Tea Party Bonanza

I've been busy lately, trying to get us all back on track with school, and getting ready for Kathleen's birthday party.

School is still a little shaky, but the party was a smashing success.

Kathleen had seven guests for a tea party on Saturday. Instead of bringing presents, the girls were asked to bring food for the party. We had cucumber sandwiches, a chocolate fountain, strawberries, pretzels, and lots of cookies. One of the girls made a cake in the shape of a tea pot. It was a lot of fun!

I organized some fun girly-party games -- the kind that drive most adult women crazy at showers -- but that I love to play and that 10 and 11-year-old girls love to play, too! Kathleen begged me NOT to play the fork and spoon game.

I said, "But, Kathleen, remember last time? We weren't going to play the fork and spoon game and then everyone asked to play it anyway? What if they want to play it?"

"Mo-om! Please don't play the fork and spoon game!"

We played it anyway, because, of course, all of the neighborhood kids who have not been traumatized all their lives by this game wanted to play it. By then, all of the other kids who had not played it before wanted to know what it was, and Kathleen eventually joined in the fun as well. Every birthday party should have the fork and spoon game! Go ahead, you can hire me out for your next party! I also come with a set of kids. Rent a Party.

After the party, Kent and Kradan came with their daughter Jordan, so that she could have a sleep-over with Kathleen. Kathleen was one big ball of frenetic energy the whole day and well into the night! She and Jordan were so tired the next day, that they quite willingly volunteered for Sunday afternoon naps!

Kent and Kradan stayed Saturday evening to play a game of Risk with us. Keith and I met over Risk -- Lo, so many years ago! -- and have been slowly building up Risk skills in our own children, so that one day, when they meet that special someone over the Risk board, that they'll know what to do. So it was Kent, Kradan, Keith and I, joined by Keri Lynn and Kristofer. Anyway, I won! Did I mention that I won that particular Risk game that night? I WON! Whoooo-hooooo! (I don't really care if I win a game anymore, really.) But I WON! Total world domination! I'm the Queen of the World! (And I did it without the pink armies.)

Later that night I did have to return to my Cinderella life of dishes and laundry and blogging. But it's not too bad!

That reminds me of earlier in the weekend. We got our latest installments of Netflix. One of them was Cinderella:Twist in Time, in which the evil stepmother gets a hold of the Fairy Godmother's wand and turns time back and makes the prince fall in love with her own daughter. Kathleen and Kylie did a happy dance when the movie came in the mail, but they had other plans that afternoon, so it was that Keri Lynn and I were the ones that ended up watching it first. Every girl likes to play Cinderella, I guess!

Friday morning, I made some pancakes, and Kade served himself a plate of warm pancakes and put them up to his cheeks and said, "Hello, cuties!"

Kathleen, once again showing her brilliance, decided to take the day before her party as her day to be Queen of the Day. Each kid gets to take one day out of the year to be King or Queen for a day in celebration of their birthday. This means that they don't have to do any chores and we're all supposed to treat that person extra special. Usually, the birthday person picks their actual birthday as their special day, but Kathleen was out with her Daddy most of the day, and wanted to THOROUGHLY enjoy the perks. So she picked the day before her party, when we were doing most of the clean-up work for her party. The stinker. Only she had even bigger plans for the day. She wanted everyone to do her bidding for cleaning and preparation. I had to put a stop to that, and remind her that being Queen of the Day didn't mean that she got to order everyone around, just that she got out of work. If anyone was born to be a queen, it would be Kathleen.

We're expecting a visit from our friends the Bosticks sometime this week. I'm not exactly sure when, but we're excited about it. Their son Gordon will be graduating from Officer Training school on Thursday at Fort Benning, which is about two hours from here, I think. It's always a treat to see family and friends from California.