Party results?

A good group of kids showed up at the party place. The kids had a blast! A couple of the kids even showed up right after their soccer games! Now THOSE are some good friends.

They ran around and jumped and screamed. They bounced. They slid down the slide. They had races through the obstacle course. They boxed. They played jumpy basketball. Two people from the place stayed in the room to oversee what the kids were doing. They were there to make sure the kids followed the rules. Of course, I chimed in when I was nearby and a kid was obviously doing something they shouldn't be. And the rest of the parents? They all got to sit on the benches in the room and chat.

Yes. My ILs were there. They showed up about a half hour late. But since I was walking around the room and supervising the kids, I didn't sit down and chat with them. The Hubs wasn't roaming the room so he was responsible for his family. Of course, they did come into the far end of the room to say hi to me.

MIL: Grace? Does everyone need to be wearing socks?
Me: Yeah. If you're in here.
MIL: Well, not everyone is wearing them.
Me: Okay....

You see, everyone who is in the jumping area should be wearing socks. The Hubs asked his family to bring socks. You know, just in case they'd get roped into jumping with our kids? So basically my MIL was letting me know that she wasn't pleased that she brought socks and not all the adults were wearing socks. The parents who were sitting up front on the benches were not wearing socks. Why? Because they were staying up in the front near the shoes and hadn't meandered down into the jump area...like SHE did. Whatever! Now I was wearing socks. And did I jump with the kids? Yes.

But the kids did have a blast. They all got hot and sweaty. And they were SO ready for pizza, drinks, and cake when play time was over. I had 14 kids, so I ordered four pizzas -- 2 cheese, 1 pepperoni, 1 with sausage, green pepper, and olive. This last one is what I considered the "adult" pizza. The bouncy place had placed a slice of pizza on a plate with a juice box on one long table. They put groupings of water bottles on the length of the tables. So the kids just piled in and sat and munched away.

Once the kids settled into eating, I made sure to walk around the room and approach each parent to let them know that we had enough pizza up at the front of the room for them along with sodas (Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite). So they knew that it was okay to eat and that we'd thought of them as well. The adults all sat at the set of tables parallel to the kids table. It was nice that we were close but at a separate set of tables. Gave the kids the space they wanted. You know, 3rd graders? They're at that point where sometimes they act little and other times they act older. [sigh]

Let me tell you though that the soda did end up in a couple of kids hands. There were 3 brazen youngsters who came up to me when I was getting my own drink and asked if they could have some. Yes. They came up to me while I was getting my stuff. Thankfully, they were each polite about it.

Ms. Princess Mom? Can I have some Coke?
Ms. Grace? May I please have some Sprite?

Of course, I turned around and looked at each parent.

Is is okay for [insert child's name] to have some?

Invariably, each parent said it was okay. So 3 kids ended up with soda. Not all 14 of them. But it's funny to me that each child approached me versus their parent. I guess they knew who the "queen bee" was. Ha! Some kids also requested a second piece of pizza, like the Bear. But some kids decided they'd keep space for cake. Which was actually a cupcake cake! I love cupcake cakes. SO much easier to handle at parties. No knife needed. Just take hold of the paper-cup and pull that cupcake away from the mass. What I also like is that our grocery store will let a customer choose the kind cake you want. Half chocolate-half vanilla? 20 chocolate-10 vanilla? Not a problem.You can see how we've got a mixed it in the photos.

It was FUN, FUN, FUN! All the kids had fun. And the Princess had fun as well.