Party On!

As with most years, you just can't have too many parties! Murray's parents came to visit on birthday eve and brought a few little things with them that were rapidly ripped open and oohed and aahed over appropriately. They loved their new outfits and twirled around in appreciation of the new duds! They hadn't expected you to make it when they heard about Nancy's friend passing away so they were so happy to see you when they got off the bus. Thanks for making the trip in a busy week!

The Party!

Knowing we were getting the pool installed before their birthday, I'd been nudging them to have a backyard party for a long time. Since they didn't know abotu the pool, they weren't sure it'd be much fun. Finally they agreed to it and eventually found out about the pool when it got put in.

Since they're only in 2 different classes this year instead of 3, I thought it would be ok to invite all the girls in each of their classes. That's what the singletons normally do and since we were going to be at home, it wouldn't be much extra expense or trouble right? Except that I forgot that their classes this year have 13 girls in them intstead of the usual EIGHT!!! This didn't dawn on me til I was making the invitations and got them to write down all the names. I had the brilliant idea of making the invites look like marshmallows roasting on a stick since we were doing a bonfire/pool party. Cute right? Yes they were! Well the first few were cute and then it got late and I got tired but had to finish them up because there are lots of girls with June birthdays and I didn't want our invites going out last! As it turned out,  Honey brought home an invite from another girl in her class for the same day as ours! Luckily it was earlier in the day and they were able to attend each other's parties. So by midnight I had a mess on the table, skewers everywhere, chalk dust up to my eyeballs but all invites prepped and ready to go. Unfortunately, when you create and assemble things at midnight, your proofreading skills are not at their peak. I sent in invites with requests to RSVP to a non existent email address. There was also a phone number and I sent a correction the following day but not all of them got to their intended destinations :S

I jumped in the shower to get ready for the party and got out just before the first guests arrived (early!) and then it was a tidal wave from there! They just kept coming!!! I think we ended up with 22 or 23 kids all tolled. They girls invited one boy, the only one that's not immature and always doing gross stuff. His mom said he didn't mind being the only one and he seemed to fit right in no problem!

Luckily I had lots of helpers on hand and all stations were manned. We divided them up into groups according to who had invited them and then rotated each group through the different stations. Pool/bonfire-s'mores-hotdogs-snacks/slip & slide-water balloon fight/present opening/facepainting. Eventually they'd all been through each section and still had some time left even after we'd had the cake so they ran around the yard chasing the teen helper I'd hired, Katie, or back in for another swim or bouncing on the trampoline. If the noise level was any indication, they were having a good time!

After it was all over, I asked the girls if they'd had fun and they looked at me and exclaimed "Mum, that was the best party EVER!!!"  It was so nice to hear that all the prep and efforts had been appreciated! All week long I'd worried about the weather. We'd had a good stretch of warm weather, had already used the pool lots and then the week of the party, the clouds descended. The forecast was calling for rain on Saturday until about Thursday. I had no idea what I was going to do with all those kids if we had to do the party indoors. Three hours of a potential 27 kids shrieking and running through the house?!?!?! I didn't even know WHAT to do with that concept! I fretted and ate icing until the forecast changed to sun. (but still ate icing!). Unfortunately it didn't warm up the pool much so the swimmers didn't last too long but they were able to get in and splash around for awhile.

When the parents came back 3 hours later, they had a hard time getting the kids rounded up to go so I take that as a good sign!

It was a great day & we are so thankful to all the helpers that got everything ready and made sure the day ran smoothly!!!

The Cake!

When we decided (ie convinced them) to have a backyard pool party, the next topic was "what's the cake going to be???" I turned to my new best friend in all things crafty, Pinterest, and found some great ideas! The winner for me was a cake shaped like a pool. Honey really wanted fondant but the other 2 didn't and this was an easy fix, one section with and one without, perfect!

I started baking the cakes late Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning, Lovey got up and came to the kitchen for breakfast and saw the single layers in the cake container. With obvious disapproval in her face and tone, she asked "is that our CAKE???" Bracing myself for an unpleasant scene I told her it was. "Well, is that it??? It's TOO small!" Honey chimed in about the some fondant/some not idea and that made Lovey even more cross. She hadn't been in the kitchen for 5 minutes and I was ready to lose it! I told her I wasn't finished baking all the layers and that she was making me cranky and better get to work on her breakfast and quit critiquing the cake work!

Despite the harsh criticism, I was excited to put this cake together! The design was simple but with the small decorative touches, it was going to be a fun one. Most years the cake takes SO much time (hello castle cake!) and this one was so straightforward but still looked so neat & festive.

I finished all the baking on Thursday night and started assembly on Friday afternoon. The fondant section got done first, then iced the second "pool" and put them together. Making the little pool accessories didn't take too long and added nice touches to the look. Everything except the slide was done Friday night. I had trouble getting the fondant to hold its shape but left it overnight and by Saturday it had firmed up enough to stand in place.

