Gift wrap, cupcakes and BONZAI FALLS!

Whew! The ribclan household is coming off of a thrilling (and tiring!) weekend of birthday party fun for little Ms. Kdee. On Saturday we had her "friend party", where 10 children came over to the ribclan house for lots of water fun, for 3 hours. Needless to say, our prepping work for the party began early in the week, with ribB constantly watering our lawn so that it wasn't a dry, icky playground and me organizing party goods/cleaning the house. Kdee even helped with some of the prep work, which was a pleasant surprise. (On a side note, I think she's been on another growth spurt lately because she seems to be wavering between mature/immature on an every-other-minute basis (which can be trying for mom/dad!). She's also been waking up at 4am with various excuses like "I'm hungry", etc. which isn't normal for her, but seems to correct itself after a couple of nights. Overall, her behaviors usually seem to balance out after a few weeks once her growth spurt is over...always to our happiness!)

The morning of her party, the weather was a bit cloudy and windy...not the elements for a good outdoor fun day. But, by noon, the skies miraculously cleared and the weather got hot and humid--perfect! We raced around all morning/afternoon and finished our party prep a good 2 minutes before the kids came (such as: feeding little B lunch while assembling gift bags and figuring out a shower/get dressed routine!). It was a blast to see Kdee light up when she saw her school friends again. It was also awesome to have her 2 future husbands, Evan and James, in attendance (both go to other schools; as you may know, Evan is her life-long friend whose mom(JoAnne) works with ribB; James is a long-time friend from her daycare). And, if you haven't heard me mention these 2 boys before--yes, she does refer to them as the boys she might marry.

Once they arrived, they all ran off and immediately started playing in the small blow-up pool and slip-n-slide while ribB got the rented "BONZAI FALLS" inflatiable water slide ready. As you can imagine, the waterslide was the biggest hit. The kids played and played, and even got to have a water balloon "fight". When they started to get a little tired, we did the ever-popular "decorate your own cupcake". With vanilla cupcakes, frosting galore and sprinkles at their disposal, everyone decorated their masterpiece cupcake. This event was a huge hit at last year's party (and highly requested by Kdee for this year). The difference between last year and this year was...the skill level. Last year, I barely had any frosting or sprinkles left over. With last year in mind, I thought I'd be tricky and stretch out my frosting with Cool Whip (a "semi- homemade" trick by Sandra Lee) and, boy, it wasn't necessary. This year, the kids really took their time and were much more meticulous about their creations. Even the "frosting horder" boys didn't nearly eat as much frosting as before! Of course, I'm certainly not disappointed about having extra frosting on hand :-)! Overall, the party was a big success. The kids all played really well together and we didn't run into too many problems with hurt feelings, etc. Kdee received some wonderful gifts (Sky Dancers were the very popular, very exciting gift) and all children were properly tired/sugared out by the end of the party. (Note to folks holding future kid parties: don't get red vines. The kids repeatedly said they were "gross" and asked "what flavor is THISSSS?"; also, make sure to have a constant plan of activity--kids this age will call for mutiny any chance they can!) After most kids left, Evan was able to stay/play and have dinner with us, along with his mom. It was great, and I really appreciated the chance to catch up with JoAnne.

On Sunday, Kdee had her friend Kirsten over and played some more on the BONZAI FALLS. They played all afternoon, mostly outside in the water again, but they also enjoyed some Barbie (Mermaidia)/dress up/etc. time as well. One thing that made me chuckle was watching them make "beds" to layout in the sun (to warm up after all the cold water play). They were quite cute. Later that night, we decided to go for a "deer drive" out of sheer need to entertain (and contain!) the kids "easily". We were so tired! They had fun being silly and looking for deer, and ribB and I enjoyed a chance to chat a bit/chill out.

Little B managed the weekend pretty well. He had a chance to enjoy lots of outside time and did well mingling around with all of our guests. The kids were all very sweet with him and mindful of him when he was around. Little B has always been better at entertaining himself/being content to wait more than Kdee at this age, which is helpful in times like having company.Prior to the party, he helped ribB while he filled water ballons--placing them into a small tub for ribB for storage until the party. It didn't take long, though, until he took over the hose and became one wet little monkey. He loves water, so this was a blast for him. At the party, little B was very interested in consuming as much watermelon as possible (as did the kids--althogether they ate almost an entire seedless watermelon!). He looked like a big, red juicy mess afterward--thank goodness he was in his swim trunks. Given the fun of our weekend, he wasn't too excited to go back to daycare on Monday (and gave ribB the "stare down"). But, as is his nature, he rolled with the change and eased back into having a great day with his friends at daycare. Another little B side note: he's still very excited by "deer" and has been looking for them constantly (including some hunting videos with ribB). Yesterday morning he got to see a doe in our yard, which was very fun. He's also talking up a storm--even requesting "tacos" last night for dinner. He's repeating everything!

Pictures: BONZAI FALLS!, cupcake decorating, opening gifts and watermelon-juiced little B