So with my new reality check in the front of my mind I would like to share the journey that was my daughters 3 year old birthday party.
It was Christmastime when we first started discussing my little Roo's birthday party. I had already been "planning" a fairy garden party, because isn't that what most girls would want? I must have forgotten who my daughter is, because when asked, she wanted a "Pink Superhero Party".
I was proud...my daughter is an individual, this would be no run of the mill birthday party! A pink superhero party! I could handle this with my eyes closed....everything would go smoothly! I would preside over the party with a calm smile on my face, not breaking a sweat! It would be magical!
I went on Pinterest and got inspired. I loved so many of the decorations, but I am not gifted in graphic design at all, so I called a friend and we brainstormed and she would take care of all of my design needs. I checked that off my list with a smug grin, easy...right? It is all about delegation!
I decided that instead of goody bags, the kids would love handmade superhero capes. I went to the store to by the fabric, pink and turquoise for the girls, red and blue for the boys. Fabric bought, my list for the party was going along swimmingly.
Then low and behold I realized that it was only a week till the party. WHAT? Where had the time gone? Panic mode starting setting in! I decided that I would knock out the capes that morning.
I had made the capes a million times in my head. I knew exactly what I would do. I would be done in 2 hours tops!
This is how the time went....
9:30am-9:45am - cut the fabric for all of the girls capes.
9:45am - 9:50am - sewed the first cape
9:51am - realized that I had sewed the cape in such a way that I could not turn it right side out
9:52am - 10:00am - took out the stitches while listening to my loving husband tell me how I should have done it to save me the frustration of taking out the stitches
10:01am - considered either a) divorcing my loving husband b)throwing my sewing machine at him
10:02am - realized that neither were a viable option.
10:03am - starting sewing the cape for the second time
10:08am - realized I had yet again messed up
10:09am - now thinking murderous thoughts about my sewing machine....it should know what to do right?
10:10am - got some more "suggestions" from loving hubby.....again considered a divorce lawyer
10:15 - started sewing cape for the third time
10:25 - finished cape number 1
10:30 - 10:45 finished cape number 2 and decided that I had PLENTY of time to finish the other 8 capes, after all I had 6 days....easy
Monday was Presidents Day and I decided that after my tramatic day before I needed to take a day off. So I read books on my Kindle, did any mothering that needed to be done, and played Fruit Ninga. After all I had 5 days!
Tuesday I kept thinking it was Monday, and had no stress, still had 5 days...it wasn't until the afternoon that I realized I had only 4 days! I was so stressed that I had to take a hot bath and drink a glass of wine to calm my nerves.
Wednesday I got organized and made lists of things I needed to get done....remember I still had 8 capes to sew!
Thursday I went to visit my friend who just moved. I brought the capes with me because she is an awesome seamstress and offered to "help" me sew them. She ended up doing all the sewing, because she is so much better at it than I am, and I cleaned the tops of her cabinets.
Friday, the day before the party, full blown panic mode set in! I made my list, checked it twice, loaded up on coffee and went to work.
First on my list....cupackes.
I will admit I used a box mix. I love baking from scratch, but have decided kids don't really appreciate the time and effort, they just want to get sugared up. I found some cool blue sparkles to put into the mix. I put them in the oven, with a smile on my face!
The smile kinda faltered when I took them out of the oven and realized that the blue sprinkles just made them look moldy! Oh well, they were going to get covered with hot pink frosting, no one would see the "mold" spots!
Next I decided that the next thing that should be done was to clean my house. I mean, that makes perfect sense, right? I was having a children's birthday party after all. I am sure the kids will play house inspector and care how the house looks.
I realized the folly of my thinking, but by that time I was too involved to give it up.
You can't really give up when your house looks like this!
I took some breaks in the cleaning to make my city scape. My plan, along with the capes was that each kid would get their picture taken in a "photobooth" that I would set up. I learned the hard way that spray paint doesn't work on cardboard. So I had to move to plan B, and cover the boxes with white paper, while convincing the birthday girl that the boxes weren't presents for her to open.
By then it was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and I decided that I should really empty the dishwasher and clean up the house so that when my loving husband walks in the place wouldn't be a complete disaster! As I emptied the dishwasher I went to put away a wine glass, but decided that a glass of wine was in order.
By the evening I was exhausted. I knew I still had to blow up balloons for the photos, but decided that could wait till the day of the party!
My cute little "alarm clock" woke me up at 530am. I got my MEGA cup of coffee and went to work. I barreled through the tasks, even having to run to Walmart for a few things that I had forgotten.
By the time guests started arriving I had found my cool and calm attitude. June Cleaver has nothing on me!! Now I get to start planning a Greek Mythology party for my little professor in June.....I have plenty of time!
