Par-tay!

What a week! All the new furniture and moving of old stuff with a big deadline of " THE KINDERGARDEN PARENTS"!!! Of course the kids wouldn't care if the party was in a barn (cool idea) but this was the first time I was meeting some of the parents, so I wanted to make the good first impression. *sigh*

So ALL kids were late. RATHER late. I knew our friends the M-As would be late, they had soccer etc. But kid #1 showed up about 45 minutes late (with dad and brother). great - they seem really nice and I was sorry mom couldn't come - she had to work. Jim and the dad hit it off and went out on the porch to gab while the boys all played in the bedroom.

Then Kid #2 showed up with sister, her mom just dropped them off. Do you find this odd? I can't believe she didn't at least call to let me know, but maybe this is standard protocol with older kid birthdays. I mean, I had NEVER met this woman or her husband (someone else picks up the kids at school). Whatever.

Kid #3 got there about an hour late, she came with little brother and mom. The kids all played in Ds room for a while (and the new bed etc was a huge success) Then they colored pumpkin gourds. I decided we HAD to do the scavenger hunt then, so I explained the rules and handed out sacks. They had to find a pine cone (I know, the ground is carpeted in them!), piece of mica (shiny rock), colorful leaf (harder here, but lots of bushes) and a stick with lichens. We were hiking back about a 1/4 mile down our property to a little creek and back. Along the way I had 4 checkpoints with prizes, glowsticks, candys, lanterns (all from the dollar store!). The weather was FABULOUS - clear blue blue skys and crisp air but not too cold - couldn't have asked for better~

THen back for presents, cake and ice cream. The drop-off girls were kind of a pain, wanting their candies exchanged for other ones, and special ice cream - like that yummy ice cream cake wasn't good enough. But only minor annoyances. People left about 2 hours after they came, perfect. Because it was my neighbor's birthday too, and we had invited them (3) for dinner and a movie on the big screen! But that was no stress at all compared - dinner was fun and we watched the new Pink Panther with Kevin Kline and Steve Martin, very funny.

Tonight Jim's friend is turning 50 so they are coming for dinner and a movie - seems that we are a popular destination now!