Combination Party

We had a big weekend here. We always combine Pirate and Trouble's birthdays into one party. Their birthdays are almost three weeks apart, and one party is easier than two. But this year we really stepped things up by adding another celebration to the party, Superchunk's baptism. We were given three dates to choose from for the baptism, June 10, 17, & 24. At the time, the 10th was only a week away, so we couldn't do that, and the 17 was Father's Day. So, we picked the 24th. I was originally thinking of doing the boys' birthday party this coming weekend, so the 24th worked out well.

From the beginning, Pirate was confused. He is just now understanding the months. I keep a big desk calendar on our pantry door to keep track of everything going on in the month. The kids are color coded so they stand out and I know who has what when. With 5 kids, it's really the only way I remember anything. So, Pirate is all into the big calendar and likes to know what's going on in the month. When he saw that it was going to be their party, he didn't understand. "But my birthday is on July 10, and my party is June 24th.", was his response. So, I explained the sharing a party thing, and how we only have a party on their actual birthday if their birthday is on a weekend. Then I sat down to do the Evite. (I haven't hand-written an invitation since Princess turned 1). I did two separate Evites, one for the baptism and one for the birthday party. It looked weird to combine the two on a religious background or on a party background. I let Pirate pick the background for the Evite. No surprise, he chose the pirate themed skull and crossbones. He watched as I went through the steps of putting in the information and the email addresses. When I was done I showed him how I emailed it out to everyone. He said, "Ok, now you have to print it out so we can give it to everyone.". I told him how it would go directly into everyone's computers. He said, "Even my friends? I don't know if they have computers.". Great... now I had to explain that we weren't having his friends, just our family. I knew what was coming next. "But Princess had a party with all of her friends for her birthday.". Two major differences: Princess was turning 8, in second grade. And her birthday is in December, during the school year. It's a lot easier to invite friends during school than over the summer. I told him maybe next year we'll do a friend party. Hopefully he'll forget about it and I can keep doing combo parties for a couple more years... I doubt it though. Kid has an amazing memory!

We didn't do much to get ready for the party ahead of time. We're not big planners. I took Pirate out after his swimming lessons one evening last week to get some decorations. I told him he could pick any theme he wanted since Trouble didn't seem to care much about the party, and he usually likes anything Pirate likes. I didn't really need to take him with me, though, because he picked what I thought he would...pirates! I bought all the plates, cups, napkins, tablecloth, plastic wear, etc, all the while thinking to myself how much of a pain in the ass it is to have a party. In the end it's always fine and the kids have fun, but buying so much crap and cleaning and setting up and stressing is annoying. I minimally cleaned the house on Friday, enough to make it look decent in here. Saturday I was going to BJs to get the rest of what we needed, then I was going to bake the cakes, and set up what I could. That was my plan. Instead I went to the pool. All day. In the back of my mind I knew I should be home working on stuff for the party. But the water felt great and it was so nice to be out of the house, in the sun, having adult conversation with my sister in law. The kids were having a blast swimming, and I was in no rush to get home, so we stayed and stayed. Once we got home, Buster made dinner (yes, I am that lucky) while I bathed all the kids. After we ate dinner, I started working on the cakes. I was up until midnight baking three cakes and two dozen brownie bites. Yes, we could have gotten away with one cake. But I wanted them to each have their own. I think the kids could have cared less. 

Sunday the baptism wasn't until 1, so we had plenty of time to get things ready. After breakfast, Buster started making food for the party. ( I know, I know... I'm seriously lucky!) while I started cleaning up and moving chairs around. We live in a split level house, and we were going to have around 30 people here. There's only so much re-arranging that can be done, so we did our best. I set up the table with the decorations and cakes, and fed the kids a quick lunch, then got them dressed for the baptism. I put Superchunk in his baptism outfit that my aunt had originally made for Pirate. All four of my boys were able to wear the same outfit, although Superchunk was pushing the limits on it! Once all seven of us were ready, we loaded ourselves in the van and left for the church. And we were actually early!

The baptism went well. Superchunk was really good the whole time. We had to push the rest of the kids off on other family members. Princess and Pirate were fine. Curly started crying as soon as we left him with my mom. Trouble was fine until he saw us go up to the baptismal font when he made a break for it and ran up to stand with us. He also almost knocked down the big candle in the front of the church. But with Trouble, things could have been much worse! We hung around for some pictures, including our annual family photo at a baptism. Buster and I both were thankful that was our last kid's baptism!

 After the baptism, we headed back to our house. Although it felt like a nice day outside, cramming 30+ people into our small living room made it feel like a cool 200 degrees. Despite my best efforts with a big fan, it never cooled off inside. All the kids stayed outside most of the time, and adults were in and out. But at present time, everyone crammed into the small room to watch the boys open their gifts. They didn't care how many eyes were on them or how many degrees it was in there. They were so excited to have gifts to open. Pirate is old enough to know the routine by now. But Trouble is still young and wanted to open every toy as soon as he unwrapped it. It took me until well into Monday to actually go through everything and really see what they got. We have a really great family for spending the day with us and giving so much to our boys.
We sang Happy Birthday to the boys, had some cake and ice cream, and let the kids play in the sprinkler and water table outside. We filled some water balloons for them too. I think everyone had fun! Later that evening when everyone had left and we cleaned up, we went outside with the kids and had a water balloon battle and played with their new bubble guns. It ended up being a really great day! That being said, I'm glad none of the kids will need a party until the winter!