In the end I got 3 gold stars of approval and had more than enough cake to go around. Just in case Lovey's concerns were justified, I baked a 5th layer to have as extra but didn't end up needing it. Instead I converted it to a Happy Father's Day cake for Rick since he'd missed the party :)

The guests at the party were in awe when I brought it out. Then they found out I had made it myself and jaws dropped as they exclaimed "you MADE the cake?!?!?".  Their astonishment cracked me up. I'm pretty sure I could have saved myself quite a bit of time and trips to the store for extra icing sugar if I'd ordered it from a baker. But it's much more fun and rewarding to make it myself and the girls love watching the process. I'm not sure how long before theme cakes get old but for now it's something I can do for them!

So yes, this was a whole post about a cake. I was so excited & proud of it that I decided to give it a whole post of its own! It's my blog and that's how I roll haha!!!

Making a Splash!

Our first family swim! Everybody went in and after the initial shock of coolness, the water felt great! It was only a little over 20° but we got used to it quickly. We are loving it so far and it is so much roomier than our other one. Murray's already been in this one more than we ever swam in the old one so that's a good sign!

We've had several days to get in, then a streak of rainy weather but the sun's shining this week! On hot days the girls get off the bus and the first thing they ask is if they can go swimming. It will be a nice way to cool off before bed on those hot muggy nights.

Looking forward to lots of water time this summer!

Dinner Conversation

Just a short and sweet post so I can remember this gem:

Sweetie: Immature boys only care about wrestling and inappropriate stuff!

I laughed so hard! cuz, well, it's true! bathroom humour rules in grade 3 and probably will for a few more grades!!!

Nominee!

Honey's teacher told her awhile ago that the principal had asked for the names of the hard workers in each classroom and that she had put Honey's name in. That day she came home from school flushed with excitement and trying to be inconspicuous, waved me over so she could tell me privately. The principal was going to take some students out for lunch and would be selecting the names. Honey didn't want to say anything out loud because not everyone gets to go and she'd been asked to keep it quiet. She was very honoured to have her name put forth!

Sweetie overheard the conversation and very quietly slipped away from the table and went in her room and shut the door. I had a feeling she was upset and went to find her, crying in her room, bewildered as to why her own teacher hadn't picked her. It was a tricky situation. Honey had had a horrible start to the year, had been at the point of wanting to quit the French program and had worked hard and really turned things around. Sweetie and Lovey are also great students who do their work, are helpful in the classroom, get along well with the other kids etc etc etc. I explained that she was doing great at school and we were very proud of all of their efforts, work and marks. She was disappointed and didn't want to ruin Honey's excitement so tried to hide it but was so hurt not to get this opportunity. She handled it as best she could and I reminded her of the rough start Honey had at the beginning of the year.

Lovey was unfazed by the whole thing but seemed happy enough for Honey. The differences in personality are so evident sometimes!!!

In the end, Honey did get selected to go out for lunch with the principal! She was so pleased to get the invite and the actual day came this week. They went to a buffet and she got to pick out her salad and pizza and dessert. Such a fun tradition and it really meant a lot to her. Maybe the others will get an opportunity another year.

My principal did something similar in our school, but only in grade 6 and it was open to anyone. As long as you kept a 90% average for the year, you got to go to Ponderosa with him at the end of the year AND you got a silver dollar. We talked about it, worked for it and waited for it ALL year. It was a BIG DEAL and everyone wanted to go. I did get to go (the things I'll do for a dollar eh Dad?) and it was such a special honour and so much fun. Eating at a restaurant without your parents! For Free!!! Hopefully Honey will always have this special memory too!

Back to the Cottage!

A fun weekend at the cottage! Murray's parents opened the cottage earlier this month (or perhaps last month???) but we didn't get there til this past weekend. We waited for Sweetie's gymnastics class to be over on Saturday and then loaded up and hit the road. As an incentive to get them on board faster, we told them that if we were still home at noon, we'd eat there. If we were already on the road, they'd get McDonald's. Wow can those girls hustle when they want to! We were on the highway in under an hour which is basically a small miracle in this house!

We were the last to arrive but lucked out and still got a bed. Lucky for us, Crazy Uncle Andrew refuses to share a room with his sister and opted for the porch (closed in porch, he's not quite crazy enough to sleep outside...yet.). We got to room with Karen and Murray's got no qualms about nothing so we were set!

Checkers had a great weekend... Uncle Louis, not so much! pester, nip, follow, rinse and repeat. I don't know if the big guy slept a wink the whole time we were there. Checkers did get several time outs, which he used in order to try the same "loving" techniques on Martigan.

The girls were very excited to see Mr Bojangles. Sweetie was so looking forward to it that her stomach felt sickish she said. They're all very good with him and include him in their games and let him boss them around and play whatever he wants to play.

On Saturday evening, Uncle Andrew ran them through his own little Boot Camp and had them doing laps around the yard, crab walks, jumps, wheel barrow racing and screaming contests. All this activity got them ramped up really well and they had a hard time settling down to sleep. Obviously boot camp wasn't long enough! That night they were chattering away and I went up and told them that Mr. Bojangles was going to have to move out of the room if they didn't settle down. No one wanted that! so things quieted down quickly but it was still a late night.