The young banana turned 4 this week! This is the third birthday we’ve gotten to spend with her; absolutely amazing that 2 old codgers like us could have ever become parents to such special little kids.
Miss Anna starting putting in her orders for her birthday party right after Will’s birthday in January. She requested a surprise party, where the lights would be off, and she would come into the room and say out loud, “Where is everybody?” Then we would all jump out and say, “Surprise!” She also requested a monkey pinata. Not every mention of her party included the surprise aspect, but every time she talked about it, the monkey pinata was featured prominantly. So, I had to work pretty hard to find one. And I did, believe it or not. Photos to follow.
I had to work all day, which meant she had to wait until evening for the festivities. A pretty tall order for a 4 year old. Before she got up, I put this fellow

in her chair at the kitchen table so he would be the first thing she saw. Baba says she carried that humongous (about 5 feet tall) inflatable monkey all over the house all day. I also got her a very cute little cash register with a scanner that actually reads the little groceries it comes with, and has money and an ATM card. It was too big to wrap, so I put that out on her placemat, so at least she would have some new, fun birthday things to play with all day on her birthday.
The party started when I got home with Auntie Renee in tow.


I have a video of her blowing out her candles. The lights had to be out, at her request. Unfortunately, I cannot get it through my head that when I shoot video in the portrait rather than landscape aspect of my camera, I cannot rotate it 90 degrees so it can be displayed upright. So, I will probably post it sometime soon, but you will have to lay on your side to look at it. Even sillier, I shot 3 different video clips that way that evening. Sigh.
On to the presents. Everything monkey was represented, from several stuffed monkeys, to Curious George, a Play-Do Monkey toy, and a “book of monkeys” lovingly handcrafted by Auntie ‘Nee. Some lovely clothes were received from both grandmas, and puzzles from Baba and Aunt Cheryl. Aunt Rosemarie sent some wonderful stickers and other goodies, along with some birthday money, as did Aunt Ina. Will even got in on the action with several gifts of cars (what else?) from several people.


We wrapped up the evening with the much desired monkey pinata! Many of the pinatas come with trap doors these days, so you can pull a string and open the door in order to let the candy fall out. This one, naturally, did not, and I didn’t want Anna to have to destroy the pinata to get the candy out. Sooo, I enlisted the aid of the baba to cut a little trap door in the bottom of this one. We stuffed it with candy, and then she just had to whack at it a few times before we pulled the ribbon and let the candy out.

Whew. It was a really long day, but a happy one, and we successfully managed to get the child through her 4th birthday. I’m quite curious to see if she is still so wild about monkeys next year. This is the second birthday we’ve had with a monkey theme!