All Partied Out

Honestly, if I have to help my children prepare one more set of miniature cards with candy attached to them, I just may white out 2/14 on all of our family calendars. I actually thought I had everything planned and under control; we have had a Book Club Valentine party on the books for a few weeks now, so each child had his or her own set of Valentines all ready to be passed out to their reading friends.

But then Tuesday rolled around...co-op day. Around noon, I called a co-op friend about an unrelated matter. As we were hanging up, she asked, "So, are you ready for Valentine's Day?" With Valentine's Day still 5 days away, I replied, "Uhhh, yeah, I guess so." But then I wondered why she would be asking me about Valentine's Day, which was still 5 days away, in such a manner as one asks, "So are you ready for the big trip?" or "Are you ready for the big move?" or "Are you ready for the new baby to arrive?" I mean, Valentine's Day is a fairly minor holiday (in my book anyway, and becoming more and more minor with every box of cards I buy). So I said, "Why do you ask?"

Turns out I had missed an email about Valentine's Day class parties at co-op, and co-op started in an hour. I rushed the kids in to the car and off to Target to grab about 75 Fun Dip Valentine's cards because you just can't go wrong with Fun Dip. We rushed out of Target without even a chance to answer anyone's "Why aren't your kids in school?" questions, and as the car bounced along to co-op, the kids signed their names on their cards. I thought that was the end of the Valentine madness, but then I got an email yesterday morning. I had to bring Valentines for Audrey's AWANA class. If I hadn't had enough left over Fun Dip cards, I think we may have just played hooky from Cubbies.

I myself actually did play hooky from AWANA. Last month, without much thought, I turned our Book Club/Valentine's Day Party into a Book Club/Valentine's Day Party/Michael's Birthday Party. He wanted a Lego party. I made goody bags using brown paper sacks with lettering for each child's name made with my Cricut and Lego scrapbooking paper. As cute as I thought they were, I know of several children who would prefer the bags be filled. There is a candy store at the local mall which carries Lego shaped candies, and I had to have some. I know Lego candies really don't trump God's work at AWANA, but sometimes Mom Duty calls. Thankfully, they had the candies because, really, what would a Lego party be without Lego candy?

And what would a Lego birthday be without a Lego cake to go along with the Lego candy? I kind of cheated on this cake. I only made a sheet cake. No decorating. The decorations were already in a Lego Pirate box, a set I had Michael assemble for me. I did add little mini-muffin Lego bumps on the sheet cake, but I think only I saw them as Lego bumps. When Alex saw the cake, she said, "Mom, WHAT are those BUMPS on the cake??!" At least my son appreciated them. And he's the one who counts anyway since it is his birthday and all.

Another thing my son appreciated was the ample frosting on the cake. I always freeze my cakes before decorating because it makes it so much easier to decorate (no crumbs), plus I can make them ahead of time. I also use butter frosting. Which means I have to spread fast on the frozen cake. If I don't, it becomes like trying to spread a block of cold butter. Usually I'm fast. But usually I don't have to consider the Max Factor. Since we were at AWANA all evening and he was in his crate, I felt bad and let him out after the kids were tucked in. So I globbed on the frosting then had to chase the puppy and let the puppy out and chase the puppy some more. I returned to spread my frosting only to discover it was too late. So I just globbed more on top. What kid doesn't like a ton of frosting?

And the kids seemed to like it, Lego bumps, globby frosting and all. They deserved it because they all did well on their mystery-themed book reports. Michael and Jacob both did Nate the Great books. Michael's was set in San Francisco, so his visual was the Golden Gate Bridge. Although it looked like it may have been through a couple of 7.5s on the Richter Scale, it turned out great. Jacob created a salt dough neighborhood to follow the steps Nate the Great took to solve the mystery. Alex's Boxcar Children boat went with Surprise Island, and Audrey painted several butterflies to illustrate The Case of the Missing Butterfly. They did a great job.

Originally, while my idea of a Book Club/Valentine's/Michael's Birthday Party seemed tiring in itself, I had no idea my week would turn in to days of parties. Thankfully, this afternoon was free--yes, even from school; it is my boy's birthday, after all!--so we took a little breather before we do more birthday celebrating tomorrow at Michael's grandparents' house.