P-A-R-T-Y!

This week has been a partying kind of week. 
Wednesday was Si Guys 4th birthday.  (I'll write his sapfest blog this weekend.)  Thanks to his friend Z we had a great time.  Four year olds are simple creatures.  They don't need "events" for a birthday to be great.  Lunch at a McD's playground was awesome.  Going to Monkey Business afterwards was even more awesome.  He and Z spent almost two hours climbing, swinging on ropes, shooting hoops, bouncing in bounce houses, and going through an inflatable obstacle course.  When they needed a break, they built things with giant foam blocks and crawled through tunnels. After his playdate he came home to make a chocolate cake, eat frozen pizza for dinner and go to church. 
He adored his presents.  Both I & E1 bought him books at the book fair at school.  He got a tonka truck w/ towed motorcycles from us.  (Courtesy of 90% clearance.)   His grandparents gave him a flower monkey so his other monkey now has a friend.  A pretty perfect day overall.
Fast forward to yesterday.  Yesterday was the 6th grade party at Rushton.  A lot of the events in grade school are geared towards younger kids.  Sometimes, they're even recruited to help with the younger kids.  Yesterday was all about them.  They walked to the bowling alley and bowled in their socks.  I really wish I was there to see them slip sliding away, but I was back at the school, helping set up the lunch.  We had a hot dog and hamburger & bag of chipsavailable for each child, a fruit tray, a veggie tray, and three kinds of dessert.  The food was demolished, but all the kids were full.  Then after stuffing them we had 2 inflatables for them to play on.  It was raining, so they were in the gym.  The giant slide was fantastic!  I went down in 3 times, but only once in front of the kids.   Thanks to R's mom, there will be a photo on Facebook for proof.  Mr P. was at the bottom giving kids "style" points.  No one scored under a 9.5.  Yes, he was recruited by the kids to go down it too.  We all had a great time, but it left me wondering how many more parties will there be where my son wants me to be there?
Today is the K-5 party.  My younger kids are sooo excited....but it's raining.  So we'll be a little cramped, in the gym, cafeteria, maybe under the overhang in front.  They won't care.  It's a party that's a whole half day.  This one I'm not "needed" to help, but am welcome to attend and hang out.
Then tomorrow, we're supposed to have a picnic...but unless this rain lets up, I think we'll have to cancel. I won't make a final call until this evening.   Maybe God knows I need a break.  This is, afterall, just the warmup for the big events ahead, moving, VBS, and day camp.