For Lucas's friend birthday party, we headed to Progressive Power Tumbling.
You have to pay for a minimum of 15 people for a party, so we invited 15 people! One couldn't make it, and we had a last-minute addition, so transportation was a challenge. Fortunately, my sister-in-law and a friend/cousin-in-law offered to help me drive, and then kept me company while the kids ran around.
They ran, jumped, swung, leaped, flipped, and yelled to their hearts' content. That's when you're really glad they're not in your home.
The birthday boy had a great time, though, and that's what it's all about. Sadly, one of his friends ended up getting hurt toward the end and could not be consoled -- even with the promise of ice cream sundaes -- so his dad had to come and pick him up. He's one of my favorites out of Lucas's friends, too, so I felt doubly bad.
The present-opening is always a good time. But in this case, 2 or 3 boys came close to ruining it for everyone, between grabbing the presents before Lucas could even see what they were, playing keep-away, making impromptu costunes with the wrappings and causing general mayhem. I came close to rounding them all up and hauling them home before the ice cream sundaes!
More Spy Gear! Including one little gadget that helps budding young spies to listen behind closed doors. Gee, thanks, Aunt Michelle... I tried to scare him into judicious use of that one by warning him about overhearing discussions about Christmas gifts and the like. Hope that did the trick!Lucas isn't a huge fan of cake, so I talked him into having deluxe sundaes. I bought waffle bowls and two kinds of ice cream, and then I cut up KitKats, Reese's, Butterfingers, and Crunch bars, and put them all in little bowls. Chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and sprinkles rounded out the finishing touches. It was the easiest birthday dessert ever, and several of the kids said that they liked it much more than cake. I may have started a new tradition for Lucas's birthday.
Unsurprisingly, those same 2 or 3 boys wreaked havoc on my kitchen. They sprayed out about half a can of whipped cream all over their plates, leaving none for the last few kids. One ended up spraying it all over Eva's shirt and face and hair, making her upset and me mad. All this while I was busy serving the nice kids and couldn't react fast enough to put a stop to it before the damage was done. Even more disturbing was the way these kids didn't seem to have any respect for adults or someone else's home or any remorse for being hellions.
This has nothing to do with Lucas's party, but my niece Kristen brought the tiniest book in the world to show me, and I was absolutely charmed by it. (It has a fabric cover and teeny tiny stapled signatures within.) Just a bright spot in my day!
I think the Guitar Hero battles could have gone on all afternoon, were it not for my impatience to get some of those boys HOME!On the way home especially, I was very disturbed by the way some of his friends were talking -- badmouthing one of the kids not in our car, gleefully plotting ways to play practical jokes on a boy in their school that is autistic, and recounting a scene from a book they had read that was highly inappropriate for 9-year-old boys.
It saddened me to discover that, although I have had every one of those kids play in my home and thought they were all nice kids, I saw another side to them -- a pack mentality, perhaps -- that was disheartening. I know now which of Lucas's friendships I want to encourage and which ones I don't.
It is truly amazing the mess that 12 young boys can make, especially when they aren't concerned about cleaning up said mess. (Lucas had to clean it up after everyone had gone home and he didn't even complain! He knew his friends had been pretty crazy.)I should point out that Lucas didn't participate in any of the unsavory activities, but now I know he has been exposed to them. I don't want him to think that any of that behavior is acceptable!
In summary:
- I am grateful for the girls at the party, who did not contribute to the chaos.
- I am grateful for Lucas's friends that are just genuinely nice kids, and grateful that I know for sure which ones they are!
- I am grateful that Lucas had a good celebratory day, which is the only thing that could induce me to do something like this again...
- I am grateful that birthdays only come once a year. It was so exhausting!
