I'm going to have to lie. ... And that's not good.

four ... doesn't need help, originally uploaded by toyfoto.

She was worried about the disparity. A birthday party on any other day than her birthday, in her considered estimation, is a lie. Plain and simple.

Whether it was conscience or keep adherence to fact, turns out she really didn't have to lie after all. It is true, she will be four on Tuesday, but we invited half the western hemisphere to celebrate the occasion on Saturday.

"I'm not really four," she told her guests. "WHEN AM I GONNA BE FOUR, MOTHER?" Oh yeah, Tuesday. On Tuesday I'll be four."


I'm not the best judge of such things, especially since my attentions were split so many ways I'm sure many of the conversations I picked up with people were likely continued from conversations I'd started with others, but I think the party was a pretty good one. They played. They ate. They painted. They ate some more. They drank. They played. They bounced on beds. They drank some more. They played. They opened presents (pretty much on their own, because the mom was drinking and playing, too ... so, I'm sorry to say, there are a few folks who will be getting generic yet genuine thank you notes.) And then the played some more.


And then they enlisted some of the menfolk to institute a forge in the painting studio, where they crafted some of the finest play swords known to kids out of ridged insulation, aluminum foil and electrical tape.

I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all. And no one lost an eye.