So the day of C's birthday party with her friends dawned. If you read my post about her actual birth-day (March 9), you can imagine my apprehension. I felt the need to dig in and hunker down in preparation of making it through the day. In fact, it wasn't an easy night.
I spent most of Saturday baking cupcakes. C decided she wanted cupcakes, but she wanted them arranged in a design. After discussing it with her, I realized she wanted the cupcakes to be arranged into a shape and have a design and message that incorporated all the cupcakes. I was a little concerned, because unlike some of my friends, I'm no cake artist. So I thought, what works better for a skating seventh birthday party than...a skate? I mean, surely this wouldn't be that hard, right? Anyone can make a boot, wheels, etc. So I whip up a cupcake batter that comes out quite light and fluffy (if I do say so myself) and proceed to figure out how the heck I'm going to do this. Having never used fondant, I opt for more pedestrian materials, and finally arrive at chocolate covered mini donuts for wheels and red peel-apart licorice to make the string.
We come home from Mass, and I figure I can just frost it, pop on two wheels, cut up and slap on some licorice for laces, and then write a message across it....And four hours later I'm STILL struggling with frosting. That Cake Doctor knows cake...but she sure as shootin' ain't got NO idea about frosting quantities! I had to remake a batch, the licorice won't cooperate. But I wrestle it all on there, and...uh...yeah...no...I guess that's a skate? Oh crap...I don't know. It's vaguely skate like all sitting there together, but what the heck is that red string stuff? Ok, turn that one, move that one...no, put it here...Seriously? It's 2 am? No...no, it's 3AM...Damn you DST...I pop the cupcakes carefully into their carrier, put on the lid - What the?!?!?? After all that hard work the lid is squishing the cupcakes! But I have no other carrier...Uncle! Uncle!! I'm going to bed!
It's not really 7AM already, is it? Ugh...So I take C off to Sunday school, which goes pretty well - the kids really got into the lesson about being quiet, and they were so disappointed when we tried to get them to play a game. "Can we just go back to being quiet," one of the more active, wilder kids asks. I guess the Holy Spirit was at work! Then we get home. Now, I need to back up a bit here. You see, while I was wrestling with frosting, DH went to bed about Midnight (no, really, midnight even by DST). He got up at 7AM to help me with C (read to drag my sorry butt out of bed). "Don't worry," he says, "I'll get the spaghetti sauce in the crock pot and do the dishes." I asked him to also sweep the kitchen. "And please don't go back to sleep," I ask. He responds with a dismissive snort...and I walk in at 11AM to find that the sauce is made, and less than a third of the dishes are done..."You went back to sleep," j'accuse. "Yeah...sorry." Oh, no biggie. We just have to make the goodie bags, clean the kitchen and family room, sweep and mop, get the balloons, pack up the supplies, keep the girls from destroying the house, find out if my family has directions...and we have a luxurious 2 hours in which to do it. Sure, honey, why don't you put up your feet and have a coke, too. PLENTY of time.
It took 2 1/2 hours, and a lot of bullying and browbeating, but we did it. Ladies - a tip: be sure to whack him where the bruises don't show. NOT THERE! Geez! What is it with you people?!? Now it's off to the skating rink! Oh goodie, us and eight hyper children between the ages of 6 - 8. I'm oh so excited. What the heck did I sign on for? C has skated twice in her life, and it wasn't a happy experience either time. The babies have NEVER skated - we're still working on the whole running without tripping thing. Skating? Thank goodness my parents will be there to watch the twins. Twin A is already mutinously stomping her feet and yelling, "NO!" at every turn while Twin B just shrieks and causes pandemonium. Did you read about my week? I'm pretty tense and worried.
As we are pulling in the lot, it dawns on me that I never asked the parents if they were staying or going. So either I don't have enough plates and pizza ordered, or I have far too many and no where near enough sleep for this venture...I admit it, I might have been turning the foothills into the Andes Mountains. It could have been a possibility. But hey, I was tired and my week was very stressful up to that point!
