Our two older boys were invited to their buddy's birthday party yesterday. It was a great time and the whole group of kids had a blast. There were games, a pinata, snacks, food and of course, a cool birthday cake.
My friend held the party for her son in their home which translates to, "she is a brave, brave girl." Anytime you combine a group of seven and eight year old kids with any amount of sugar, you could pretty much charge admission for what usually happens next.
It was a good group of kids though. They played nicely and got along well. Nobody climbed the walls or tried to swing from the curtains...they had a good time.
(Enter "Jaws" music here.) One of the hardest things about having four kids - is having four kids. When one is invited to a party or an event, we're usually lugging the other three right along with them. I didn't want to be rude and just "drop" our two older boys off at the party, but if I stayed with them, I would have to bring the younger two as well. How bad could it be? (That's never a good question to ask by the way.)
Our five year old son was determined to be the "pesky little brother" and decided to bolt full blast from room to room annoying the older boys. He was exhausting. I think that he wanted to try to "hang" with the big kids but ended up just driving them crazy instead.
Our three year old little girl was even worse. She didn't quite know what to do so she settled on eating. She ate crackers, grapes, yogurt covered raisins, chips, chocolate covered strawberries...do you have any idea what a three year old can do with a chocolate covered strawberry? Not only was her face covered in melted chocolate but her little fingers and hands were a mess. I panicked as she walked around the house just knowing that she was going to leave little hand prints everywhere.
Then came the lemonade to wash it all down...not the food...but the house. She spilled lemonade and covered herself, her cushioned chair, the whole wall in front of her and the floor below. Lemonade went everywhere but where it was supposed to. How can one tiny little girl completely annihilate a house in 5.9 seconds?
I cringed from embarrassment, apologized profusely and began to clean the mess. A couple of the other moms helped and I decided that it was past time to go. The birthday boy's mom could not have been kinder and told us to stay for cake and presents. As I said before, she's very brave.
We stayed, there were no more messes and everyone seemed to have a ball. The next time the older boys are invited to a party, (if there even IS a next time) I'm going to have to figure out what to do. I've learned from today that the two little ones are just too young to be included. I shudder to think what these little party animals will be like as teenagers.
I'm afraid there's not enough lemonade in the world.