Party day!

Fun was had by all.

I woke at 6am to the Bear's calling for the day to start.

"Oh-mea?"

He got to eating while I rearranged the sectional. I turned it from a U-shape facing the tv to a U-shape faced away from the tv. There would be NO tv watching at this party. Plus having the sectional faced away from the tv made it such that whoever sat on the couch was facing whoever was in the kitchen and the breakfast nook. It was no longer separating people.

I cleaned the powder room and swept the downstairs by the time the birthday girl awoke from her slumber. She and I chatted while I cut up the fruit and rearranged the refrigerator for what was to come.

The Hubs hauled himself out of bed and got to the store at 9am. He got the cake, ice and some deli-made roast beer, turkey, and ham sandwiches. Sandwiches? Yes. For the parents who must be tired of consuming pizza at all the birthday parties they have to attend. Yes. We did have pizza delivered for the kidlings. They NEVER seem to tire of pizza.

The cake awesome.

We also had the Princess jumping castle with turrets. It was a great sight. We have view fencing. So anyone driving up the road could see the castle. There was no question as to where our house was for all the people who'd never been here before. What was nice was that the crew dropped the castle off 30 minutes earlier than they were scheduled. They picked it up 15 minutes later too. So the Princess (and I) had a blast during the extra time.

For some odd reason, the Bear did NOT want to go in the castle. He jumps on the beds. He jumps on the couch. But he did not want to jump in the castle. He had fun throwing and hitting the twenty 3" balls I blew up and threw out into the backyard.

Every child was offered a lei upon entering our house. But once the kids starting arriving, it was a free for all. They were upstairs. They were downstairs. They were out in the backyard jumping. Utter chaos for a bit but nice. At least they all room to roam. We had 10 kids in attendance so they needed space. Even the adults had space to relax. The couch. The barstools. The breakfast table. The chairs on the patio.

I set out the tortilla chips with cold salsa and with warm spinach-artichoke dip. The spinach-artichoke dip was consumed in no time flat. But alas I only had the one serving. I had purchased it from the store and not made it fresh. Had I known that the adults would enjoy it I would have bought more of it! I also set out a fruit plate (dark seedless grapes, cut strawberries & nectarines). Yummy!

The pizza arrived and everyone dug into the food. It got SO much quieter once all the kids had plates in front of them. The volume got down to a low rumble. But it didn't take the kids long to fill their tummies. I set out some paddleballs and bottles of bubbles in the backyard.

Gift opening was crazy. All the kids crowded in to check out what was inside each box/bag. The photos I took were chaotic. The Hubs could barely make out who each gift was from and what each gift actually was. But it's the age. It's to be expected. All the kids were excited.

Cake and ice cream were next. The kids crowded around the table. I was able to light the #5 candle and start singing. The kids chimed in a second after I started to sing. You should have seen them pounce on the decorations on the cake! The stuff I wanted to save! I have the cake toppings from all of my kids birthday cakes. I was able to gather most of the decorations once they were all occupied with getting a sugar fix. Thankfully, I did select a cake that was half chocolate and half vanilla. Some of kids had definite ideas on what flavors they enjoy. I couldn't believe that some of the kids didn't want ice cream!

By the time 90% had left, I realized it was all a blur. I had been setting out food. Making sure the kids were not getting into trouble. Touching base with the kids' parents. Does this happen to you when you host a kids' party? That you're a whirlwind of activity and don't remember it all?

Last year when we had just moved here. The Princess had just started preschool a few weeks before her birthday came around. We weren't sure who we should invite. We opted to just have a family party up at my BILs house. So I do hope that this party made up for the lack of a friend party last year.

I'm really glad we organized the big blow-out party. I hope they each had a good time. To tell you the truth, I really don't care of any of the adults had a good time. I know that I made sure to spend time with each of the parents of my daughter's friends. But I wanted the party to focus on the kids. It was a kids' party. I wanted the kids and my Princess to have a good time. Hopefully they did. I know that the Princess did!