A special birthday party

Wow, what a wonderful day we had today! We decided to have a birthday party for Bianca. It is not quite her birthday - her birthday is only on the 18th of June, but since we are busy moving to Auckland and since this is not quite winter (so less risk of catching anything), we though to have it today.

We didn't say anything to Bianca because it would be so disappointing if she was excited about it and then for some reason it couldn't happen, so we kept it a surprise. So this morning we told her that she was going to have a birthday party, but we waited until the first knock on the door, before letting her know that she was actually going to have friends at her party. It turned out such a wonderful wonderful day and Bianca had 3 friends at her party. She was absolutely thrilled and so excited.

She wore a very special outfit that my mother made for her and came all the way from South Africa.

My friend Irene suggested I get this big plastic bag that you fill up with balloons and then stick it on the ceiling and then when you are ready, you pull a string which will then let all the balloons fall out. So Terence inflated around 63 balloons. Oh wow, what a great idea!

Caitlyn enjoyed herself also:

Apart from this the kids also played pass the parcel and they each decorated their own t-shirt with fabric markers.

Our friend Siobhan, made the most beautiful cake for Bianca. It was such a big hit! Thank you so much Siobhan, you really brightened Bianca's day!

And then it was time for presents. Bianca kindly allowed her friends to help her open her presents. Bianca received really nice presents, including this beautiful quilt made by some very special people from Quilts for Leukemia (thank you to Anne in the UK, Brigette in Germany, Clare in France, Dianne in Australia, Doris in Italy, Fiona in the UK, Geri in Holland, Jen in Finland, Nicolette in Holland, Pam in France, Simonetta in Italy and Sue in the USA).

Today was so very different to last year. Last year we had it all planned, but when Bianca was admitted to hospital on the 2nd of June, we had to cancel her birthday party and so shared some cake with a few of the other patients in Wellington Hospital. I remember her turning to me at one point saying "but Mommy, my friends aren't coming". The Child Cancer Foundation was so great in helping us make the day as special as possible and they organised all the snacks, balloons and inviting some of the other patients.

The party last year: