Saturday, February 14, 2009

Eight

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Yesterday my son Itai turned eight (and no, I have no idea how that happened. I swear he was just born last week.), and with eight my husband and I reached a new stage in our parenting journey - the stage that stabs an icy cold tentacle of fear into the heart of every parent.
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The slumber party.
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We've done the horribly big, horribly loud, invite the whole class of 35 + assorted extra kids, hire a professional entertainer party. Lots of times. It's loud, it's chaotic, and it's expensive, but it's all over in two hours.
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This year he (we) kicked it up a notch and went all out. It started when I agreed to a party with 5 or 6 kids. I know his friends, they're sweet kids and not too out of control, I was confident that we could rise to the challenge.
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Only one small snag. My son is what you might call popular (how this happened I have no idea, his father and I were much closer to the other end of the scale). Once he started inviting, he couldn't stop. If he invited this one he'd have to invite that one, with that one then also that one, so that he wouldn't be left out. And so on. (And they told two friends, and they told two friends...)
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In addition to my own two kids we ended up with eleven invitees - all of whom said yes! (Aack! Panic panic panic!) Thankfully when the day came one was sick (ok, not thankful about that, but you know what I mean), two were no shows (so very Israeli) and one announced that he couldn't stay overnight. That left us with a total of 10 kids in the house, nine of whom were going to be rowdy sugared-up second graders. We stocked up on balloons (the long skinny ones are great for safe swordfights and other low-impact creativity), ordered pizza and let 'em loose.
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It was utter bedlam for several hours and there were two kids who couldn't manage to get along and drove me nearly insane (one of whom decided at 10:30pm that he couldn't fall asleep and asked to go home. Umm, sure. And don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out kid.) Most of them never did settle down to watch movies, but eventually they calmed down a bit and by 11:30 everyone was sound asleep, not to stir until well after 7:00.
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Nothing got broken (except a stupid beanbag snake that sprung a few leaks and shot plastic pellets all over the house), no blood was drawn and no one went to the hospital, so all in all I'd say it was a success. Most importantly the kids had fun and everyone went home smiling (and if I'm very lucky this will now start a trend and other kids will start having sleepovers at least, even if their parents aren't up for a full-blown slumber party).
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And to top it off, Itai actually asked for the world's easiest cake this year so at least on that front I got off VERY easy:
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30 comments:

Jill said...

Love YOUR cake... that's awesome! And props? Too cool.

BTW - 10 kids staying the night at your house??? You are one BRAVE woman... more importantly, nothing got broken?

Mazel Tov!

Oh and Happy Birthday Itai!!

mother in israel said...

Mazal tov to Itai! And a pat on the back to you.

Anonymous said...

Kudos for surviving the night with everyone unscathed!!! If he is this popular now, just wait until he gets married...muahahahahahaha...

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I love the cake. How did you get those lines so straight?

A Gilmore Girls Fan said...

Oh what my poor parents must have gone through. Every year I had a huge party too. Depending on my age, it fluxuated from boy/girl party, to all girl party, and eventually back to boy/girl parties.

The biggest was when I was 5 years old. I grew up in a small suburban town when everybody knew everybody. So, invited my class wasn't enough. They invited everyone in my grade. All of my friends. All of my parent's friend's children. In retrospect I know now that it was a good 50-100 at the party. They hired a circus. A flippin' circus. We all rode horses, got our faces painted, watch clowns, and hit a huge pinata. Good times.

Needless to say, your boy will remember this party forever. I am still keep in touch with everyone I grew up with and we all remember those big parties. We might not be clsoe anymore and may not speak but a few times a year, but we always have those childhood memories and thankfully the pictures too.

Rambling Woods said...

A Happy Birthday to your son and that party sounded like it was a blast and he will remember that always...Michelle

Julia Phillips Smith said...

'No blood was drawn and no one went to the hospital, so all in all I'd say it was a success.' - LOL! Robin, you really are a brave woman, and as Sara Bonds said, he's sure to remember that party fondly for the rest of his life. Amazing that they all managed to get to sleep and stay asleep.

Happy Birthday to Itai!

Cheryl Pitt said...

...and there were two kids who couldn't manage to get along and drove me nearly insane...

LOL, I guess they didn't hget the memo that the party wasn't about them. That kind of thing drives me nuts! You did a great job!

Happy Birthday Itai!

Libby's Library said...

Sometimes, I start to think about how much I miss the times when my kids were young...and then magically the moment is over!
Glad that all went well. Happy Birthday Itai!

Lea said...

You are the best Robin! Cool cake and oh boy... it is intense and will be for a few years... and then all of a sudden, they turn 27 and thank you with knock you over dead admiration for the meal you just cooked them... it is all worth it...

Happy Birth Day Itai from California!

Lea said...

