5 years 11 months 30 days

Day 2190. It was another rough night with two kids in bed with us before either one of us had even gone to bed, and it was after 3 am before I got to sleep. Just after 9 am we started waking up and getting up. We had lots to do before the party at 2 pm. Randy had blown up all the foil balloons last night, but we still had the normal balloons to blow up, and there were lots of them. While he and the kids got started, I went to the common room that we had reserved so that we could use the tables and chairs. Randy and I then carried them over to outside our door downstairs. We had one table for each kid and enough chairs for the adults that were coming.

Next Randy continued blowing up balloons, together with the kids, while I went to the kitchen to finish decorating the cake. At noon a pizza was delivered for us to eat for lunch. After lunch, we continued the preparations. We had to tape a sign with three balloons by the entrance so people could easily find us, and finish putting everything on the tables - gifts, plates, forks, cups, napkins. With 2 pm approaching, I made a big pot of coffee for our visitors.

Ten minutes to 2 pm the first visitor arrived - it was Sammy's friend from his wheelchair class. He was glad to see her. Unfortunately his other friend never came. Next, Tammy's two friends from kindergarten arrived one just after the other. Not having seen them in two months, she was very excited for them to be there. They put their gifts on Tammy's table and received a unicorn gift bag - unicorns being Tammy's theme. Sammy and his friend also received a Mickey Mouse gift bag, and when Emmy's friends finally arrived, they all got a soccer gift bag. Later each kid also received a gift bag from the other two tables as there were plenty. 

The kids were playing with their friends right away, but once everyone had arrived, it was time for the cake. I kicked everyone out of the living room and carried the cake downstairs. Then I lit the candles and opened the doors for them to come back in. They walked in and to their cake, while I started singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to them, and we sang it twice. Then they blew out their candles. They liked their cake.

I cut up the cake and distributed it to everyone. All the kids were sitting at low tables with kids' chairs in our living room and ate there together. They were having fun.

Once everyone was done with cake, they wanted to open their presents. At some point I gave them the green light, and Tammy and Emmy opened their gifts right by their tables where they were waiting for them. For Sammy I carried them inside to him, and his friend helped him open them. The kids all got crayons from Grandma and great gifts from their friends. Sammy some stuff that lights up, Tammy a unicorn you can color and something else, and Emmy Minecraft cards, a chess game and a racincg track. Surprisingly he was the most excited about the cards. From us, Tammy and Emmy got scooters with two wheels as they've been using their three-wheeled ones or 3 years now, and Sammy got a vertical vacuum cleaner which was clearly his favorite gift. He vaccuumed the rest of the day. Those were their only presents from us as we've already spent lots of money for school supplies since they start first grade in a week.

Soon the kids were asking for their pinata so I told all the kids to empty one of their three gifts bags so they could put the candy from the pinata into the empty bag. Once everyone was ready, I got the pinata out and Daddy held it up for them to hit. We didn't have any bats this year, so they used two plastic tennis rackets and a drum stick. It took a while but then the candy started raining down. And they were very happy with it as it was a good mix, a good variety of different stuff, including gold coins and diamonds. Once they had all rained down on the floor, they were all gathering them up and putting them into their bags. Randy had to help Sammy so he got enough as well.

We had nothing else on our agenda. The kids went off to play. Emmy was playing soccer with his one friend, and Tammy was playing hard with her friends. Sammy was his friend. Soon they started using the go-karts and went up and down the little incline outside our door. Tammy wanted her new scooter so Daddy put it together for her to use, and then Emmy used his too and did pretty well. It was fun to watch them all have so much fun. I then sat down inside to talk to our friend from church who had come late and had come for all three kids. It was nice to catch up with her a little.

At 4 pm Grandma left. At 5 pm Sammy's friend's Dad arrived to pick her up. Then one kid after another started leaving, and minutes later everyone was gone. Tammy was the most disappointed as she'd had so much fun with her friends and even cried at one point. She was upset for quite some time that they had already all left.

Randy and I started cleaning up right away, putting stuff up, returning the tables and chairs, throwing trash away, putting the rest of the cake into the fridge, as well as the drinks. Soon the kids were saying that they were hungry, so I went to the kitchen to make their dinner. They ate, then went into the bathtub, then had story time and prayer time and bed time. After some drama with Emmy, they were soon all asleep.

I turned my computer on for the first time today and made myself some soup. After having relaxed a little, I started working on today's pictures that I won't get done today, and the report. Now it's 1 am, and I should go to bed but first I have to load the dishwasher.