September 15, 2012

7th Birthday Party Time!

(click here for today's pictures)

• When Robby woke up this morning and saw the rain, he knew the football and cheerleading this morning would be cancelled and he also knew that we could not stay in the house all day long.  So we loaded up and headed to McDonalds to slide and eat.  The kids were a bit disappointed about the rain and no games but McDonalds seem to cure that.  (Another week of practice sure won't hurt the football boys.)
• On our morning outing, Robby ran into Walmart and even though he had only 3 items on his list he was in there forever.  The kids were getting very anxious but I was too busy laughing about Anderson and what he had said the other night.  We were eating Sponge Bob macaroni and Anderson commented "we can't watch Sponge Bob but we can EAT him."-yes, buddy, we eat what is on sale.
• When we finally made it to McDonalds the kids were so excited.  They played until Robby came in with the food and then they all quietly sat and waited for us to divvy it out.  Waiting on breakfast is hard for my crew when they are used to eating as soon as they wake up.  
• We stayed for quite awhile and then Robby ran into Sams to buy some more mulch for the new flower bed.  Sams didn't take him quite as long as Walmart took and the kids were relieved.  
• Back at home, we put the mulch out and started trying to decide where we would have Reagan's party.  It is hard to have a camping themed birthday party in the house (especially with 36 people-19 of those kids).  We thought about all inside-too crowded, we thought about the yard-too wet, we thought about the garage/driveway and started cleaning.
• We worked and worked-Robby would set something out in the driveway and it would rain some more.  Then it would clear and we would do it all over again.  Ha!  We did quite a bit of work before the game started but then took time to watch the first half of the Razorback game.  The first bit was all that we needed to see.  The kids went on to watch one of their movies and later while they were cleaning the toy room I overheard them saying "are there such a thing as red razorbacks?" and "what is a razorback anyway?"
• This afternoon Keaton was crawling around and Campbell was busy corralling her around.  Keaton had on a Razorback shirt so Campbell called her "my little razorback" as she drug poor Keaton around the house.  Then she changed from that and started calling her "little stinker."  Keaton has the patience of Job putting up with Campbell but Campbell is pretty entertaining because you never know what will happen next.   
• The last few minutes before a party are always crazy.  Robby and I are not good estimators of time (especially Robby).  There are just so many things that need to get done the last minute and we are always scurrying around.  The garage turned out pretty nice-we had stars hanging, the firepit burning (or smoking due to the rain), the tent set up as a prop, chairs and tables, hot dogs and all the fixings and lots of cupcakes and cake.  
• Reagan had a pretty good birthday and lots of friends there-Kaleigh, Avery, Alexis, Emory, Alyssa Kate, Caroline, Ethan, Brody, Noah, Eden, Lilly, Kennedy, Lilly, Cash and her brothers Anderson and Graham and sisters Campbell and Keaton.  We started off by eating supper and then moved on to the games.
• The kids ran around a chair with marshmallows on their spoons-by the end the marshmallows were so wet from falling on the ground that they were stuck to the spoon.  Then they licked a marshmallow and stuck it on their head to run the relay race.  They earned glow in the dark bugs and finger flashlights for playing the games.  The kids also guessed how many rocks were in a jar.  The highest guess was 100 and the lowest guess was 2 (Campbells).  But the winning guess was Anderson with 50 (actual was 53 rocks in the jar).  He won 2 whole dollars! Next up was the pinata and no one seemed to mind picking up wet candy.  
• Next up was candles and birthday cake (notice my campfire cake?-cute huh and easy).  We scratched having smores because we just ran out of time-anyone want to come over this week for smores?  Then Reagan opened her presents-a purse, pajamas, build her own birdhouse, a necklace, decorate your own bag, a doll, a backpack, art kit, game, lots of craft projects and girly legos.  She is getting bigger-not as many toys-makes me sad!  
• After presents the kids all headed in the muddy yard with their flashlights on and had the best time.  They ran and screamed and squealed and all needed to be hosed down.  One guest, Eden, even said that the best part of her day was playing in the "deep dark woods with lights."  They all did have a good time.
• After everyone left, my kids were hearded through the showers.  Keaton was sent to bed and the others inspected Reagan's gifts and Reagan opened up a few of them.  The kids then all went to bed with their flashlights on their fingers-they were all tired because I never even heard anyone talking.  Robby and I then got to work and straightened the house and left most of the garage for tomorrow...or another day!