Don't they look thrilled?

Things are getting easier?

In the past week, we've had three major outings, and they've gone amazingly well. It's sad that I look at these things as something I just want to get through, instead of enjoying them. But I actually enjoyed myself and the fact that we made it through each thing with no major problems. Last Friday was Pirate's preschool graduation, Saturday was my nephew's baptism, and this past Monday was Pirate's school field trip to the zoo. We made it to all three things, on time, and had no problems!

One more personal accomplishment, that my husband had already done successfully, was last Thursday when I took the four boys out to a real store, on my own. It took me 14 weeks to get up the courage (or cabin fever) to do this on my own, but I did it. I even came home with all four kids, and with everything I went to the store to buy. One thing is for sure, there should be parking close to the store for parents with a lot of kids. I feel almost handicapped when taking all the kids with me, so a close-to-the-store parking space would be appreciated. Pirate walked, I put 5's carrier on the front part of the cart, and Trouble & Donkey rode in the back of the cart. Fortunately I know where everything is in Walmart, so I had a plan and was able to get in and out pretty quickly. The only problem I hit that I hadn't counted on was Trouble and Donkey opening everything I put in the back of the cart with them. Easy fix, I just had to put the things on the bottom shelf of the cart. Although this trip went smoothly, I wouldn't make a it a regular occurrence. And I know for sure I can't do the grocery shopping with all of them. There would be nowhere to put the food! At least I finally took a trip on my own. Oh, and my husband still wins on this accomplishment. He only took the three little boys out with him, but he bought a bike that day, so he had to push the cart and pull a bike through the store. I'm not that brave!

My little graduate

On Friday, we had to be at McDaniel College at 8:45 for Pirate's graduation. I knew it was going to be a busy morning, so Thursday night I did everything I could to be ready for the next morning. I packed the diaper bag full of snacks for Donkey and Trouble. I knew if the toys and books failed, that eating would keep them quiet during the ceremony. That morning, we took Princess to the bus stop, loaded everyone else into the car, and made it to the college early! The graduation ceremony itself was really cute. The class sang a bunch of songs, marched in to 'Pomp and Circumstance', walked across the stage to receive diplomas, and threw their hats in the air. It was so cute! The boys were really good the whole time. We were even able to stay afterward for snacks with Pirate's class. Success!

family picture 

Saturday morning we had to be in Baltimore by noon for my nephew's baptism, so we had to be out the door at . I was worried about the baptism because we were the godparents, and I didn't know how the kids would act during the ceremony. There was a party afterward, so we knew we'd be out for a good part of the day. I packed extra clothes for everyone since they would be dressed up for the ceremony, lots of snacks and drinks since it was taking place during lunchtime, and toys and books to keep them occupied. We were out of the house on time, and were early for the ceremony. The kids were good the whole time too. Thankfully my family helped watch everyone while we were on the altar. We were able to stay for pictures, and make it through the party with no melt-downs. My sister's sister-in-law had the party, and they had an awesome back yard tons of fun stuff, including a moon-bounce. The kids ran around the whole time. Buster and I were actually able to eat while we were there! We even stayed much longer than we thought we would make it. When we got in the van to go home, we high-fived each other because we successfully made it through our first big event. The kids slept the whole way home. We were out of the house for six whole hours. Success!

sleeping on the bus ride home

The zoo trip wasn't as big of a deal as the other two things because the whole family didn't go. My dad came over to watch the babies, and Princess was in school. I had to get Trouble and Pirate to Pirate's school by 8:45, so the morning was still a little busy. I didn't want to leave everything on my dad, so I made sure to get Donkey up and give him breakfast before my dad got to the house. I packed the bag the night before, again with a ton of food. I had to take lunch for all three of us because I didn't want to pay for food there. I gave my dad the run-down on the little boys, and headed out with the other two. We arrived at school early (3 for 3!) and waited for the buses to get there. I was so proud of Trouble! He was so excited and so good the whole day. When we got on the school bus, he said, "Wow, I can see everything up here!" from his seat. It was a 45 minute ride to the zoo, and the boys entertained each other the whole way. They had a blast at the zoo. They had both been once before, but Trouble was just a baby, so this was pretty new for them. They loved seeing all the animals. The train ride was a thrill, as was eating lunch at the picnic tables. Pirate even got to feed a giraffe! I was impressed that they were able to do so much walking. Trouble asked me to carry him a few times, but for the most part, they walked the whole time. I really enjoyed getting to spend the day with them and seeing their excitement all day! Both boys fell asleep on the bus ride home. Success!

Things seem to be getting easier. Either that, or we're just getting really good at getting out of the house. I'll take it either way because with it being summer, we can't stay home inside all the time!