9:27 a.m. - December 21, 2006
Partay Harday!
Well, Sunday was an eventful day, and thankfully it wasn�t at our house.
Katie�s fifth birthday party was upon us, and we have a house big enough to host a function like that, but there was a hitch in the get-along. Our formal dining room is still torn up due to some flooring issues (and the people from Home Depot won�t be out until January to start the work � so it�s two weeks of green subflooring to look at before the concrete � yay!) and Liz was painting the utility room until she was felled by a nasty sinus infection, so our house was in no shape for a lot of screaming five year old girls.
Fortunately, there�s a new business that opened in town. The Little Green House, which is an apt name because it�s in an old lawn and garden shop here in town, opened recently. It�s a day care, but also does a parent�s night out and hosts parties for little kids.
Basically, it�s a five year old�s dream.
So we decided to spend some cash and have the party there. And that, my friend, was the best $50 I�ve ever spent. Well, OK, maybe that time I bought Nevermind, Badmotorfinger, and Tromp Le Monde in the same purchase at the CD store (except that the Cult�s egregious Ceremony was also part of that booty, ah well�)
Katie invited all of the girls from her preschool class, as well as our nearby cousins, and it was definitely a hit. Not everyone showed up, but Evann, Hannah, Justice, Kate, and Nicole were there, plus Grace, Delaney, and the other Hannah also gave gifts, so it was quite the haul for Katie.
Having it at this place made it easy on many aspects. For one, there was no need for lame, organized games, since the whole place was a play area, for the most part. For two, cleanup was easy, and for three, well, you didn�t have to worry about five year old girls breaking something or finding something that you didn�t want them to.
The best thing was to see the reaction of the girls when Justice arrived. Justice started the year in Montessori, but she was also attending kindergarten in the afternoon. She�s the youngest one to do that � and it was just too much for her, so she dropped the Montessori program.
When she arrived, Nicole, Hannah and Katie made a bee-line for her and almost tackled her!
So until it was time for cake, it was easy to keep the girls occupied. The cake and ice cream were served without a hitch, though Hannah didn�t like the cake (she loved the frosting) and Kate wanted seconds and thirds of ice cream.
Presents were opened, and it was funny seeing the group dynamic of the five year olds. Evann was upset because she was squeezed out of the front row, so we had to negotiate a settlement amongst the various parties. Kate begged, nay, demanded that Katie open her present first. Nicole kept saying, �That�s MY present�. Not saying that Katie should open it, but she definitely was proud of her present.
After presents, the girls terrorized the place for another hour or so. They found dress up costumes, and the only incident was when Kate and Katie had a dispute and some tears were shed. I had to negotiate a settlement in that Kate got to wear the costume, and all was well in the world.
I think that these parties are well timed at two hours, because at about 4:00 the girls were just ready to go home, and so they did. Of course, Liz and I were about ready to collapse, but Katie and Kristin had sugar-highs to run off. Sigh�
Well, enough babbling, you want pictures. And you got �em.
Of course, Kristin loves a party!
Katie is also in the mood to par-tay!
Blowing out the candles!
Katie and Justice love the cake-ity!
They had a girls� night out, well, ok, it was the daytime, but still�
Who�s the dinosaur??
Who�s the frog??
