Happy Birthday, Little Prince! (a.k.a. You Can't Change Culture)

Little Prince turned four on June 10th - but as Mommy and Mr. Squishy were still in the hospital, we decided not to tell him. For all those concerned, he turned four yesterday.

So this year we decided to have a thoroughly "American" birthday party - in other words, only a couple little friends to eat churrasco and cake. Maybe pin the tail on the donkey if we're really feeling wild. We invited three of Little Prince's friends - Ammon, Andrew, and Juninho - with explicit explanations that this was a LITTLE KID party and we're only inviting the LITTLE KIDS.

We had sixteen people come.

Parents, siblings, a couple aunts and uncles and a grandma of the invitees. And frankly, I should have known.

Brazilians don't DO small parties. When one member of the family is invited, they're ALL invited. It's just the way it is. I'm not at all annoyed. Just slightly amused at my naivetee. As if I can change culture. My Man snuck out to get more meat for the grill and that was that.

Little Prince loved it, of course ... the more people, the merrier!

I don't think anyone noticed that we were totally floored by everyone showing up. I give myself HUGE props for that one. Isn't that the mark of a good hostess? Exhibit tranquility when all the well-laid plans are falling down around you?

And I will say that Brazilian guests are awesome. After the party, they cleaned my whole house. Floors and toilets included.

Ouro Branco didn't quite "get" the candle, but Little Prince knew just what to do.

I decided to save myself the stress and just order the cake this year. Oh my GOSH, you haven't had cake til you've had Brazilian cake. It was amazing. Like, wow.

Ouro Branco had two slices of cake, three scoops of ice cream, all the candies that fell off the cake onto the table, AND finished off Little Prince's plate. And wanted more.

Popping the balloon arch provided a good half an hour of solid entertainment.

After the party we had some cuddle time with Mr. Squishy.

And then some random, non-birthday pictures, just cuz I'm totally in love with our baby and can't stop taking pictures (even though they all look pretty much the same, just in different outfits ....)

That's all, folks!