Birthday Success & Hot Salsa

We rose out of bed a bit later than we had planned yesterday. Weird, cause it was the Mr stressing, and not me. For once. It's always the other way around.
D had to take a shower, and get ready for ice skating. MIL arrived to take him over, and then we got going on the house. Friday night I made Mr take D to OWL while I stayed home and made his cake. I needed to bake two cause rather than cut his cake to shape I planned on just piping my design right onto it. I did a not too bad job. I made the cake, and after getting the boys to sleep, I came back downstairs to start my decorations. I had two rolls each of crepe papers, so I really wanted to make an actual try at using it all. 6 rolls of crepe paper, and about 35 balloons later. I was happy MIL had bought a helium tank for the day of, made things much easier. While Mr cleaned, H & I filled balloons together. The box set we had gotten for our Super Mario theme included 24 balloons, and once we finished those I added in some from the ones that came with the tank itself, to add a bit of extra color. I wish I had taken pictures of my streamers hung up everywhere, the Mr actually didn't want to take them down cause they looked so nice. That's rare. You know I did a good job on them when the Mr doesn't want to take them down. In any event, out of the 12 kids we invited, the only ones who came were in the Cub Scouts, and his best friend from class. I always have luck like that when it comes to parties. We all had a fabulous time, we fed them, stuffed them full of fruit and DiGiorno Pizza. Apparently our party times are too early, cause no pizza places made pizza that early (we started at 11am). So, we went the low road and bought frozen, and combined it with fresh fruit & juice. The kids scarfed food, then moved on to cake, and onto the party poppers (NO clue why Mr insisted on purchasing these for an INDOOR party), and then we moved right on to presents. I was against doing presents, as I felt it would just be too hectic and akward to have to handle. I was right. I hate it when kids crowd in, and I can't see my child because everyone else is pressing in so hard. I hate having to tell other people's kids to back up, even though their parents are right there. I hate seeing other kids unwrap their gifts for my child. Drives me nuts. I got almost no good shots of D opening gifts, too many heads in the way, and no good angles. He did say thank you, and really enjoyed his gifts though.
Well, after that we pushed our time limit, and we rushed everyone out the door. MIL offered to stay home & clean with H, which was really nice. We rolled out the door in a collective heap into the truck and headed to our next destination. We arrived, the last ones there (eep) and got everyone their wristbands, and off intot he play area. They disappeared for an hour before they resurfaced for a drink and a potty break. I was happy to cover the younger siblings who accompanied their invited older siblings. I had paid for 12, and even with 3 extra siblings, we ended up with 11. I ended up getting my last 5 dollars back in tokens. Once again, the Mr and I traded places. He played & romped with kids in play place, while I kicked back and chatted with the other parents. It was a pleasant change, and lots of chuckles were had. I'm actually thinking I may miss this group of parents when we move. I'm just glad our party was such a smashing success.

For some reason, my Mr spontaneously offered to take me to Hot Salsa night at our church. Weird, considering it was for Salsa Dance lessons. I couldn't figure out if he was serious or not when he came home (I secretly think he did it because another guy friend asked him to). After napping with H when we got home from the rest of the party, he woke me up and told me to start getting ready. Wow. I got dressed, went through 4 outfits before I found one comfortable enough to dance in, did my make-up, and we headed out. It was fun, but it was supposed to be 4 hours long (and $15 each!). They provided dance lessons, dinner, and a contest. We stayed for dinner and the lessons, but I was pretty tired by then and I insisted we go home.
It was a pretty long day yesterday, and because of my lack of stress, I didn't take as many pictures as I normally do. I barely broke the 100 mark...for a birthday party. That's just sad.
Anyhow, we've got plans to keep us busy today. I'm feeling much better, just itchy ears and a yucky dry hack. Keep the fluids up, and the kleenex box handy, and all will be well, right?