Pages

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Big Party

I looked over my pictures from Rebekah's party this last week. Unfortunately, a lot of them turned out fuzzy. It happens. I wasn't in control of my camera, as I was off playing with the kids most of the time.

So I'm going to have rely on the good old fashion skill of story telling. In case you'd forgotten, this was a particularly big day. We had moved a lot of our stuff the previous day, but still had a lot more to do. We had hoped to be done in an hour or two, but sadly under estimated our ability to store crap.

Around noon, I took both kids and my mother in law (MIL) to the new house. Rebekah had requested (surprisingly...NOT!) chicken nuggets for lunch. I fed everyone nuggets for lunch, including MIL! :-) Rebekah was particularly excited about the honey mustard and fascinated that MIL used BBQ sauce. I gave MIL instructions that Rebekah was to have some quiet time. I said "I hope she falls asleep, but she doesn't always. She can have book and stuffed animals, but the door needs to be closed."

I do love my ILs, but for some reason they have a habit of only listening to at most half of what I say. I'm not entirely sure where the other half goes, but I've mostly gotten used to it over the years.

Off I went to get Rebekah's cake, pizza for those who helped us move and a few other odds and ends. They cake turned out great.



I had meant to get a great picture of it before we left, but unfortunately got side tracked. So this is the best picture I have - smudge (from getting it out of the box) and all. It is supposed to be Strawberry Shortcake in the top corner there, in a field of flowers with a little path.

While I was standing in line, thinking about the hundred things I needed to do to prepare for the party, the most fascinating thing happened. Someone from high school recognized me and said hello. This jarred me out of my little world for just a few minutes to chat pleasantly. I was shocked she recognized me or even knew who I was. I did know who she was, but I didn't talk to her much. I tried really really hard to abide by my "enjoy every moment" philosophy, but I was balancing too much already. I wished her luck with life and hurried from the store and onto my next errand.

When I finally came home I found MIL reading stories to Rebekah, door open and a complete mad house. "Hey, did Rebekah take a nap?" I got the reply of "Nope." Pizza was shoved in mouths and fellowship was had. It was a great time, but secretly I knew this was going to be a problem. I also secretly wasn't happy that yet again I wasn't listened too.

And it was a secret no more by the time we loaded up in the car. William understood my frustration, was sympathetic.

About 5 minutes before we got to the party place, Rebekah crashed. William started to wake her, but I requested we let her sleep. I figured a 5 minute snooze was better than no snooze at all.

We made our way in and the guests started to arrive. Rebekah somehow found a second wind and ran around chatting with all her friends. They went over the instruction video and the fun began!
So much to do...what to do first?


The biggest hit was probably the slide. Peter L-O-V-E-D it. I had to carry him up there and it was exhausting. However, I enjoyed going down the slide too. So as long as I had the energy I took him up there.
This is the first time he went down.


Rebekah equally loved the slide.


I wasn't the only adult who played!

Rebekah held up through the play time pretty well. She'd wilt every now and then, take a little break and then get back to playing. About 15 minutes before playtime was up, she said she was done. I convinced her to go down the slide one more time - and then it was time for cake.

She picked out these glasses.


The thrown - they sang happy birthday to her,
then handed out the cake to everyone.


After cake, she opened her presents.

She was pretty droopy at the end, but made it. I think she had a great time overall. For her birthday, she got a variety of Barbies, dolls and books. She loved each gift and has continued playing with them.

And I still have the duty of writing thank you notes...something I'm not very good at. I do hope to pass on better habits to the kids. I guess the best way to do that is...being good example?

1 comment:

Charity said...

he he he. I like the good ol' story telling technique! And the pictures are darling. I want one of YOU jumping, please!