natecake
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar. It took some doing to get this picture. I’ll tell you more about that in a bit.
For the party we rented a bouncy tent. What better way to entertain a pack of little boys than a place for them to literally bounce off the walls.
It was supposed to be delivered at about noon. In reality they showed up at 9:00 am. They were lucky I was still at home. After I showered and dressed I told Jake to put on his shoes and socks. We were going to meet up with Larry and Nate at the soccer field (Nate had a 9:00 am game and they went on ahead). Apparently they rang the doorbell while I was drying my hair. When I came downstairs I found Jake aimlessly wandering about and he was still barefoot. I demanded to know why he was not ready. He then proceeded to tell me that he forgot. I asked he why and he said the doorbell rang and he went to see who was there, but nobody was at the door. At that point he forgot all about the shoes. As I was questioning him I noticed there were people in my backyard. Ack! It’s the tent people! I scooted outside to speak with them. I started to tell them where I wanted it set up, but they had already started to set it up at a different spot. It didn’t really matter so I had them leave it. The tent was inflated as I filled out the paperwork. The tent people were soon on their way to deliver another tent and I had to round the troops up to go to soccer. It was very hard convincing two four year olds that we could NOT play in the tent. Instead we had to go to Nate’s last soccer game of the season.
When we got back home the kids mobbed the tent. I had unplugged it while we were gone and it was flat on the ground. They were jumping with excitement as we watched it inflate. Once it was up they all piled inside.
bounceytent
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar. As they played I started to decorate the cake. Nate wanted a soccer cake with green on it. I settled on an offset soccer ball with the classic white and black pattern.
The frosting was bit goopy, but it worked out in the end.
cakenate2
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar. After some frantic cleaning and a quick trip for supplies we were ready for the party. As the two guests arrived they piled into the tent. After about 20 minutes Larry went off to pick up the pizza. I had just got Max and Rebecca settled with a movie (it was getting a bit wild outside and I needed to nebulize Max) when the boys burst into the house. One of the guests had knocked a tooth. Blood was trailing down his chin when he came inside. I cleaned him up and saw the tooth was just hanging in there. I asked him if it was loose before it got knocked and he said yes. A gave the tooth a poke and it came tumbling out when he pushed his tongue against his tooth. Fortunately it was a baby tooth and seven year olds lose teeth all the time. I had him rinse out his mouth and then they all piled outside to bounce some more.
Pizza arrived and they all came back in to eat. While we were eating Meryl arrived. When they were done eating Nate announced that he wanted to open his presents. It wasn’t the traditional time, but it was his party. It would also give them a chance to settle their stomachs before going back into the bouncy tent. He was very pleased with his gifts and they all rushed outside to play with them. In the meantime we set up the piñata. None of the trees in our yard have any branches lower than 20 feet so this requires that we set up our shade tent. We loop a rope over the top crossbar to suspend the piñata. The children line up and are allowed under the tent one at a time to take a whack. Usually this works well and nobody gets hurt from crowding the piñata as it gets hit. Note I said usually. Unfortunately I was a little too close (I was holding the rope) and I got whacked in the thigh with a plastic baseball bat. It hurt and both Meryl and Larry were very concerned, but I was able to shake it off very quickly (As a result I have a faint bruise on the front of my upper leg). It took a while, but finally the children were rewarded with a shower of (leftover Halloween) candy.
We left them outside and prepped the cake. It took repeated calls until we were finally able to corral them all inside to have the cake. Nate did not even want any, but I put my foot down. Dang it I made that cake and he will at least blow out the candles. In the end they sang the song and most of them had some cake. Then they all tore upstairs to play some more. Both boys were sad to go when their parents came to get them. After the guests were all gone we bounced some more in the tent. I had fun popping balloons with Rebecca and Max while we were inside the tent. Then it was time to go back inside.
As we ate a half hearted dinner, the tent people came and packed it away. They were gone when Rebecca noticed and she burst into tears. In the end I had to promise her that we would get it for her birthday. By 7:00 pm both Max and Rebecca were passed out on the couch. I’d say it was a successful party.
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