Tomorrow we are having a brunch for me...kind of like a shower, but not a shower since I don't do real baby showers. Maybe I will someday but I'm still like, there is no way I am going to sit through a traditional one when My sister's came and went that I was supposed to give for her. She would have found that annoying, that I would skip friend's baby shower's because I couldn't have hers. She hated drama and being emotional in ways that are not logical. She would tell me to get over it and go to the damn baby shower. But...I haven't had to worry about it for a while and mine tomorrow is just going to be breakfast and friends and a few gifts, which will be nice. My friends came up from out of town for this and for the kids party so I feel really lucky.
The party went well. There were 28 kids there which was kind of nuts. When I looked at them all in the kids huge indoor play area made of tubes you run through and climb with ropes and slides and mats and all that kind of stuff, I was so glad we were there and I wasn't trying to entertain them all at my parent's house (my house would be too small.) There were 3 instructors and they rounded up the kids and took them back to a large gym area. Here they did relay races and an enormous parachute. Then they went to another huge gym area with a trampoline built into the floor. They did an obsticle course and swang on a trapeze really high then they would land in the foam pit. There were low beams to walk across and little set up tubes to crawl through. The kids had a blast. They really needed all 3 of those instructors though because it was mayhem.
Then it was time for pizza. The kids barely all squeezed around the huge table and I just had enough pizza for them all and the parents. AJ got gluten free pizza from a local amazing pizza restaurant that our friend's own. We let her have cheese as a one time special thing. My mom made her a gfcfsf cake though that had the same color icing as her Hello Kitty cake. So when the helpers swooped in with the cake (while the kids were eating their pizza). AJ and Owen blew out the candles and then they started to serve the cake before some of the kids were even done. I followed the helpers around with a big bowl of fruit salad that DH had made and put it on their plates with their cake. So they got to eat a little more. I gave some to parents too and felt a little better about the food situation since we really could have used one more large pizza. I had chips and guac there too which was dabbled in.
So that was the end of the party. I paid my $400 without gagging too badly as I had expected it and also some friend's had heard my moaning about it and brought me some cash as a present since we knew the kids were going to get so much stuff that it would be much nicer to get money towards the party. So the money basically paid for the $40 tip. Gosh, we also paid for the pizza and the cakes which brought the party total up to over $500. We could have had a slammin vacation at Disney for that. Anyway, it was really nice to have friends there and AJ and Owen could not believe how much fun it was. They looked so cute sitting together in this big blow up chair throne at he head of the table, and they were given medals to wear around their necks at the end of the party. They thought that meant that they won the relay races and I didn't tell them differently.
So the gym put the presents in huge black garbage bags for us, 3 of them, and helped us carry them out to the car. When we got back to the house we had a rest before delving into them. DH was really grumpy about it and kept saying how we don't have room for all this stuff and we have to take it back or wrap it up to regift. I told him we could do all that but for now we needed to open the presents and make thank you notes, then take ones away.
It is funny because after the first few presents the kids just wanted to play with some of the stuff they got and not do more an more. AJ actually hung in there a lot better than Owen and would come running to open a new one when I called her name while pulling out a new one from the huge plastic garbage bag. I felt kind of bad too because our friends were there with their kids and had to sit through the debauchery, definition- "Destroy or debase the moral purity of".
I felt kind of weird too since they had more gifts for me for tomorrow. But whatever. It was fine. We got them opened, packed in a huge gift bag and headed out for dinner at a local restarant that serves lots of vegetarian stuff and pasta. We sat outside so the kids could get up when they got antsly, and we were fine in sweaters which was great. The best part was that they had a kids meal with chicken breast, broccoli and sweet potato fries. We got that for AJ and she just had this amazing meal put in front of her. The fries were different and "weird" enough that she didn't just eat them and not the good food. She ate her broccoli first and then the chicken. Autism mom's know how wonderful this is. Actually, any mom does.
So now my friend is sleeping on a blow up mattress in the baby room, my two little ones' are in bed here with me. DH is on the couch because he went out with friend's to see some bands play and came home to find his place taken by his kids. And my friend's kid is sleeping on the crib mattress placed between AJ and Owen's bed, on the floor (only they aren't in there anymore!) Our other friend's are at my parent's house.
When I got up at 5am and went into the kitchen to get a drink of water. I came back to the living room and put a blanket over DH on the couch, then I looked at the huge bags of presents. I wondered if towards the end of month if we were going to be scavaging presents from the bag to take back for grocery money. It is nice to live for a few days as if we have money. But then it runs out. I will finish my photo montage for this next wedding after everyone goes home tomorrow, then bug my next bride for her payment and try and finish her wedding this week...before I go into labor. But, I am having a weird contraction right now...not a bx one. Oh boy.
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