Ella's First Birthday Party!

L’s birthday party on Saturday was a smashing success, if you measure success by friends, fun, plenty of food and drinks, and very low stress, prep and clean up.

Party Prep

The very low prep and clean up time was due to Prossy and Sarah. Sarah organized for the samosa’s to be made and delivered, as well as headed the chapatti making Saturday morning. Prossy assisted in the chapatti frying, and fried all the sausages and mixed the juice, leaving me to blow up balloons, hang one sign, and run to the market and store.

Sarah and Prossy, hard at work making chapatti’s. Please note their “helpers.” So nice to have Bridger conveniently located in front of the sink…

Party prep for the dogs was exhausting. What would we have done without their help?

Clean up was easy, mainly because we used disposable cups and plates and because Prossy washed up all the miscellaneous bowls and utensils. What a blessing it has been to have a friend like Prossy for the last four years. She’s there for me through thick and thin, fun times and not so fun times. And little girls birthday parties!!

In Ella’s mind, the party started at around 8am, when Sarah showed up. Ella was just thrilled to have Sarah and me at home, and that I wasn’t going to work. Then Prossy showed up with a cupcake and four candles and the party really started!

Singing Happy Birthday to our four year old (get a load of Ella’s face!) After she blew out the candles Ella said, “NOW I’m four years old!”

Practicing the cutting of the cake…

…With a little help from Aunt Pross!

Unfortunately, Sarah had wedding in Kampala that she was ushering for, so she had to leave at around 12:30. This is typical Sarah – doing all the work behind the scenes with no recognition. She also cares for Ella five days a week while I’m at work but who gets all the credit for L’s care, maintenance and good manners? Me. Ol’ Sarah’s crown in heaven is gonna be HUGE!

Ella and Sarah

Prossy and Ella blowing up balloons underneath the birthday sign

This cracked me up- note L’s crossed legs. Just like her Aunt Prossy! (and Bridger and Sanyu, too!)

The Cake

Yours Truly made the birthday cake. I am not the make-the-birthday-cake-from-scratch kind of person let me tell yah, but here there are really no other options as I’m really to cheap to buy an expensive cake mix here.

I used my trusty “Little Grandma’s Chocolate Cake” that is a recipe from my moms maternal grandmother. This is the only kind of cake that I’ve made in the last four years of living in the land with no (affordable) cake mixes. And my Mom’s right – it turns out pretty well every time, even for the likes of me!

As I made this cake and subsequent cupcakes, I thought back to last year. Every week when I went to the Babies Home to see L I tried to take something, be it candy, biscuits, whatever (nothing healthy mind you), as a treat for all the kids. One morning as I was watching all the others and little Ella sitting at the table happily scarfing down the chocolate cupcakes that I’d brought, I thought to myself, “Ella has no idea that that’s the only kind of cake that I can make and that she’ll be having it for her birthday for the rest of her life at home.” Her first birthday this year was just a start!! Glad she likes it : -)

Ella had a choice of whether she’d like dogs or horses on her cake. She chose horses :- )

The Guests

A party wouldn’t be a party without the guests, and we had some good ones! They totaled sixteen adults, sixteen kids and two babies, not counting Ella, Prossy and I. The oldest of the kids is almost nine years old and the youngest about four months.

THE GUEST OF HONOR. GUESS WHO????!!!!

Our JORUM!!!!

Jorum and Ella, flanked by his auntie’s and Grandma, with his little sister in front talking on the phone. Praise the Lord that he has a family now and they even brought him to Ella’s birthday party!!

Eliana and Benja

The Sanyu teachers even came down from Kampala! Lydia, Harriet and Mercy, with little Janet in front.

Mercy and Ella, playing : -)

Little Ethan

Ella’s Jaja, my friend and colleague, Jennifer.

Ezra, Eli, Ethan and part of Abby

Little Abby – the youngest kid there (turns two next month), other than the babies. She did a great job hanging out with the “big kids!”

The Events

Folks started arriving at 3pm and the last guests left at around 6:30pm. The kids played and frolicked, then we had some snacks, then the cutting of the cake, then presents – all with lots of playing and talking in between!

Swinging (demonstrated by Jorum)

Climbing (demonstrated by Benja)

Bicycle rides (demonstrated by Prossy, Ethan and Ella)

Lots of talking/chit chat

Eating

Yum!

At last – THE HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONG AND CAKE!

Get a load of that happy little face!! Ella had been waiting for this moment for so long!

We followed the ancient Ugandan birthday party tradition of handing the birthday child a large knife and letting them chop away at the cake. I did guide Ella a bit but she was so pumped and had been planning this for so long that I barely had to help at all!

All you can see of the birthday girl is the top of her hat!

Ella triumphantly wielding the knife in the air after successfully having cut the cake.

Serving cake, after Blessed helpfully graced me with the party hat. Thanks little buddy!

Some left overs

Then came The Opening Of The Presents!

Ella really got into it! As did everyone else…

Oooooh…. Ahhhhh!!

Janet appears to be deep in thought

In general, I think that everyone had fun with the definite exception of Bridger. Imagine that someone as fun and child loving as him had to be locked in the bedroom the entire time! Sanyu was locked up along with him for the exact opposite reasons – she is just a little to enthusiastic at a party and would have been in heaven with all those kids. Surprisingly, Cody even had to be locked up as he too crashed the party and some of the kids were scared of him.