Hello Busy Weekend...

It took me until TUESDAY to recover. And no there was no hangovers to recover from- just BUSY.

Saturday was Princess's Kid Birthday. I thought as one of the first weekends in June a lot of people would be unable to come so I okayed inviting a lot of kids. My assumption was wrong- almost everyone attended which meant I had 27 children at this party.

Thank goodness it was not at home, it was at Pump It Up. Hosting a party at a place like that is about a 100x easier than at home. Granted we kind of behave like locusts... but it is so much easier.

We arrived to be greeted by an employee who either has consumed far too much coffee or is just an effervescent woman.. she organized all of the children into a game of Simon Says and a round of introductions while waiting for everyone to arrive. I was stunned that the children all listened to her and were cooperative. Had it been me trying to coordinate ANYTHING I would have been greeted with a chorus of "I don't wanna"'s

after everyone arrived they watched a video of the rules and then were then led into the first arena to play. And they did play, hard. the water cooler was hit hard!
They were short blurs mostly running from apparatus to apparatus.

Peas was a toy for them- the girls carried her about and 'helped her' play. She ate it up. Princess had a hard time with that though. I can see so much of myself in her. I remember getting very stressed and frustrated with things did not go 'as I planned'. I will not tell her that she reminds me of myself as a child- as I want her to be HER. not me. I want her to be herself.

When it was time to go to the next area the staffers blew the whistle and the kids lined up so enthusiastically. Princess went and hid and then the other kids got to run in and find her. Which was super fun.

Again Princess was kind of sad that things were not going as she had planned. Thankfully when she had just lost her patience it was time to pose for a group picture. EVERYONE COOPERATED.

On to food. Pizza!!! for a room full of 5 and 6 year old's Pizza is a delicacy. Again. I did not have to worry about ordering, or plating or anything. The staff did that. It was FANTASTIC.

The kids ate there fill and on to cake. We did ice cream cake. it was a hit. What is not to love?

The only thing I had to bring was the cake and candles. Everything else was done for us. I did not even have to worry about cutting the cake! When it was time to hand out the favors I was again thrilled that I did not have to be responsible for them. Clean up was done for us also. All we had to do was go home.

The party host had kindly packed up Princess's gifts and that was a huge help. We were able to take them home and open them without a hoard of kids- which means- maybe- just maybe- I'll get thank you notes done.

Compared to last year when I was so stressed by the entire affair of her party at the house. I felt like I was re-entering the social kid scene and being judged by a bunch of 4 year olds.

I MUCH prefer this way. All around less stress. Less frustration. A lot more money but I guess it was worth it.

I'll cover the other events in a later post but for the moment Pixie needs some cuddles.