I Survived Another Kiddie Birthday Party

I'm not a fan of children's birthday parties. I can't stand them, actually. I wouldn't even go to my own children's birthday parties except...well they're my children, and missing one would be a huge faux pas.

This past weekend was Sam's birthday party. Not his actual birth day - that's on the 31st - but the day he chose to celebrate with his friends. He wanted a pool party, so we booked a pool and party room at the community centre.

Sam requested a two layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. He wanted me to write "Happy Birthday Awesome Sam" on it, but I convinced him that a simple "Happy Birthday Sam" was much more modest, however true the "awesome" part may be.

I managed to convince myself to start working on the cake ahead of time. Usually I bake and decorate a cake on the same day and it's often a disaster. Sam baked the bottom layer, and I baked the top. I piped an edge around the bottom and wrote in blue icing.

See?



We picked up one of Sam's friends along the way. Turns out that it was that boy's actual birthday, and no one in his family was doing anything to celebrate his day. Isn't that so sad?? We don't know the details as to why, but we certainly felt sad for him, and glad he could be there all the same.

Despite the anxiety, stress and worry that settles in the week before my children's birthday parties, everything came together perfectly. Just as they always seem to.



I swam with Julie who chattered away, loving our "girl time", and Jordan, who screeched and carried on like I was going to drown her or something. She is not a fan of the water at all. She wrapped her arms and legs around me and held on for dear life. I'm not going to lie... I loved it. She is a busy little girl and cuddle time comes very rarely, so I just soaked up every moment. After a half hour she finally relaxed enough to splash the water with one hand and look around a bit. By the end of the hour she was sitting cross legged on this floatie thing like a princess, letting us pull her across the water.



After an hour in the pool, we moved to the party room for pizza, cake and gifts. Talk about noisy and messy. Did I mention noisy?

One of my biggest pet peeves about birthday parties is when a parent is late for pickup. If the invitation states that the party ends at 5:00, I need you to be there to pick your kid up at 5:00. Not 5:15...5:00. I have long given up on trying to convince Ian to put SHARP on the invitations. Apparently that's "rude".

Meh.

Ian made several trips to the van in the pouring rain while I waited with the kids, holding the leftover cake and pizza.

One mom came to pick up her son and said "Oh that cake looks GOOD! Can I have a piece to take home to my other son?"

I told her the knife and plates were already put in the van, so I had nothing to cut it with, or to put it on. (All true) Is it me....or is that an odd thing to ask?

Then another man who was standing nearby asked me if I was selling the leftover cake and pizza. I kind of laughed and said no. A couple of minutes later he said "Because if you're selling, I'm buying!" I didn't think he was serious and gave the food to Ian to take to the van, but after a few moments I wondered if the man was hungry and then felt sad for a missed opportunity to give him the leftovers.

We were all exhausted from our day by the time we got home at 7:00. The girls were in bed by 8:45 and I was in my bed by 9:00 watching New Moon, and asleep by 11:00.

So there you go. I survived another kiddie party! I can relax now until March :-)

Today we celebrated my favourite Aunt's (and Godmother!) birthday at my mom's, Thursday we'll be back at my mom's to celebrate my nephew's 18th birthday, then Sam's family birthday party on Saturday.

A busy week for sure, but I'm so thankful for so many loved ones to celebrate :-)