PARTY!! (Part II)

So we bought this picture in May on our anniversary "trip." At the time, it had a much broader significance for us, but on Hannah's b-day, it was the last thing people saw as they headed out the back door.  Funny.

The power remained off for what seemed like forever. Two hours. Crazy. I was wracking my brain trying to come up with party games because I did not have a good back-up plan. Friends, don't let this happen to you! 

As the house filled up with people, I felt responsible for everyone's entertainment but most of the kids did not want to play the games I was coming up with. They were happy running around playing with toys. Many of them stayed upstairs in the loft. They seemed like they were having fun. For the few who wanted to play the games, we ran through pin the nose on the clown and toss the hackey sacks into the pail. It took a whole twenty minutes and a whopping five kids participated.

Meanwhile, Cohen and Jenna were not digging all of the commotion.


Cohen retreated into slumberland. I was a little envious.

So we served up the food. When the thunder finally stopped shaking the ground and the warm rain let up, we decided to give parents the option to turn the kids loose outside. While we were out there, the rain misted over us, but no biggie.  The plan was to get wet anyways.


The kids loved jumping around in this thing and splashing water everywhere.  And since we had no power and couldn't enjoy the big slide as promised, we rigged up a smaller version that the kids enjoyed.

Just as a family was praying around the table before they ate, the lights came on. Praise God for answered prayers!

Finally the slide goes up and the kids go down. My parents bought this thing and it was definitely a hit. I'm standing under the roof of our back patio, trying to keep my new camera dry.

Craig manned the top.

He lifted the kids up and let em go. Everyone was laughing and screaming and running around having a great time.  But then Craig starts yelling. "Woah. Woah.... We're dying! We're dying! Help!" This slide takes two minutes to inflate and even less time to deflate. Someone grabbed the kid from up top. Craig was going down fast. The slide was like a giant, vinyl venus flytrap and Craig folded in half as he was sucked down into it, hands and feet sticking up in the air...

The whole time, I kept the video rolling.  Hilarious.

At least we got one batch of popcorn done before the lights went down. The house smelled like a movie theater. Jenna was upset because she finally got a movie and then it was gone again. We kept thinking we could heat things up in the microwave.  Umm, yeah...

...ten minutes later, the power was back up and so was the slide. YAY!

Craig stayed down below this time.

Hannah getting warm.

Jenna entertaining herself.

She was not happy with the commotion so my aunt had to take a walk with her and I had to run circles around the driveway with her on my back, which occupied her for a while. 

After 45 minutes or so, we rounded up all the kids and brought them inside to change and get ready for cake and ice-cream. They loved the warm popcorn after being wet outside. It ended up working out perfectly!

Jenna is changed and ready to party -

The Bee Movie was a hit.

Popping the corn. I think everyone loved this even more after we thought we wouldn't be able to enjoy it.

Happy Birthday To You!!!

Jenna loving the bird's eye view.

She also loved the cake.Presents. Fun!

Sno-cones were really good. Strawberry.

My carpet even got a taste. Several of them, in fact.

Oh well, what's a party without a little mess?

It was a great day.  The last guests left around ten o'clock, and I think everyone had fun. I hope, at least.

Hannah loved her gifts. 

Someone tired?

The next morning dawned BEAUTIFUL, with blue skies and chirping birds.

We went to another little girl's birthday on this day and it was inside.  Hmmm.  But I bet people won't forget this party anytime soon... :)

That morning, my cousin's wife prepared to leave.

But there was one little problem.  What is that in the road?

Can you see it?  No? Okay, let's zoom a bit closer...

This is as close as my tremblin' hands get y'all.

Diamond back baby rattler. We only know this cuz my aunt was stup---  kind enough to get right on top of the thing for the sake of knowledge.

When I acted concerned, she scoffed. It's too cold out here. It can't move until it warms up, she says.

Yeah, uh-huh. No convincing me. Eventually this little guy slithered off to wherever it came from. At least, we haven't seen it around here since.


But with our luck there's no tellin'!

PARTY!! (Part I)

I can hardly believe it. Hannah is now four!

Hannah was so excited for her birthday party.

The day started out hectic. Hannah had her final dance class in the morning. The kids and parents are absolutely awesome. We debated trying another studio next year, but we may just stay put because it looks like nearly everyone else is. This dance class has created more of a social network than I imagined.

We handed out our invitations a few weeks back and another family had been planning to have their daughter's party on the same day, at the same time. Instead, they changed their daughter's party to the day after Hannah's. On the morning of the party, the girl's dad thought he'd be funny and tell me to watch out for rain.  This would be a disaster.  Our plan for entertainment was to inflate a giant waterslide my parents bought for the girls and let the kids run around in the backyard.  At first I thought he knew something I didn't.  Ha, ha, he said. Just kidding. Does it look like it's going to rain?

Well, no. 

The day was beautifully sunny, hot, and of course muggy. Perfect for a little dip in some nice cool water and a slip down a fun slide.

So I went home and got the kids and house and food and party favors and balloons ready with a lot of help from a friend (Thank you, Deanna!), my aunt, and Craig.

Once the kids were dressed, I took the photo op:

Hannah and her friend, playing pre-party.

Then my cousin's wife, her mom and two kids showed up early from Houston.My cousin's wife loved holding Cohen, who is trying to escape!