We get there at 2pm to pay and get in a bit of skating before C's friends arrive at 2:30. I haven't been on skates in years. I used to be pretty good - in elementary school we went almost weekly, and through middle school I learned how to crossover when skating around the corner, flip around and skate backwards, jump the little kids who splatted right in front of you, etc. These days...I was just going for upright without busting hard onto my a$$ in front of a roomful of small children. Not that I don't have enough padding, mind you, just that I was more worried about bruising my ego. Nothing fancy, but I was able to make left hand turns...OOH! I could drive for Nascar! Sorry, I digress. I got 15 minutes or so of skating in...I have the aching soreness of unused muscles to prove it! C was skating by means of hauling herself around on the wall. "Look, mommy, I'm skating!" she shouted joyfully as hand over hand she inched her way around the rink. "Yes, honey," I reply weakly, praying her friends don't leave her in the dust.
One by one her friends arrive. Two little girls from her class at school, some children from Sunday School, two little boys from her bus stop, and one surprise blast from the past from her PreK class. She was THRILLED! Let me just say, I was a fool to worry. First of all, almost all of the parents stayed, excited to see their kids on skates for the first or almost first time. C turned out to be one of the better skaters, and she got so much better each revolution. She was actually moving her feet in a near-fluid movement around the rink! Until one foot went forward, one went right, and down she goes! We also got very good at the "flip onto your KNEES and get up" trick. Two little girls were down-right speed demons. One little girl was desperately attempting to master the hand over hand wall inch, but let me tell you, these kids had a BLAST. These have to be some of the nicest, sweetest kids I've EVER met! I love every one of the kids individually, but as a group, they were just as wonderful. They worked together, they took turns, they said please and thank you...apparently having Venus and Jupiter showing so brightly in the night sky means the planets are really aligned in their houses!
And the parents! Almost all stayed, and they were WONDERFUL. Every single one pitched in, offered to help, gushed over my squished but semi-obvious skate cupcake rendering...You should have seen C. "Mommy, what is it?" she asks, puzzled. I take a deep breath, disappointed in my efforts. "Well, see the red stuff? See it's tied in a bow at the top...and look at the bottom, there's two brown wheel-shaped donuts," I reply, hoping to lead her to the answer. "Yeah, why only two? I wanted more donuts," she says, still baffled by the aquamarine mass before her. "Uh...check out the shape. Do you notice anything about the shape?" She and the little girl next to her crinkle their noses in serious concentration. "Well," her friend says, "it's kind of boot shaped." YAY! Come on...come on...don't crush me totally here..."Yes," I say hopefully, "and there's a bow tied at the top, and laces coming down, and two brown-" "OH MY GOD IT'S A SKATE!!!!!" the two girls scream joyfully at each other. C turns to the other kids. "My mom made the coolest skate!" she gushes. WHOOHOOO!! Thank goodness her imagination is better than my artistic abilities!
Well, it all turned out alright. The kids had a great time. Speaking of great time - Twin B put on this pair of Barbie skates that go over the shoe for little kids at about 2:15. She went EVERYWHERE! She skated all over the carpet, and then demanded to be taken out on the roller rink. You had to hold both hands and sort of drag her along, but she LOVED it! Apparently we have a skater in our midst. At 4:45 I was alerted to her leaving the skating rink when I heard angry screeching of a bird of prey losing its squirrel...oh boy, she was M-A-A-A-A-D about having to take off her skates. I think she thought she could wear them forever...Twin A? Oh, that poor little one was thoroughly overwhelmed by the noise, the kids, skating, you name it. But she perked right up after that cupcake and zoomed all over the place...until the inevitable sugar crash and melodramatic temper tantrum that came with it. Surprisingly they lasted until 9:00 tonight. I'm praying for them to sleep in tomorrow! We all agreed that skating is so much fun, and something we all need to do more often!
I had SO MUCH FUN with the moms and the kids. I even entered a skating race. I wasn't going to, but all the kids at her party stood there begging me. "Come on - you'll be so cool!" one girl said. Seriously? Like I could pass up that opportunity. In an effort to teach good sportsmanship I chose to allow my other competitors to totally kick my a$$...but I'm STILL COOL!
Stay tuned - we're letting C get her ears pierced for her gift. I'm sure that will produce serious drama!
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