I'm just recovering from a week of birthday parties. Liza had her 16th birthday on the 25th of June and we held a party in the Church on the 4th of July. Two days later we had a last minute birthday party for KKay's 8th birthday party at home.
Liza used her party as a value project. That may seem like a stretch, but in Brazil it's really common for the girls to have a 15 year old debutante party. They are huge. One I went to was about 5 times nicer than the nicest wedding I've ever been too. One of Liza's friends had one and it was in a magazine the next week because a big star attended. Another one of Liza's friends has decided to go on a study abroad to England for $15,000 dollars because that's about what a party would cost!
So anyway, Liza has been wanting to have a party for her 16th birthday party, but she wanted it to be big. So she designed this cute invitation.
We invited her class and the other class her age. She then planned games, menus, music, sound systems, people to come help serve, decorations etc. She was a stress monster for about 3 weeks. But the party came, she ran the whole thing, and she had a great time with her friends.
I made way too much food and we had the missionaries over for lunch the next day, which solved most of that problem, although I still have a 3 month cheese ball supply.
The next day we had a couple of families over for KKay's birthday and played games etc. Here most parties are family events, when you invite a child, you are inviting the whole family unless you specify otherwise. So we had 3 families over.
You have never laughed harder until you have played "Big Booty" with people who speak 3 different languages. It's hard enough to keep up the rhythm when you don't have to think about the number you are going to say, in which language, or, when you recognize the number. We had lots of hybrid numbers, for example, None, which was nove, and nine mixed. I said, Five and Cinco and got myself out. But the best part was Big Booty. Brazilians don't end many words with consonants, so we never had Big Booty, we heard more like Bee-gee aBoo-a-ty, hilarious accents. It was a riot. Brazilians usually sit around and talk at parties, so it was hilarious to see the competitive spirits rise to the surface.
We sang spanish, portuguese and english happy birthdays. The portuguese song is used for every happy occasion. They sing it to the same music, but, translated, it goes like this: Congratulations to you on this beloved day. Many felicities, many years ahead of you.
That is my wish for you. Muitos felicidades.
