Party time Saturday

I went up to bed early last night and I am glad I did because today was crazy busy. The kids and Rob were up a bit earlier than me. I came down and Rob was ready to leave - he had a job to do today and needed to pick up some tools he ordered from the wood store. The kids and I got dressed and we took a drive to check out a rummage sale.
Not great finds but still a few finds. We filled up on gas on the way home - I am so glad we only have a 14 gallon tank. When we got home I went into party prep zone. Ellie helped me prep. We made Oreo whipped cream frosting, Chocolate cheesecake frosting and regular cream cheese frosting. We got the table decorated with a party table cloth and confetti and party steamers. We put up some other happy birthday banners - the house looked very festive.
Ellie's guests arrived and our first party began. Rob got home as Ellie's friends were arriving and Christi invited Nick to go for a nature walk at Emily Oaks with her and Su'nana. Rob and Nick walked over to meet them there. We started off making the cupcakes because those take the longest to bake and need to cool before we could frost them. The kids helped measure and crack the eggs and then stir the mix. As they waited for the cupcakes to bake they made their own pizzas. We had tomato and pesto sauce, veggies, meats and a variety of cheese. I always find it interesting how many variations a group of kids can make. While the pizzas baked the kids made fruit and veggie kabobs and fruit and veggie dips.
The pizza came out and I plated it up and the kids were all pretty happy with their end product. While I got the table cleaned up and the cupcakes ready to frost the kids went downstairs to play Cook wars on wii and Pizza Palace balancing game. I got all the frosting bagged and then the kids came up and frosted their cupcakes. Once again, very interesting how differently the cupcakes were frosted. Some had more frosting than cake, some used candies to decorate.
I had a tray of cupcakes ready as our "cake" and we sang to Ellie and had cupcakes. We handed out goodie bags and the kids were so pleased with their baking items, herbs to grow and personalized aprons. Parents came to pick up but the party continued outside. Our neighbors stayed out to play and Christi and Su'nana came to pick up Catherine and stay for a while.
When the party finally broke up we got the kids in a bath because after 90 minutes of playing they were a bit stinky.
I got ready for party #2. I made a salad and a fruit tray. Nick was dying to open a present so we decided to let them have our gift early. Rob built their roller coasters this morning. They are these very cool coaster scooter things that our church has and the kids absolutely love to play on. We moved the couch back and the rug out of the way and then moved the dining room table and they instantly had space to roll. They had a ball together.
Mom and Dad picked up our sandwiches on their way here. Dean arrived and soon the rest of the family was here, too. We visited for a bit before we had dinner and dessert - Ellie decorated all the remaining cupcakes for me. Nick couldn't wait any longer to open presents and coerced everyone to join us in the living room. It is always awesome to see the kids expressions when they open something they really wanted. For Nick it was the Tidmouth Station roundhouse for his train set and for Ellie is was probably a tie between a sewing machine and the play-doh ice cream factory.
Mom showed Ellie her sewing machine and what it could do while Dad, Nick and Tony built a ginormous train layout on the rug. Soon our family bid us farewell, Mom and Dad stayed a bit to play with the kids and helped up clean up a bit. Nick and Ellie were very busy with play-doh - Ellie making ice cream treats and Nick making us jewelry from play-doh extruders.
Mom and Dad left and we took the kids up to bed - we were all pretty tired. So, the supermoon is nowhere to be found - what was all the hype for? My feet are absolutely pounding in pain - I pretty much was standing most of the day and I guess they weren't so happy about that. My hands are ok today - just very dry and peeling again. It was a great day and the kids really had a wonderful time. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree