The Party

Forward: I realize that the pictures in this post are peculiarly placed (not to mention blurry and dark...BOO HOO) and I can't figure out why. So...so...just so that I know that you know that I know that they look weird...well...that just makes me feel better.

So it's been an entire week of celebrating Miss Syd's sixth year of life! Can you believe she gets a whole week of festivities? Oh, the wonderfully strange life of an only child.

Sunday, Feb 1: Family Party

Being the super duper planner that I am, I completely forgot my CAMERA for this day...grrrrrr. So I have no pics to share. Sad. So sad.

We planned Syd's family party (yes, we split up the fam and friends...it's just more fun for everyone that way) at Red Robin in Olathe. We brought in all the presents and had some pretty decent food. I love Red Robin because, well, the endless supply of steak fries, for one thing, but most of all NOBODY CARES if the kids scream...and if you know my kid, then you know her propensity for delivering a very specific ear-piercing, glass-shattering, make-your-toenails-curl-back shrill of a scream...and you understand that "child friendly" isn't a preference, it's a necessity.

The family gathering included: Grandma and Poppie (Debbie and Greg), Hayden, Nana (my mom, Joyce), Shad and Lauren, Erin and Kent. Pretty dang fun. Love you all and thanks so much for coming. Steff, thanks for sending Hayden as the family rep. We loved it!

Tuesday, Feb 3: Class Party...I know the pics are blurry...boooo.
This basically consisted of a batch of oh-my-goodness yummy cupcakes for her classmates and the opportunity for me to experiement with a Buttercream Frosting recipe that I found online. You'll see why I needed to test it out when I show you the cake that I spent all week making for Sydney's "Friend Party" on Saturday. You'll also see why it was a HUGE mistake for me to make it for this party considering the enormity of it...the sheer volume of time, effort and ingenuity (except that I got the idea from a cake website...but still, I had to substitue an ingredient or two AND I call tell you that the recipe did NOT call for burnt cake which I managed to provide AND cover up quite well...even as I cursed the stars for creating such a thing as a fragile butter cake mix) and how ALL of that was completely lost on this very young audience. You'll see.

But, the kids loved the cupcakes and we were the heroes of the day. Can't beat that. Also, Sydney informed me that her friend Zoe wouldn't let ANYONE say anything mean to her all day because she was the Birthday Girl. My response: "Excuse me, WHAT? Kids are MEAN to you? Who? Tell me! Now! I'm gonna call his mother!" Just kidding, kinda. I suppose kids are just mean sometimes...but I remember my mothers' advice quite well: If a kid is mean to you, you just go and kick 'em in the kneecaps. Hard! Thanks Mom. You've taught me well, and I'm passing on the advice!

OK, ok, ok...she didn't really mean it...she only told me that when I was sobbing hysterically from getting my feelings hurt by some brat with a schoolyard crush and she knew she had to make me laugh so I'd snap out of it. I never ACTUALLY kicked a kid in the kneecaps...though I did shove a boy into the wall in the middle of Math class in the seventh grade after he slapped me in the face. He claimed to have a crush too. Hummmm.....What is wrong with that picture? I digress.

Us with Mrs. Smith:

Feb 7: Friend Party. Hannah Montana makes an appearance.

First, a last gift from me: a Hannah Montana outfit, made with love and sparkles, complete with a wig and a little guitar-charm necklace. Of course, when I say made, I mean bought all the clothes off clearance racks at Kohls and bedazzeled the crud out of 'em via sparkly clearance things at Hobby Lobby. She loved it.



















This is the best pic that turned out of her outfit, but it doesn't do it justice. She wouldn't hold still for two seconds for me to take a decent picture and the wig only stayed on for a few minutes. But, DANG, I think she looked so cute and she was so EXCITED!!!






When the kids showed up, I had a craft ready: Cardboard cutout guitars and markers, etc: Craft away, girls and boy. No games this year.









Last year I had games planned and has some weird freak-out reaction when I actually tried to lead six or so squealy, wiggly little girls in a game while their parents...who unexpectedly STAYED THE WHOLE TIME...stared at me. Well, that's a story for another time, but I'll show you what happened:

Brooke and Jeremy showed up and saved the party.
Have you ever seen anything so cute as this? I was sooo thankful. I mean really, really, really, tears-shining-in-my-eyes thankful. I totally let Jer take over and just faded into the background. It was WEIRD. I was WEIRD. I didn't want that to happen again, because they live THREE HOURS AWAY and couldn't have gotten here fast enough to rescue me. I probably would have hyperventilated this year. I wonder what's wrong with me around groups of little kids. It's not like I don't have one of my own...

I'm a strange gal, what can I say? Oh well and OH MY: I'm getting a little sweaty just thinking about it.

ANYWAY, crafts I can do...so crafts we did. Then we had cake and ice cream. Yummy. Remember what I said about my strenuous cake activities being lost on a group of little ones? (Maybe subconsiously I was expecting parents to stay again...hummmm) Well, here's why:

This took me a LONG TIME!!!
In celebration of the recent Grammies:
I'd like to take this time to thank my supportive husband for understanding that I can not draw an appropriate stick figure to save my life and, in that knowing, for providing a great guitar cutout for me. I couldn't have done this without you...but I might have tried...and cried and screamed a lot. So, for all of your patience, understanding, and not judging me for the one-time-per-year that I do something ridiculously time consuming like this (really, it took me all week. I'm no pro)...Thank You. Sydney appreciates it to:

On to the presents:
Syd got some great gifts from friends. One of her favorites was this Pucci Pup. She got the little white one with the pink bag and LOVES IT. She even took it to church yesterday to play with while we practiced. Thanks Amelie!

Well, I think that about wraps up the birthday week. She's officially six years old. Hummmm. Don't really know what I think about that. I'll get back to you.

lata.

PS. Aunt Steffie: She's planning to buy a new Webkinz with the cash you gave her. All of a sudden she's REALLY REALLY into the Webkinz world and we've been on the site for several hours this week. Thought you'd want to know.

To Webkinz Peeps out there: Is there some trick to getting loads of Kinzcash? It takes FOREVER!!!