Her mom eventually joined us in the kitchen as we cut up melon and made cold cut platters and veggie platters and fruit dip and... well, you get the picture.
A few of the food items as they went out:


As we were in the kitchen preparing, we started to smell something foul. We ran around checking diapers and couldn't figure it out until we realized we were cutting cheese.  Swiss cheese does not smell good when you cut it.

Things were looking good.  Put some family photos on the mantel, finally.
And we laid out the party favor buckets with some lei's Hannah just had to have when we went to the party store.

As we worked hard inside, Craig was busy getting the outside ready. First, the new canopy and seating went out:


And then the humongous waterslide.
And the balloons were starting to go up around the fence line. It was a little windy but warm. My neighbor calls and tells me she sees Craig working so hard in the yard and they are really excited to come to the party and try out the waterslide.

So Craig goes to take his shower and emerges fresh and clean.

He needn't have bothered, y'all.

He was about to get one courtesy of Mother Nature.  She is very temperamental here in Texas!

Ten minutes before the party is supposed to start, the heavens unleash a fury. A full-on, rip-roaring, thunder-clapping summer storm.

Craig walks out, takes one look out the window, and groans. The canopy is about to set sail. He runs to the door followed by my friend and my aunt. And what did I do?

Took pictures, of course! :)

Yeah, ummm.... some good advice: before you put up a canopy, read the directions and make sure ya know how to take it back down in a hurry - just in case.

So Craig is trying and trying and trying and the wind is lifting this thing up into the air and he and my aunt finally get the legs shorter, but they still can't collapse the center and the rain is pounding down. Craig yells for my friend to go inside because she doesn't have a change of clothes. I know what you're thinking.  I should be helping too.

But what do I do?

Take more pictures, of course. :)

My aunt is drenched. She probably needs a towel. Right after I get a few more shots in...

And off to the left of this picture? A sno-cone machine and a popcorn machine we rented for a whopping hundred bucks. That's okay -- all we had to do was move them inside to the counter and we were still good to go.

Craig, on the other hand was still outside trying to figure out the canopy. He's such a handyman.
See him looking over his shoulder at me?

Hmmm. Probably thought I could be doing better things with my time than take pictures of him wrestling the canopy.

It was so darn funny.

Now, you might be thinking this is turning into a major disaster. As far as we knew, we had fifty people heading over to our house for a b-day party and a waterslide and the whole thing was not going according to plan. And if we thought things couldn't get worse, we were wrong.  The lights go out.

The repercussions were crazy! Many of our party guests were stuck at traffic lights that weren't working, and only two families on our guest list made it within 45 minutes of party start time.  I thought for sure people weren't going to show because of the weather.

But they kept streaming in with the water.  I had no electricity. This was bad for several reasons.  Jenna gets social anxiety. When she gets this way the ONLY THING that calms her is the TV. Ah yes. Great conditions for a party.

At least we had the cold-cut platters so we could actually feed people as promised. And Craig went ahead and fired up the grill beneath the roof of our patio and grilled the hot dogs. Meanwhile, I was scrambling my brain trying to figure out what to do with all those kids. I didn't really have a back up plan.

Thank goodness for Hannah's new room. The bunk beds were a hit--even if the kids were swinging from them like monkeys! We did have tape the nose on the clown and I tried to get creative with some other made-up games, but most of the kids were having fun running around upstairs in the game room and the girls' room.

The power was out for two hours.

No slide. No movies. No popcorn and no sno-cones.

STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO!!!

A Birthday Present

Hannah's b-day celebration really began about two weeks before her party.

If you can call painting a room and hauling heavy furniture up a switchback staircase celebration! But this was our gift to Hannah, a room redo. Or, more accurately, her room finally done at all.

It took some strategy. Since I couldn't fit two twin-size beds in the tiny room and leave space for playing or furniture, I found some used bunk beds with storage included for a really good price. The bunk beds weren't exactly the look I was going for so a makeover was in order. We stained the beds a darker mahogony shade and instead of the pretty regal be-jeweled princess room I had planned, I got to thinking... and came up with a sort of tree house meets forest fairy sorta thing. I'm not finished, but I thought I would kick off the b-day posts with the pre-show planning. :)

I must say the room was quite a hit at the party. I just wish I could get the kids to actually sleep up there... *sigh*

I guess part of my gift to H was letting her get in on the decorating action. Just a little of it though because honestly? The thought of a four year old wielding a loaded paint brush is almost too much for my perfectionist self to handle! But she really wanted to help and I just couldn't say no.

Phase 1: Tape off.

Not sure what she's reaching for. Hmmm.

Phase 2: Some much-needed color on the walls:

Okay, come on in, but watch your STEP!
Color looks sorta blue, but it's actually light purple. Very pretty. And girly.

Phase 3: Every forest/tree house room needs grass...

Advice: if you're actually brave enough to hand over a roller, ALWAYS remain within arm's reach and make sure your tarp is taped securely to the wall! And Breathe.
Oh, and try to smile and act happy and proud :)

Mom adds the finishing touches:

And without further ado--

voila!

Of course the top bed is undone. Didn't notice until now.


Had to have the mirrors for J.

There's even a new TV in the armoire. She still likes to hog ours, though :(
In all fairness, it is much bigger.

And I tried some handpainted flowers. They didn't come out quite like I wanted, but I might work on that more later.


Their adjoining bathroom:

No new paint in here. Just run-of-the-mill decor, but it still turned out bright and cute.

And the first cards arrive in the mail...




So exciting to be four and have a room to call your own! Or, well, your own with your sister! ;)

Next up: The b-day festivities.

When it rains, it pours!