'll stop my whining and tell you about our day.

It started early, especially for KayRena who couldn't sleep and eventually pulled herself out of bed at 4:30 in the morning to decorate the cakes.  When we got up and saw all the roses on the cake we thought she'd had them hiding somewhere and pulled them out for the cake, but apparently she was a cake decorator before becoming a mom, and these things were all done this morning - amazing (as everyone else at the party agreed).  The rest of the morning was a flurry of activity while they decorated the gazebo-type framework in the back yard with flowers and coloured table cloths, and finished up all the food (making it not eating it; that came later).  They were barely finishing up when KayRena's friends showed up, food in hand (and presents - I like presents, but apparently none were for me, do I have a birthday?  When do I get presents?).

Everyone wore fairy wings and then took turns making fairy outlines of each other with sidewalk chalk and then had fun colouring them all in (hmmm... why didn't I get to do one?).  Then it was tea-time, and at least they included me in that, even giving me a tea cup and saucer my own size.  For those of you who are reading this wondering if the entire tea was sugar, I can attest to you that there were salads there, although I'm thinking there were more desserts than salads, but there WERE salads there.

The next thing they did seems very strange to me, but they all seemed quite familiar with the routine so I shall assume this is a familiar event at birthday parties.  They stuck little sticks of wax into the beautiful cake, lit them on fire and then told Clare and KayRena to make wishes and blow them out.  What's with that?  Still, it looked kind of fun, as long as those candles didn't come anywhere near my fur.

Another strange thing to me, was that the blowing out of these candles was followed with the opening of presents, and not the eating of cake as one might expect.  Is this the normal routine also, or did they mess up the order and have to fix it?  What was most fun, was the guests got completely into the idea of it being a party for young children (KayRena claims that zeros don't count, so she really turned 4 today), and bought gifts that reflected that.  Everything from colouring books and crayons, to teddy bears and crafts.  Our two birthday girls played the parts perfectly (they make very believable 4 year olds if you ask me).  Oh, and its looking like it was a good idea Clare packed that extra suitcase; she's going to need it to bring her haul home.

The last guest left just as the first of KayRena's kids were getting home from school and began devouring the leftovers.  I don't blame them, they kept seeing all these wonderful treats in the fridge, and being told they couldn't touch them until after the party.  Once things were cleaned up, Clare took KayRena and Jake with her to the Build-a-Bear Workshop to use up the gift certificate she'd been given.  With a Build-a-Bear so close to KayRena, this was something they'd done a few times, while Clare had never done it.  This is the same store they got my shirt, tie and Book of Mormon from last visit but they had left me at home that day, so it was rather fun to peruse this store that lets children of all ages assemble and give life to my relatives (including kissing a little heart that gets stuffed inside before its stitched up).  Oh, and I got my passport stamped there (yeah, they have passports with Visa pages and as you travel the world with your bear, you can go to their stores and get stamps added - very cool if you ask me).

After that expedition, it was chill-out time, fend-for yourself dinner, and watch the first act of a school play Jake did in the early spring.  Why just one act?  Well, everyone was falling asleep, and it was barely 9pm.  Most of the kids were asleep by 9:30, and by 10 everyone was at least in bed, if not completely asleep.  I know that's where Clare wants to be right now as well, so I sigh as I realize I will not be able to post photos of this party yet, and hope you can all be patient until I can persuade her to upload them for me (I hear wining constantly works well).

Until tomorrow...