h&m: the actual party

we waited for the eilertsens to arrive, (and for us to have time to get a little more done on the house), before actually scheduling hennie's 5th birthday party. it was huge, too. with at least 20 kids in the house. and at least one parent for each; many brought two. so it was unbelievably crowded, but i think we can honestly say that everyone had a great time. hege and i really did.

Yuna and Mia

so many people in her room, climbing on her new bunkbed. (though nobody had any breakdowns, and there were no arguments)

we decorated the basement (though you can't really tell from any of these photos) as if it were "hennie's kingdom". she dressed in her requisite royal finery. After a stressed out push to hide all construction materials & tools, etc. by cramming them underneath the mezzanine and in a corner, behind a construction tarp, we draped red building paper (bought at Home Depot for $8 a roll) from the ceiling joists. To mimic velvet swag I guess. and then hung as many christmas lights as i had time to loop around. i had tried to get a disco ball, but decided not to spend the money. and hege found a pinata (a bull), which we hung from the middle of the room. It felt great down there, vaguely mysterious but energetic, and it kind of kept everybody's spirits up amid the swirling chaos. this is a photo of the kids lining up to hit the pinata with a cane.

the bull is hung

mette's turn

it took a while, but a few of the boys (especially Mia's older brother William) became like primative killers. several of the mothers were actually a little shocked by the cane-swinging, but i think they just let it go for fun. But it did become a blood-sport, with everyone screaming (parents included) and the thing eventually getting ripped into peices. several of the boys continued the party by wearing parts of the animal like trophies (the bulls legs became like warrior armbands - very Incan looking)

again... if not south american, that at least a little marxist.

we ordered a bunch of pizza when people started getting hungry.

here is torild giving her helene a slice. next to her is jaclyn, who is in hennie's pre-K class. these are the new steps to the 'mezzanine', which did their job as bleacher seating.