The birthday party weekend EXTRAVAGANZA

photo - Schmoo's Happy Feet birthday cake

Wow, what a weekend. We've been going non-stop...or so it feels. Here's the highlights!

Saturday

- up early, Mama to the gym while the kids stayed home with Papa and Nana to watch Treehouse and soccer. Papa and Bean celebrated Forest's promotion to the next level league by wearing their Forest soccer shirts!

photo - Papa and Bean celebrating Forest's win

- Nana and Papa off on a roadtrip for the day. Their destination was north of here to watch some trout spawning. Exciting, I know. The drive up there is beautiful though and a good chance for some mother-son bonding time without the distraction of two small children.

- Schmoo and Bean went to a birthday party of a little girl, A that they know from the gym's daycare. We must be going there a lot if the regular kids are inviting up to their birthday parties. It was fun. Bean was the token boy. There were a couple other kids that we ended up knowing from daycare. I managed to sneak away for 1/2 hour to do my grocery shopping for Schmoo's birthday party on Sunday.

photo - watching the arrival of A's cake

- No quiet time today. We didn't get home until after 4pm after a stop in town to buy some new sandals for Bean. So an early bedtime in hopes of having well rested children for Sunday's party.

- Papa and Nana returned just in time for bedtime. Papa made a nice steak dinner and then we watched "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"....strange but good movie. I cut out paper fish while we watched in prepartion for the party.

- Bean woke up in the middle of the night crying out for a trip to the potty for a pee. A good sign...who knows now?

Sunday

- Party day. Schmoo was up early and irritable. A sign of her excitement level. We managed to have a lay in until 8am while the kids watched shows and until Bean started to insist on his milk and snack (oh, and bum change, of course).

- Morning spent preparing food platters - fruit, veggies and organizing the backyard. Our neighbour friend M came over to play and when we asked him if he wanted to stay for the party he wanted to go home. He ended up coming back a couple of times throughout the party.

- Party kick off at 11:30am. Our friends C & H were the first to arrive and the other guests were prompt. Only one little boy didn't come...not sure why, his mom never responded to the invitation that we gave to her directly.

- The party was great. We had 10 kids and 4 adults (Papa, Mama, Nana and Auntie E). Everyone got along and had a good time. They ate the food we prepared. Seemed to enjoy the two penguin themed games (carrying a ball between their feet like an egg and searching for coloured fish in the backyard). Schmoo got a ton of great stuff which she has yet to open any of.
photo - Papa trying to feed Nana pizza

- Everyone headed home at 2pm. Kids are always keen to leave when they know they won't get their goodie bag until they go. Got some great pictures of Schmoo with each of her friends individually. Managed to convince both kids to hunker down for a nice long nap before we headed out to our friends U & L for dinner.

- The evening was spent out in the country, on the lake visiting with U & L. Bean had a great time splashing at the edge of the water in his new sandals. We brought Airlie along so she provided entertainment swimming out into the water to get her stick. We had a great veal shank dinner and the kids watched part of their Chipmunks movie before we packed them up and brought them home at 8:45pm.

- We're home now, kids and Nana are tucked in bed. Kitchen is clean and I'm ready for bed!

A great party weekend. A busy week ahead with activities, tour guiding Nana to a few more places and getting ready for our holiday. We leave on Saturday for the big cruise ship adventure!