two-hour party people

Today – at 3:23 p.m., to be exact – Iris turned three years old. This morning she came into our bed, quite literally in her birthday suit, having shucked her pajamas in her room, and said of her new doll, "I don't know what she's thinking. Sometimes she drives me crazy!" My big, grown-up girl! Three years old and long-suffering already.

Yesterday we pulled off a Greek goddess party for five children under five and their families, thanks muchly to the creative suggestions of the readers of this-here blog. We made invitations:


and a Greek temple cake. For its scuptural properties, I highly recommend seven-minute icing. J, an architect in real life as well as in the kitchen, fielded many jokes about cake being his modeling medium of choice. I definitely see a niche market for his practice: discerning consumers of baked goods and fine design.


For the younger artists, goodie baskets held origami irises (I know, I know, but if the ancient Greeks had a method for making flowers out of folded parchment, I don't know about it) and markers


for coloring mythological beasts and beings on placemats.


Pegasus flew in for the occasion



as did the goddess Iris – for a little while, at least.


It was such a nice day, the party ended up on the porch. Don't you know that porch swings were all the rage on Mount Olympus?


A good time was had by all. Then it was over, and the birthday girl stayed up to play with her presents (and her indulgent grandmother) while her proud, partied-out parents took a nap.