Birthday fun!!!

Well, hmmm...Bear's birthday came and went in mid-February. I even took pictures...but the problem you see...well the problem was that we were sick...and by we, I mean each of us in turn. I kept meaning to plan the party...but everytime I said to myself, "Okay, Stack, today is the day. Invite the folk. Call the place. Let's get 'er done"...someone would have a fever. Bear did it to me TWICE, four days apart.

Now lest you feel sorry for me for all my woe...let me just say, NOBODY was THAT sick. Seriously, we had a day of fever and fatigue and then nothing...and really the fatigue wasn't even that big a deal, Beanie didn't even slow down on school...but she DID take a nap (shhhh...don't tell anyone, it is apparently the utmost disgrace for a 9 year old to 'rest her eyes').

All that to say, I have a least a dozen really good excuses why Bear's birthday spanned 8 days. See, we have a rule...on anyone's birthday, we don't do school...so we got her birthday off. Then, of course, because it was the weekend and we wanted to give her the choice, she chose Sunday dinner out...we went to Friday's and they sang and it made her little eyes sparkle. But wait, there is more.

I, finally, the day OF her birthday said, "Okay, nobody is sick, whadaya wanna do...quick??" Well there was some thought of a tea party (the tea party place closed, bummer), a sprinkler party (ummm...hello, February, time of completely erratic temps in Texas) and Chuck E. Cheese. I've gotta tell you when she said, "I want a Chuck E. Cheese party", I actually felt my legs go cold. But then I thought, hmmm...maybe during the week it'll be okay.

So I emailed a couple of our closest homeschool friends, got on to the Chuck E. Cheese website and scheduled the party for 11 am on a Thursday. It was actually dreamy. I had one of our favorite almost teenagers come to help wrangle kids...we had 15 kids that ranged in age from 3 months old all the way to the 12 year old...most in the 2-9 range and 5 adults. The kids ran and played and got tickets and ate the sad little cake I brought and met Chuck E. Cheese.

And I didn't have to do the dishes, except the cake pan...which I felt was the best part.

The following picture is of the FIRST cake I made. We decided that artificial colors were banned for Bear's birthday, so I tried a homemade cake from Nigella Lawson...I must say, it was pretty, but we were underimpressed with the density. It wasn't THAT bad, I mean, we ate it...




And here she is with Mr. Cheese himself. It was all very exciting. He did NOT eat any cake (standard white box cake...much lighter and more moist...



Here is some of the fun...

Air Hockey, AGAIN...this time with Beanie and her friend JB (see her momma's blog). Looks like JB snuck a good shot in on our own reigning Air Hockey Champ...



And here is Beanie, irritated with the length of the freebie Chuck E. Cheese ride...



I have many other pictures, but no permission from other parents...suffice to say, we had a blast.

So after 8 days, 6 balloons, 2 cakes, a lunch and a party...Happy Birthday, Bear of mine!

See ya around...