Thomas' birthday was in September, but as it was such a difficult month I couldn't do his birthday party yet. Then my husband got a big electronics order from the company he works for; he worked on it evenings and weekends. So that meant that I couldn't host a party here, so then I started thinking about putting the money up for renting the community room that our apartments has for events. The more I thought of it, the more I liked the idea.
We don't have a tiny apartment, but it isn't huge either so we can only host small parties here. Having it at the community center would open it up to being able to invite anyone / everyone he wanted. Since he really wanted to have a table top game (board games, dice games, card games) party, this would be a great time to do the big party thing!
So I made up the invitations and sent them to school, church, etc. It was several days later when his teachers pointed out that I typoed our phone number in the RSVP. Doh! But it all worked out. We had 15 kids say they were coming, plus as many of the kids are from his special - needs class I was encouraging parents to stay, too. That was plenty of people!
Unfortunately over the years many have been worn out as the kids are not gentle with them. Our game collection needed the makeover! I spent a few days fixing up game boxes, counting pieces, and printing / laminating new rules sheets. We have a *lot* of games - so many that we have a blanket chest full of them, doubling as our coffee table, and will still have more that wont fit in. Our more expensive games are locked up elsewhere.
But wait, there's more!
The night before the party was the annual Royal Rangers Dynamiter Overnighter - and I was one of the leaders teaching. Yup. More complications - because that's the way my life rolls! lol Actually it was because my schedule was caught between two things; Mike's special order work, that I was trying to not be in the way of, and Anna's birthday. I wanted to finish Thomas' party before her special day and this was the only weekend left, so I made it work.
The Ranger boys were working on a leadership merit. My lesson subject was the "Fear of Failure." We played a game of Capture the Flag followed by a talk about Gideon. Over time I've learned my teaching style is such that I get familiar with the lesson, and then I just hold a conversation about it, so that's what I did. It seemed to work well, and the boys loved the game. :)
I left at about 11pm when the boys were settling down to watch the late-night movie. I came back in the morning and ate breakfast with them and helped keep an eye on them until parents picked everyone up. It seemed everyone had a good time. :)
I had chopped carrots, made dip, etc, the day before so to leave as little as possible to the last minute. So now we finished packing up the food and other things and took them over to the party room. I had a friend come over early to help with the last minute details. The kids helped, too, which was fantastic. I was really proud of them. :)
Everyone had a good time playing games, and then came cake time; except that it wasn't cake. Thomas has a thing about doughnuts and Sesame Donuts has a really special one that they make: I bought a giant 18" doughnut with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles! It was a delicious! Everyone loved it and now all the kiddos want one for their birthdays. lol
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| 18" Party Doughnut from Sesame Donuts |
Also going on during this time I got a commission for two hats from my aunt. One of the two hats she picked out is the Flower Stripe Beanie, which is written in Russian and charts. Since I hadn't learned how to read crochet charts to date I had to set about doing that. As I went along, I typed my notes into my project page to help anyone else making the pattern. I am rather pleased with the result. :)
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| Flower Stripe Beanie |
I'm now working on the second hat; Purple Crochet Hat with Flowers. It's instructions are in English, but I'm having to adapt its size to adult. So far so good.
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| Purple Crochet Hat with Flowers |
Meanwhile, I can't mindlessly crochet like I can with knitting so I needed a travel project, so I've been working on dishcloths.
I also entered in a Fall Celebration contest with my blue pikmin hat and I won one of the prizes! One of the other fiber artists in the group is also an author and she sent me this book that she wrote, Slippers for Hannah by Brenda Anderson. It is really cute! It's about a bunch of farm animal friends who want everyone to be able to play together during the cold months, so they try to help their friend Hannah (a chicken).
While on the subject of animals, I built a stuffed animal zoo for my daughter! I got tired of all her stuffed animals either all over the floor or piled on top of her drawers because she couldn't figure out how to get them to fit. I plan on writing a tutorial so I'll leave the explanation for a later post. :)
I finished it yesterday while my kids were at school. Oh, and yesterday was Anna's birthday! My baby girl is 5 years old now. :) I got her a LeapPad3 (and accessories) as she was really frustrated with Thomas' broken hand-me-down. Now she has a fully functional tablet with a cute skin, carrying case, and even headphones. She's playing it rather excessively today, which I wont allow to continue, but for a day or two is okay while it is a new toy. :)
Oh, I also had a couple graphics orders somewhere in there. The days have sort of melted together at this point.
Okay, I think that's enough babbling for now. I gotta get back to working on that hat. Nest I have to finish designing a Charmander hat. Then I will be working on my kids' Christmas knits...
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