Forgot to wish you a happy Valentine's Day Robin, you make my heart soooooooooo happy to have you in my life, even though we may be all these thousands of miles apart!!!!! I so appreciate that you are just a click away... XO

anymommy said...

Well, heck, that sounds relatively painless. Happy Birthday, Itai.

RivkA with a capital A said...

LOL!! So many elements to relate to! My kids are summer babies, so we did outdoor pool parties every summer with the whole class for as long as we could! They were crazy, but cheap. And we could keep most of the kids out of the house, so the mess wasn't that bad!

Slumber parties, also in the summer, are not so bad, 'cause you don't have to invite the whole class.

Still, it never ceases to amaze me that all these boys, who are so sweet when they come over one at a time, create complete bedlam as a group!!

*sigh*

At least they are still celebrating at home....

RivkA with a capital A said...

oh, and I never made such a cool cake as you did!! You rock!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome cake, my dear. And an awesome Mom to let Itai have a sleepover! Just wait darlin'. When he's a little older and has a sleepover, the kids will have developed sweat glands! How well I remember the "aroma" of 10 young boys sleeping in front of a computer screen. Yes. I DO miss it! lol

Fairly Odd Mother said...

Great cake and Happy Birthday Itai! You are a brave woman. For my daughter's 7th, we did a 'mock' sleepover, meaning there was PJ's, crafts, dancing, popcorn and movies but they all left at 8:30. Lovely!

Phyllis Sommer said...

ooh, i can do a sleepover party next year!? fun...i wonder if my now-7-year-old's friends will be ready for that next year....

love love love the cake.

happy birthday!:-)

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine hosting a sleepover for A's 8th birthday in April. The thought makes my blood run cold. Yay you! LOL
And Happy Birthday Itai! :)

Robin said...

Oh RivkA, how I'd love to do a swimming party - I even tried to do one this time but couldn't find an indoor pool close by that would do it :(.

Jennifer, the lines were made with fondant - I rolled it out and then just cut out the shapes I needed. I've got Wilton's rolling mat which has both straight and circular gridlines, so it was no problem.

Janet said...

I'm glad it all worked out and that Itai had a very happy birthday :-)

Jientje said...

Happy belated birthday to Itai.
You are such a brave woman, sleepovers and all!! I bow my head for thee! And that cake? That's an EASY one? Can't wait to see what complicated looks like then! Awesome!

Mel said...

Sounds like it was a blast! Though I have to say you were VERY brave!

Fabulous cake - as expected :) I am always so impressed by your decorating skills!

Stephanie in Idaho said...

Oh Robin, I feel like such a screw up when you say you actually hosted that many children! My daughter had 3 (which made 4 total) and I about killed every single one of them before the evening was over. I have decided that I wasn't cut out to be a mommy of multiple children.

More power to you. I am glad you made it unscathed... Loved the line "don't let the door hit you in the ass". Sometimes kids just bring that out in us, huh? lol

Great cake, for sure... You did a great job!

RivkA with a capital A said...

There is no pool near your home? Or they did not want to be invaded by a bunch of 8 year olds??

Anyway, part of the "chop" was that putting a pool in my front yard was CHEAP and EASY!

It was the one good thing about having summer babies.

Now, it's tough because we schedule our son's b-day party not just around his birthday, but around when his friends are in the country. (no small feat during summer vacation!)

Robin said...

The only year-round pools within easy carpooling distance are subscription only and made it very difficult. One place gave a blanket no and the other called me back THREE WEEKS later!

A summer birthday would be no problem, I'd just do it at the pool we go to. February is a lot tougher. Oh well, we got off a lot cheaper this way.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous! And I love the cake. We had similar experiences with my daughter although I later learned that other friends of hers limited it to 3 max! I'll remember that next year.

Meanwhile my son is going to have his first ever sleepover tomorrow. Wish us luck.Cheers

Robin said...

Oh wow, Maddy that is HUGE! I'll definitely be sending all sorts of good thoughts your way (and his!).

RivkA with a capital A said...

I'm curious what activities you did at the party? What time you started and what time you finished.

These are always major discussions by us, especially with my son.

Robin said...

Main activities were "making a balagan" and running amok with balloons LOL. Balloon soccer was a popular choice. Organized activities weren't much of a hit. We did try to screen a few movies later but there were few takers. Mainly they just let loose and had fun, honestly it was loud but really not too bad.

We called it for 18:30 until 10:00 the next day. The first kids arrived early (!) at 18:15. Most were picked up on time, except for one who ended up staying until 11:30 (single mom who took advantage of her night off and stayed out until 5:30am - she overslept LOL).

bichonpawz said...

Happy Birthday to your son! I remember those days!! Now that my daughter is 22, the only overnight parties I have now is when she leaves her WestiePoo with me to babysit! You are one brave woman having all those kids over! I almost went out of my mind when I had to watch my husband's grandson and his friend for one night. I am SO not used to boys....they are much different than girls!! The cake is gorgeous!