Free For All

This evening was Drake's 2nd birthday party. I spent a good deal of time baking two layers of his birthday cake. This morning, I finished icing it and I was quite proud of it. It turned out very well, even if I had to improvise because the Wilton Thomas the Tank Engine cake pan is discontinued. Still, by the time I bought the $15 cake pan and all the powdered sugar and Crisco, I probably could have just bought a cake. Although, for a really good one from Harris Teeter with my favorite whipped cream icing, I think I paid about $30 for Bart's.
In my last post I think I foolishly said I expected the party to be low-key. Was I kidding myself? We had so many kids running around, I'm sure our neighbors want to kill us now. I keep forgetting that just with our best friends, we have 10 children between us. Then we add other friends and family. So, we had 16 children and I think 19 adults. I don't know. It was pretty hard to keep track.
Drake the party-boy had been cranky all day, so we put him down for a nap and let him SLEEP for as long as he wanted. Which was a long time. We finally had to send Skylar up to wake him after his party guests began to arrive at 4pm. When he saw that his friends were arriving, Drake ran right outside to the back porch, where the presents were. He was wearing no pants and his diaper was so wet, it was hanging off his butt. He went straight for the presents and grabbed the Thomas trike Renee had bought him. It was not wrapped, so he started playing with it at once.



So, we started out by letting the children play with the splash rocket sprinkler. Well, Drake went out in his regular diaper and ended up being just filthy. The children had a blast under the sprinkler, though. Then we ate hot dogs for dinner and had cake. We opened presents and played under the sprinkler some more. Then we let the kids hit the pinata Mom had brought and filled with all sorts of goodies. It's a miracle that no one was knocked out during that escapade. We had a few close calls. It's a fact of life that when a pinata is involved, you have to start swinging the bat before everyone is out of the way. What is amazing to me is that George actually stood there holding the pinata from a length of PVC while he let 16 kids under the age of 10 take swings at it with a real baseball bat. Fearless? Or sadly clueless? You be the judge.
When the pinata was finally bludgeoned into yielding up its goodies (Skylar and Bart's friend Kory did the honors), the children rushed it and scooped up armfuls of Smarties and lollipops and little toys. It was all pretty crazy.


On top of everything, instead of the glorious 80 degree weather we've been having, this weekend it's in the sub-tropical 90's, and disgustingly humid, too. It was so nasty outside, and there were legions of flies. I know the children were in hog heaven, tearing through the yard barefoot and in their swimsuits, but we adults were sweaty and miserable. George smelled like a litterbox when he ended up coming in. He said to me, "Great, so you're telling me I smell like two-day old cat piss?" Well, yes, that's pretty much what he smelled like. But he sweated more than any of us because he was at the grill.
It was kind of just a kid free-for-all, but I think kids enjoy it that way. If you try to structure them too much in their play time, I think play time loses some of its excitement. They get enough structure in school. The extent of my rules were to wipe your feet before going into the house and let the birthday boy open his own presents, thank you. Oh, and Bart could only eat two pieces of candy (he's going to the dentist in a week or so).
Lucy slept most of the time. I nursed her once before the party, and only once during it. The party started at 4pm, but I don't think the last guests left until 7:30 at least, so it was a long day for all involved. As you can see from the pictures above, she got passed around from person to person. She was a very good baby and I owe my partial sanity to the fact that she did sleep so well and allowed me to run the party. I also should say thanks to all the people who held her, to Mom for bringing the pinata and candy, to my kids for helping clean up, and to George for meekly doing what I ordered in preparation for the party. Thanks!!