We had settled on a nice outdoor location for E’s birthday party: grassy area, nice views, playground, bathrooms, covered pavilion that could be rented, small beach by the bay. His birthday happened to fall on a Saturday this year so we decided to throw it day of. As mentioned in the previous post, Elias’ uncanny kinship to rain on important occasions reared its ugly fair head again but all is well in that we were able to reschedule to the following week and most were able to still make it.

No surprise that our Lego fanatic requested a Ninjago theme. We didn’t spend quite as much time on this one as his 1st but did enjoy a small dose of creative event planning. :)

We designed a digital invitation (paperless strong!) and a link to it on his website.

On the menu:

We made these food tents but it turned out to be super windy on that day so we actually had to tape down the labels. Oh well, kindergartners don’t care, right? And at least no rain!

The “snake fangs” container got a Ninjago face lift, haha.

The wind also affected the table covers so we kinda just stopped fooling with them after awhile. Very bare decorations (as in almost zilch besides Ninjago plates, Ninjago table cover (that kept flailing), brick platters and napkins) — we had considered balloons with Ninjago faces but the city’s Parks and Rec doesn’t allow them as they understandably didn’t want them floating into the water and possibly harming animals.

Kiddos started showing up and they wasted no time in playing!

After some food and free play, we assembled them for a 2-part ninja challenge that would deem them worthy to participate in the Ninjago Lego build. :)

Mischievous Sensei Yu imparting the mission. :P

The first charge involved the practice of Ninja star throwing. And to play the part, gotta look the part, right?

Shoutout to Daddy for folding like 30 of these — they also got to keep them after the game. Loved the origami paper and the masks were just too funny on the kids.

There they go!

The second task called for chopsticks — and picking up tiny origami folded stars (saved “confetti” from our wedding — can’t forget Chrissie who folded like thousands of these for us!) from one cup to another.

B-day boy needed a crash course on chopstick usage. :-P (Six, time to learn chopstix, haha!)

Alas, everyone passed the ninja challenge and it was time for the mini build.

We thought a boat would be appropriate and everyone started intently building.

All the parents were like, they are SO quiet!

With a bit of collaboration, adult help and flying tiny parts, all boats were complete! Cole + airboat:

Of course they all rushed off with build in hand to play with them in the grass, sand and playground. They roamed {wild} for a bit and then we congregated them again for cake.

The boat appeared in several cake photos. :)

Daddy made a little speech thanking guests for coming, becoming part of our community as we transitioned to our new lives here.

The cake wasn’t quite as elaborate as his first one (no Auntie Angeline here, boo). We ordered it from a local grocery store (recommended by SD moms for their cakes) with a custom edible photo printed on it and then enhanced it ourselves with this very cool Ninjago cake scene set (also edible — made with wafer paper!).

The wind decided to pick up right @ cake time so the background scene on the cake kept blowing over. :( We took a pic of it later with leftover cake for posterity:

(Daddy ended up eating the whole dang thing!)

Took quite a few tries to get all the candles lit.

Holding up the box to shield the wind.

WHOOOOOOOO.

Requests on particular toppers and which part of the cake (ie: Lloyd’s butt???) they wanted to eat were aplenty. :P We did our best in accommodating all, haha.

These two win the most-passionate-about-and-ate-the-most-cake awards. :) Oh, and party favors make a sneak appearance here.

Favors consisted of brick/block boxes with Ninjago faces affixed, Ninjago lollipops that we made, custom designed miniature candy bars, connectable brick erasers and stackable pencil sharpeners.

Close-up of the chocolate bars:

Wrapper design:

Mommy and E had fun assembling them:

These three played ’til it was dark (and chilly) and still did not want to leave! Another full circle story: we ran into their family last March @ LAX when Mommy had to go to TW. Their dad is actually the bro of one of our friends in Dallas! At the time, we had only been thinking about (wishing, praying) to move to SD. Shortly after that, through a sequence of total God-sized orchestrations, our move became a reality. We remember hanging out w/ them @ the airport, totally uncertain about our future and seeking His face about next steps. And here we are, a year later, playing on green pastures by the waters. :) On top of that, they go to the same Mandarin school. The Lord comes through and desires to give good things to His children, though sometimes that period of trusting and faithfulness seems soooooo long and laborious. But oh the sweetness of looking back and seeing His hand holding ours through the process and the journey.

Okay, so enough sappy stuff… Ninjago Birthday Party: Mission Accomplished? We hope so! Seemed like everyone had a good time (and told us so). We’re thinking birthday parties just once every few years but happy that his first real one turned out well and we’re so grateful to celebrate with new friends, neighbors, classmates and parents.

Lastly, we e-mailed personalized thank you cards to each guest that looked similar to the invite. (In the blank area was a custom message).