My Big Boy's Birthday

On Saturday, January 12, 2008 my oldest son turned two. We decided exactly one week earlier, to celebrate by have a choo choo party. I thought for sure that'd be enough time to throw a little party for a two-year-old together. There's not a whole lot of entertaining that needs to happen, and I just needed to come up with some party favors and a cake. Easy right? Right.

Well, things didnt quite go as planned this week. (they never do, and I should have known better) I wasnt able to do our grocery shopping on Thursday night as is our usual routine, so Darrell and I decided to put it off until Friday night.

*Mistake #1* Never shop for the party the night before.

It would be alright though, D would be home by 5:30 we'd have dinner, go to the store and be back by 7:30 to put the kids to bed. That would have been fine, except, I forgot to take the meat out for dinner and it wasnt defrosted. To make meat patties for hamburgers, that's an important step I missed. Ugh.

Darrell doesnt get home until 6:00. We leave by 6:30, run by a party store before it closes and they have nothing I need. Ugh again! So we decide fast food is the answer. We decide where to eat, but our order is skipped and we dont get our food for 20 minutes or so. We are comped some dessert, but dont get out of there until 7:30. Double Ugh.

We now have two choices. I can go to the store myself after first dropping D and the kids off at home so he can put them to bed at a decent hour, or we can all go and just get to bed late. We decide on the latter.

Mistake #2 Dont put the kids to bed late the night before a party.

The kids dont get to bed until 9:30 and I am not able to start working on the cake until 10:00p.m. The good news is, it's a frozen pound cake, no baking required. Darrell and I finally make it to bed by midnight.

Mistake #3 Dont decide not to set the alarm the morning of the party.

The kids sleep in and wake up about 8:00 a.m. The party is in two hours. Darrell goes to run a quick errand, and pick up some supplies we forgot the night before. While he's gone, I feed the children and get them all dressed. He returns by 9:30 a.m. Everyone is ready to go... except me. I'm still in my PJs. I rush through a shower and throw on some clothes. Darrell loads up the kids and we carefully load the cake and party favors etc. in the car. I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Darrell is cool as a cucumber. Wow! He's normally frustrated when we run this late, I'm impressed!

Cake... check

Icecream .... check

Favors.... check

Diaper bag.... check

"you got the keys to the church?" I ask... "yes" he replies

Camera bag.... crud!

I literally run into the house, grab the camera bag and run back to the car.

Darrell says, "Allison, relax we dont have that much setting up to do." I look at the clock, look at him and say, honey, it's 10:10, the party was supposed to start 10 minutes ago."

"What!?! I thought it was at 10:30! You mean we're late to our own birthday party!?!" He exclaims.

Mistake #3 Dont assume your husband knows what time the party starts. Be sure and tell him.

We arrive at the church and thankfully no one is waiting on us. As we get out of the van D realizes he in fact does not have the keys. Ugh.

Mistake #4 Always double check to make sure you have the keys.

Thankfully, a friend arrives shortly after and unlocks the door for us. The party starts and all is well. The children enjoy themselves, the adults visit and the rest of the day glides along smoothly.

Here are some pictures: