So after we got back from our week in Florida, we had a mountain of work looming in front of us. As I mentioned earlier, we got back Wednesday evening. Emma had a birthday party with a few friends scheduled for Friday. Dakota's family was set to come Saturday morning for a family birthday celebration. And more friends were coming Saturday evening for a dinner party to celebrate my birthday. There's nothing like coming home to a to-do list as thick as a phone book! Well, maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but still... We made it work.
Friday morning we packed up and headed for Chuck E. Cheese. It seemed like a pretty simple request. Emma wanted to take 3 of her friends to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and play games with them for her birthday. Ordering a pizza there meant I didn't have to do any lunch prep of my own. Playing games there meant there wouldn't be several children running around my house destroying things. So I was ok with a small gathering at Chuck E.'s house.
We loaded the kids up with tokens and sent them off to play. With three girls and one boy, they divided up amongst themselves and headed in different directions. Will (the lone boy) and Dakota buddied up and played lots of air hockey together.
The girls giggled a lot and chased each other in circles, trying to figure out if/how they were going to "get" Will, or if he was going to come "get" them. In the end, no one was "gotten" and the girls settled down and began spending their tokens like... well, like girls.
Even Ashlyn had a fun time riding some of the rides.
When the pizza came, it quickly turned into a contest of who could eat the most pizza the fastest. Will won, with Ella being a close second.
After pizza, it was time for ice cream cone cupcakes, which the birthday girl has requested two years in a row now.
After presents and more games and rides, moms came to pick up their kids. It was a fun little party. Thanks to those who came!
Then it was time to get back home so I could keep working and cleaning and getting ready for the mass descention upon our house the next day! (Here's a shout-out to the helpful hubby who did his part to help get ready too!)
Saturday, family arrived late morning. The girls were thrilled to have fresh faces to entertain them. And there was more pizza, cake, and of course, presents, much to Emma's delight.
Friday morning we packed up and headed for Chuck E. Cheese. It seemed like a pretty simple request. Emma wanted to take 3 of her friends to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and play games with them for her birthday. Ordering a pizza there meant I didn't have to do any lunch prep of my own. Playing games there meant there wouldn't be several children running around my house destroying things. So I was ok with a small gathering at Chuck E.'s house.
We loaded the kids up with tokens and sent them off to play. With three girls and one boy, they divided up amongst themselves and headed in different directions. Will (the lone boy) and Dakota buddied up and played lots of air hockey together.
The girls giggled a lot and chased each other in circles, trying to figure out if/how they were going to "get" Will, or if he was going to come "get" them. In the end, no one was "gotten" and the girls settled down and began spending their tokens like... well, like girls.
Even Ashlyn had a fun time riding some of the rides.
When the pizza came, it quickly turned into a contest of who could eat the most pizza the fastest. Will won, with Ella being a close second.
After pizza, it was time for ice cream cone cupcakes, which the birthday girl has requested two years in a row now.
After presents and more games and rides, moms came to pick up their kids. It was a fun little party. Thanks to those who came!
Then it was time to get back home so I could keep working and cleaning and getting ready for the mass descention upon our house the next day! (Here's a shout-out to the helpful hubby who did his part to help get ready too!)
Saturday, family arrived late morning. The girls were thrilled to have fresh faces to entertain them. And there was more pizza, cake, and of course, presents, much to Emma's delight.
(Yes, that's a box of cereal she got for a gift. She loves Kashi Go Lean Crunch!)
We spent the afternoon getting food and rooms ready for the evening party. For a while I had wanted a good excuse to have some friends over, and I wanted the time to be fun-filled and child-free. A birthday dinner party seemed like the perfect idea, and so we celebrated my Sweet 16 (x2). (Math nerds get that.) ;)
We reminisced about what life was like back in the day when we were 16 (the first time). There was trivia, and there were prizes. We ate copious amounts of chocolate cake. We played spin the bottle (PG version) and shared funny and embarrassing stories from our teenage years. By the end of the evening I had laughed all my chocolate cake calories away! It was a wonderful evening!
A big thank you to our friends who joined us for the evening. The gift of friendship and laughter was priceless! And thanks also go to grandma and grandpa, who helped us realize the dream of a child-free evening. You never would have known that there were 3 little ones running around in some other part of the house.
After the conclusion of all the birthdays, Ashlyn began walking around the house singing, "Happy birthday to... (alternately insert the names of everyone she knows)" She's in birthday mode and is all ready for her 2nd birthday coming up in about a month. She's already told me that she wants a Super Why birthday with a Super Why cake. I don't think they (meaning me) make Super Why cakes. And I'm not sure if stores even sell other Super Why birthday stuff. So maybe we'll have to settle for finding a Super Why book or some other similarly themed gifts for her birthday. Is she really almost 2 already?!
We spent the afternoon getting food and rooms ready for the evening party. For a while I had wanted a good excuse to have some friends over, and I wanted the time to be fun-filled and child-free. A birthday dinner party seemed like the perfect idea, and so we celebrated my Sweet 16 (x2). (Math nerds get that.) ;)
We reminisced about what life was like back in the day when we were 16 (the first time). There was trivia, and there were prizes. We ate copious amounts of chocolate cake. We played spin the bottle (PG version) and shared funny and embarrassing stories from our teenage years. By the end of the evening I had laughed all my chocolate cake calories away! It was a wonderful evening!
A big thank you to our friends who joined us for the evening. The gift of friendship and laughter was priceless! And thanks also go to grandma and grandpa, who helped us realize the dream of a child-free evening. You never would have known that there were 3 little ones running around in some other part of the house.
After the conclusion of all the birthdays, Ashlyn began walking around the house singing, "Happy birthday to... (alternately insert the names of everyone she knows)" She's in birthday mode and is all ready for her 2nd birthday coming up in about a month. She's already told me that she wants a Super Why birthday with a Super Why cake. I don't think they (meaning me) make Super Why cakes. And I'm not sure if stores even sell other Super Why birthday stuff. So maybe we'll have to settle for finding a Super Why book or some other similarly themed gifts for her birthday. Is she really almost 2 already?!
3 comments:
Your "grown-up" party looked like so much fun! It makes me even more sad we missed it! Happy Belated birthday! It sounds like it was wonderful!
I laughed so hard when I read about the girls trying to "get" Will and waiting to see if he was going to "get" them. I can totally see Natalie, Emma, and Ella doing that. LOL!!
Marissa wants a difficult third birthday theme, too. Why can't they pick something easy! :)
Here's a picture of a cake. I bet you could do this!
http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/super-why-cake.html
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