Kateri's Fourth Birthday

Kateri turned 4 yesterday. I think it is about time to retire her 24 mos outfits. Grandma Trudy got her a darling little dress, size 3T, and it fits just right.

The day started out well and I woke Kateri up with her birthday card from Great Grandma Mac. She was so pleased with her lady bug stickers, I blew up some of the balloons, and she put her money up and told me how she is going to put it in her pocket and buy some gum and candy with it. We seemed off to a festive start but then it got a little crazy. I fugured with all the cousins we could get together a last minute party. I'm not one for planning ahead much. At first we were coming up empty handed but then Tirzah called and invited herself over for lunch so we were set.

First we ran to Fred Meyer's and Business Costco to get some provisions and very sneakily, a present. I was pleased she didn't notice the pencils, paper, hair clips, and big girl panties I snuck in under the paint thinner and brushes for my on-going projects. And she was delighted with her new things and the kids all sat down to draw together as I threw the cake together and felt very satisfied with everything going so swimmingly. Or so it seemed. There were several tired and nap-resistant children and only one large flower balloon, courtesy of Auntie Tirzah, with a big smily face that seemed to say to each of the children

"Don't you wish you had Me?"

And they all responded in the affirmative by trying to take it and much mayhem resulted. Tirzah looked at me and said,

" You can tell I only have one kid, huh?"

Fortunately, the kids were not over it this morning and I finally had to ban the older kids from touching the balloon, the string, or the weight.

We tried our best to get the kids to eat, I was contemplating employing the fois gras methods, hoping against hope it would improve their moods. It didn't. Finally after we choked down enough bagels and juice we said a sad farewell to our guests. It was very sad. Really.

I was determined to finish the party just to be done so we proceeded to ice and decorate the cake which resulted in a chocolate frosted coating on pretty much all the surfaces in the kitchen and on the children. But they were happy and then we all sat down to sample, mush, deconstruct and then abandon our slices of cake. It really was not very tasty and I tossed the rest this moring. No one has asked about it. But it was all about the process anyway.

My battery charger is still AWOL but I figured using last years picture was ok as she has not changed much and the cake she made with Grandma Trudy was a lot more asthetically pleasing. And it was tasty.

So today I am feeling the effects of the morning after the party along with some bad allergies. I've tried nettles, ibuprofen and a latte and am only slightly functional at present. Which is bad because we are having the house inspected tomorrow morning so I get to clean and make sure the crawl space and attic accesses are I guess accessable. Which means cleaning out the front closet and my closet. Neither or which I am doing right now.

I finally got Pippin to take a nap today. Yesterday's was only 20 min in the car. He is almost two and will probably be giving them up for good soon. I feel sick when I hear people mention their 3 or 4 year old still needs a 2 hour nap. I'm happy to get 1 hour these days and it won't be for much longer. So while he sleeps I suppose I should do the responsible thing and start working. Shane, being the thoughtful sweetheart that he is, vacuumed and swept the entire house the other night after he sent me off to play at Tirzah's new house. And then when i got home to a house of sleeping children he said he wished I'd stayed longer as he was about to get started on the kitchen. So at least those things are done and I feel like I have a head start so maybe I can get it all done and I won't feel badly about going shopping with Tirzah this evening. I'm really jealous though because Shane and his brother are going to see Bourne Ultimatum at midnight tonight. But that is ok because I'll be sleeping.

P.S. Kateri just came in to inform me she purposefully let her balloon go outside and is ready to go and get a new birthday balloon. I told her no. But that might mean we can have Jack over now.