An early birthday party

We don't really do birthday parties around here.  But Andrew had one when he was five, Lily had one when she was five, so it was Michael's turn.  With the older two, they were in their 3rd year of preschool with the same bunch of kids, so it was easy to just invite their best friends to our house for an old fashioned party.  But Michael is at a new school this year, and he is pretty much glued at the hip to his best friend Matthew and nobody else.

So what to do?

Have a joint birthday party with Matthew!  Matthew's birthday is 6 weeks before Michael's, so we planned the party for the weekend exactly in between their birthdays, invited the whole class, and split the cost.  

It was a bounce party at our gym.  Everything was included except for the party favors.  So it was easy and fun.  Our party hosts (we had 2), were fantastic at supervising the children and keeping them occupied when they weren't in the bounce house.  It went really really well.

And, yes, I am quite in shock that my baby is turning 5.  But that emotional retrospective will not come for a few more weeks, thankyouverymuch.

And some pictures...

Our party favors.  Each child went home with a bucket of chalk and an Angry Bird helium balloon.  I just wanted no candy...since we are right in between candy excesses from Valentine's Day and Easter.

Michael eagerly waiting for his friends.  He couldn't believe that they were going to bring him presents!  We are a little uneducated about birthday parties around here.

The cake.  Nothing fancy...but, hey.  It was included.  And delicious.

Our party hosts getting the kids ready to bounce in the gymnasium.

I don't think Michael ever left the bounce house.  And we were in the gym for an hour and 15 minutes.

Most of the other kids ran in and out of the bounce house.  They had fun playing tag, bouncing and throwing balls, dancing by the speaker.  The dads also had fun shooting hoops off in the corner.  Andrew had fun...but he had to leave for a basketball game before the party was over.  He's dressed like Deter from SNL (remember Mike Meyers?), because he'd come straight from lacrosse practice.  

The bounce house had climbing walls, punching thingies, a basketball hoop, and a slide...and of course lots of space to bounce.  Michael was in heaven.  His friend Matthew also stayed by his side for most of the bouncing part. 

 A blurry shot of the group

 A silly pose of the group.

 For the last 15 minutes of the gym time, the host got out a parachute and played games with them.  Who doesn't love a parachute?  The kids were so intent and well behaved during the whole party.  Very good listeners.  Very nice kids.

Popcorn!

 Going camping in their tent.  They told stories under the "tent"

 Finally it was back up to the party room for cake!  And lots and lots of drinks.

All in all, a success!  I am so grateful to my friend for agreeing to do a joint party.  I am way too cheap to do this kind of thing on my own.  When it was over, and the boys had passed out the party favors, Michael put on his coat and left.  I had to drag him back and remind him that it was HIS party, so he had to leave last.  Poor kid...with his lack of birthday party experience.  Hopefully he'll remember for his next birthday party...you know, when he turns 10.

(this every 5 years precedent means that I am going to have to do another party this year...Andrew turns 10 in November.  WTH???  2 parties in one calendar year.  WTH???  Andrew is turning 10???) 

Haven't we done this before?

A few years ago, on Andrew's first day of school, I locked us out of the house.

Yesterday, I did it again.  Only worse this time.

Let's see.  I've got to take the littles to school here in a moment, so I think I'll just list the important elements of the story to save time.

1.  Jeff left for France at noon.

2.  It was a beautiful day.  The children were running in and out of the house all afternoon.

3.  They continued to leave the door to the garage open, so I locked it.  That makes it possible to leave through that door, but not to enter back in.

4.  Do you see where this story is going yet?

5.  I have been taking a class at church, and the 3 kids were going to have to come with me.  At 4:45, I mostly locked up the house, got together our to go bag, left it in the front hall, I shooed the neighborhood kids back home and went outside to help clean up all the toys before we left.

6.  I closed the garage door behind me.

7.  I ran across the street to neighbors that I hardly know (they just moved in last fall).  They let me use their phone to call a locksmith.  Locksmith estimated he'd be there in 20-25 minutes.  No worries!

8.  They left to go out to dinner at 5:30.  No locksmith yet.

9.  We enter the unlocked car to warm up.  Getting cold.  No way to call back the locksmith and find out why they aren't there yet.  Don't want to wander to find another neighbor because I'm certain that is the very moment the locksmith will show up.

10.  At 6:15 a guy shows up in an unmarked sedan.  I'm a little nervous, but he shows me all his credentials before I can even ask.  Apparently, my locksmith got in a car accident about 5 miles away from our house, and they called this guy at home to come out and help me.

11.  We are back in the house at 6:20.


Now...we did have a key with a neighbor...but they moved last summer, and we just haven't thought to give it to anyone else.

And we DID hide a key after that last time, but it was in the grill (don't tell), and when we got a new grill last summer, we kind of didn't replace it.

And yes,  I AM a loser.  Big.  Loser.

Let's just hope that this is the most exciting thing that happens while Jeff is away.

Grandpa's house/Smart kid

We went to Sears to buy a new garage door opener.  Why we went as a whole family?  Inexplicable.

We are walking through the tools department, and Lily says, "Are we at Grandpa's house?"

I don't think we need to buy Grandpa any more tools for Christmas.  Lily literally thinks he lives at Sears.

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Earlier this week, I made spinach lasagna for dinner.  I automatically make cheese ravioli for the kids.

Andrew says, "I don't really like ravioli much."

I say, "You are welcome to have lasagna like us."

He says, "Great!"

I put a plate of spinach lasagna in front of him.  He quietly looks at it and says, "Oh!  This is not what I expected.  Thanks!"

Smart boy.  He's learned the wrath of Mom when disgusted sounds come out of his mouth about something I've cooked.

Michael ate his lasagna for him.

"Deaf"

We were playing the "What's in your tree" game at dinner last night.  You know, the game you play so your kids will eat their broccoli.

No?  Just us?

Anyhoo...Michael had just made us guess what was in his tree two times.  First time it was a squirrel and a banana (Lily and Andrew guessed correctly), the second time it was a falcon and an eagle(Andrew and I guessed correctly).  But the third time, he informed us that we were all wrong.

Michael:  "You are all wrong.  My tree has a deaf in it."

Us:  "A deaf?  What is a deaf?"

Michael yells: "A DEAF."

Us:  "We aren't deaf, we just don't know what a deaf in a tree is."

Michael: "You know, DEAF.  The skeleton dressed as a wizard that holds a stick with a shark tooth on the end of it.  Deaf."

Us:  "Do you mean DEATH.  Like a hooded skeleton with a scythe in his hand?"

Michael:  "Yes.  Deaf."

Us:  "You are forbidden from playing any more of Andrew's video games."

Conversations at dinner

I took the kids out to Wendy's one night by myself.  Jeff was working late and we had swim lessons until dinner time...so viola!  A night out.  I even treated them to a kid's Frosty at the end of the meal.

I don't know why Michael even likes ice cream.  He gets an ice cream headache every 30 seconds or so.  It is excruciating for him to eat ice cream.  But he loves it.  I don't understand it.

I kept telling him to eat smaller bites...that maybe that would help decrease the frequency of the headaches.  If you've ever eaten a Wendy's Frosty, you'll know that their spoons only come in giant ladle size...larger than the size of my children's mouths.  So small bites are nearly impossible.

Michael ladles up a gigantic spoonful of ice cream and says in a silly voice, "Is THIIIIIIIS SMALL ENOUGH?" And then mimes the act of shoving this spoonful into his mouth.

I chuckle at his silliness and say, "Michael.  Stop.  That's gross."

Andrew shovels up a huge spoonful and does basically the same thing, "How about THIIIIIIS?"

I look sharply at him and bark out, "Andrew!  Stop that this instant!  How rude!"

Andrew looks hurt and says, "How come whenever I do something you yell, but when Michael does it it's funny?"

I look at him for a moment and then put my arm around him sympathetically.  "Well, Andrew, I hate to be the one to tell you this...but you just aren't cute enough to get away with it anymore."

Andrew looks insulted.  "What?  I'm not cute?"

I respond, "Well, you are still cuter than me.  I mean, if I were to grab a huge spoonful and do this.." I basically do the same thing they were doing..."...they would call the police and put me in a mental hospital."

The children start giggling.

I continue, "Cuteness is in direct relation to your teeth...did you know that?"

They still giggle and ask me to continue.

"It's true!  The minute Andrew lost his little chicklet teeth and got those big honkers, he lost a lot of his ability to get away with stuff.  Lily should enjoy her cuteness now, because her days are numbered.  And think of a toothless baby!  Holy cow!  They can literally throw up on you and you will think it is cute and acceptable.  If a baby wakes me up 5 times in the night, I'll patiently cuddle and rock them back to sleep.  If Michael wakes me up 5 times a night, I'll be irritated.  If Andrew tries to wake me up 5 times a night, I'll lock my door so he can't come in.  And if your dad wakes me up 5 times a night, I'm moving out."

The kids are rolling on the floor now.

Lily spits out, "And if a baby poops on you, it's okay!"

Andrew says, "And old people who don't have teeth are allowed to do all kinds of stuff...like farting in public and being rude."

Michael grips his head as another ice cream headache overcomes him.

Lily, "I hope I never lose my baby teeth!"

Andrew, "I can't wait until they aren't cute anymore either!"

Me, "I think we're making a scene.  Let's go home."

I suspect I may be making them weird.