the birthday party/parties

and the day i had been working up to arrived - the kids' birthday party/parties.  we did one party with two themes at the same time (my little pony for madelyn and cars for mason).  thankfully we were able to use the neighborhood clubhouse so that i didn't have to worry about cleaning up the house too. matt and i had spent most of the day yesterday running around picking things up we needed for the party.  including balloons.  except for five (of the thirty we bought) they were all laying on the floor of my closet this morning.  erg.  at least they were still full so we tied them to the chairs any way.

i had wanted to do the party on saturday but the clubhouse was already booked so i went with sunday thinking that i could set up before church and get back in plenty of time to make the lunch.  matt helped me realize that i was crazy.  instead we went to a saturday night service so that we could get everything done in the morning.  and we needed every minute.  i forgot that i needed to factor in nursing time (at least an hour) and transportation time of all supplies and then the kids.  i was still setting up when people started to arrive, but it all worked out.  matt worked the kitchen when i tried to meet and greet (i didn't know most of the kids/parents for madelyn's party because they were from school) and grandma helped the kids work on decorating their gift bags (big pop was on maddux patrol).  i didn't have all of the girls' addresses so i got their last names off the class picture, googled an address and hoped for the best.  thankfully, no one's last name was something like "smith" so i only got one match in the area and figured my odds were pretty good that it was at least a relative if not the girl's house.

there were two rooms so the parties were seperate, which was nice, but it made taking pictures and not missing anything much more difficult for me.

while kids were arriving and lunch was being prepared, i had crayons, color sheets, white gift bags and stickers set out for the kids to decorate their goodie bags and keep busy.

once lunch was ready we served the boys first and then the girls.  we offered corn dogs or hot dogs, fruit salad (madelyn's request), carrots and celery with ranch, chip bags and juice 'boxes'.  i was worried about not having enough food for all of the kids (13) and adults (i think 8 stayed the whole time) but it worked out fine.  i guess not all kids eat as much as ours!

after lunch the boys went outside for yard games because i thought that would go better than a craft.  they had so much fun - who needs rules or structure when there is stuff to throw?

the girls got to do a craft.  they could choose a bracelet or necklace of glitter, plastic 'thread' with heart beads and letters spelling their names (thanks for the inspiration, kellie).

madelyn was pretty excited about the craft and made a necklace.

the kids made it clear that they wanted an ice cream cake.  this was fine with me because i had no idea how i would have been able to make a cake (or cakes) before the party.  i went back and forth about one cake or two and settled on a sheet cake.  all i told dairy queen was that i wanted it to say "happy birthday madelyn and mason" and that i wanted a rainbow on one corner and a road on the other (the idea was that i could provide my own toppers).  i was very pleased with how nice the cake looked when we picked it up!  i had not expected it to look like two seperate cakes at all.  the kids were happy with it too.

here is a very excited girl that it was finally time for cake and presents!  she couldn't find the headband she wanted to wear for the party so i talked her into a 'headband braid' instead.

the clubhouse even had this small table with two chairs that worked perfectly for the birthday kids.  and there was pleanty of room for their friends to sit on the floor and watch - not that many of them bothered to sit down.

a quick picture of madelyn with her school friends - morgan and abby.  it just so happened that it was abby's fifth birthday today!  her mom was at home preparing for their family party while abby was with us.  it was nice to meet several of madelyn's favorite girls from school.  i know that she plays with several boys at school too (from her stories involving the same kids every day) but when i asked her who she wanted to invite she only named girls.  i never told her that she couldn't invite boys so she must have decided that on her own.

the cake was a hit!  one of the moms even told me that her daughter said that it was the best cake she had ever had and that i had made it.  while i was very flattered, i assured the mom that it was purchased.  i am a glutton for punishment but even i have to draw the line somewhere.  and, yes, several of the moms commented on how amazing (i am sure they meant 'crazy') it was that i was having parties so soon after giving birth.  you just do what you have to do...  honestly, i think it would have been harder to do while pregnant.

and then came the presents. we had the kids take turns but the boys didn't care too much about madelyn's gifts and the girls didn't care too much about mason's, but daddy and i wanted to watch both so we did them together.  the hardest part was keeping the girls from opening all of madelyn's gifts without her!

here is mason with his buddy, luke, from the neighborhood and benji from school.  they are both very sweet boys.

madelyn still opening gifts. or almost her friends opening gifts.

the best part?  manning sleeping through the entire thing!  i had hoped that if i nursed him right before the party that he would sleep for the whole thing - and he did!  it would have been that much more stressful if i had to sit and nurse him for 30 minutes in the middle.  he even lasted long enough for me to help matt with some of the clean up while grandma and big pop took our kids out to swim.

i don't think that the party could have gone much better.  we had just enough time to get everything done and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. there seemed to be some lull in the beginning because lunch was taking so long but the kids just played with the non-floating balloons.

i don't know that we will do a 'big' party like this every year, but it worked out pretty well doing them together.  and i am very, very happy to have it done!  happy birthday, madelyn and mason!  you are very loved.  love.