Party of Five: It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Because of our current living situation (5 people in a 2 bed room apartment) we tried something a little different this year. Lauren turned 4 on August 4th and little Noley will be 2 on the 23rd - we did a joint party for the two of them this past weekend. I usually host a big party for both sides of the family in my home with a beautiful meal, sugary cake and tons of presents for the special birthday boy or birthday girl to open. We had to rent the back room at our local Pizza Ranch for the space and just ordered pizzas for everyone to eat. It was way less work for me! I brought in a couple of salads (as did both of my wonderful sisters) a couple pans of bars and my mom brought a veggie tray with dip. The meal was wonderful, people filled their bellies and every single picky kid at the party ate!!! I wanted to blog about all of the small bumps I encountered at this party - they all seems like huge deals at the time, but looking back at it now I know I will never remember them if they aren't in writing ;) (funny how often that is the truth!)

My afternoon started out with a very moody 4 year old. When auntie Bessie asked Lauren what was wrong, she replied with "I'm just crabby today!!!" Let me tell you, when Lauren is crabby she is crabby! My dad always jokes when he is referring to her "Don't poke the bear!"

Once we got to the Pizza Ranch, I sent Peter to Walmart to get the cakes. It was a Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse themed party so I had ordered a pink and purple Minnie cake for Lauren (which she was extremely excited about) and a red and blue Mickey cake for Noles (which he couldn't care any less about)!!! Peter carried the cakes in and the first thing I hear is "I don't want this on my cake!" (From the cabby 4 year old) Walmart messed up my order and made matching red and blue Mickey Mouse cakes!!! I had to run back to Walmart quickly, but of course the bakery was close as it was 4:45 pm on a Saturday. I explains my problem and someone from the deli said she could frost some cupcakes quick and stick a Minnie Mouse toy on all of them. I said that would be just fine - and it would have been except she couldn't find any cupcakes to frost! We ended up pulling some out of the cooler and sticking plastic Minnie rings into them. In the end, it worked!

Everything else seemed to be falling into place. We finished supper and started opening the huge pile of gifts. Nolan is obsessed with tools right now so when anyone asked for gift ideas, I said plastic toy tools. He got a TON! He was one happy, excited Birthay boy! - except for when ever anyone else touched his tools! His curious little cousin-brother, Gavin, was amazed by the plastic hammers and toy electric drills, too. Any time he snuck up to the pile of tools we heard "NoNoNoNoNo" from Nolan! So instead of enjoying his Mickey cake and ice cream, he spent the rest of the party monitoring his tool pile making sure no one touched any! There were a few screams, tears and fights - but the party ended without any black eyes or bloody noses!

Looking back on Saturday night, all of these small things don't seem to matter. We had a room full of family, all of my children's cousins made it along with 3 second cousins, grandmas and grandpas were there along with all 4 great grandparents (who's lucky enough to have 4 great grandparents?) Everyone traveled safely home and my kids left with a boat load of new toys! (I woke up the next morning and ask Peter what time the 'birthday bomb' had went off!!!) My beautiful Lauren is 4 - I still can't believe it and my little man Nolan is almost 2!!! My baby isn't such a little baby anymore :( Big sister Brooklyn had fun evening at the party and is now playing with all of the new toys when ever she can (mostly when Lauren isn't looking!) Another night packed full of happy memories for my little Party of Five.