Party Hardy and Legos

Friday was the blizzard.  It wasn't too bad until afternoon, but by that time Maddy was already on the road and headed home.  It took her several hours and finally she had to stop and get a hotel for the night, a mere hour or so from home.  Too bad.  I think she did that on purpose to get out of housework for the party...

The roads were good the next morning so she got here in the morning. YAY!

Meri was at a jazz band competition most of the day on Friday.  They got 2nd place!

And the bus took FOREVER to get back.  The roads were so slick locally that we told her just to stay in town and not attempt to come home.  There was already one SUV flipped onto it's back in a ditch. We didn't want to see hers there too.

But when she got to the high school, her phone died.  Luckily she'd already set up plans to stay at a friend's house.  I think she did this on purpose to get out of housework for the party...

Ryan couldn't make it back from work, so he stayed at a friend's in college town.

I think he did this on purpose to get out of housework for the party...

So it was just us and the boy getting the house ready for party time. We had a good time preparing for the big birthday blowout that was the next day.  I baked 4 cakes of various colors, because Leon requested them.  It was to be a Skylander cake.  I saw a tutorial online on how to melt the frosting in the microwave IN the little tub, add food coloring and then pour over the top.  

I had delusions of grandeur on how it was supposed to go.  

Reality didn't work out and I had to take the pillars down.  They were falling down anyway... so...

It ended up like this.

And then like this.  The Skylander toys got tape put on the bottom so they won't get wrecked.  Apparently you can play a video game with these little guys.  

The party began... Overseen by Batman to keep the crime to a minimum.  

Only one kid cried.  Three times.

We had to cut off the upstairs from the kids because a couple kept slipping on the steps in their stocking feet or throwing toys down them.

It got a bit chaotic.

The kids played for about an hour and then Leon opened his presents.  Parents sat around talking or helping out.

Then for the cake.  It got completely eaten up!  I was surprised!  Even the rejected pillar pieces.

Then JUST before 4pm when the parents would start coming back to pick up their kids, we lowered the pinata in the front entryway.  The kids hanged on it.  All fifteen of them...

The rope broke.

But not the pinata...

When they started kicking it and sounding like a snippet of Lord of the Flies, "KILL IT!!!"  

I pulled it out of the throng and said, JUST A SECOND!!!

I tore the thing apart and candy spilled everywhere.  The kids pounced with their goody bags and within 23 seconds, the floor was clean.  

Where were they BEFORE the party??

Then they left. and the house was in shambles...

Every box of toys, costumes, Legos, marbles, puzzles and various miscellaneous had been dumped onto the living room carpet.

And bits of the pinata paper decorated the entry way.

In the meanwhile, Robb and Meri missed the entire party.  She was performing in a speech contest singing "Taylor, the Latte Boy" right at the stroke of 2pm when the party was scheduled to start.  We hadn't gotten her information before the party invites went out.  darn.  

Meri sent us a text saying that she'd been disqualified because this song wasn't from a musical and the judges were cracking down this year...  Maddy and I believed her.

We both sent her a text that simply said, "shoot."  Wow, she is her mother's daughter!

So they got home and she had actually gotten a score of a 1, which is excellent... She'll be going to state!  Robb started recording her singing it in our kitchen but his phone died half way through.  She sounded so great!  Maybe I can get her to do it again for me later this week...  

But anyway, Maddy and I were going to leave the house in shambles for Robb and Meri to experience the chaos, but when we got the word of the disqualification, we did the work ourselves.  My nephew Josh was here and he was instrumental in picking up the tiny toys scattered ALL over our living room.  Thanks Josh!

Then he and Leon put together a BUNCH of Legos that Leon had gotten at the party.  We talked Josh into staying for supper and we ordered pizzas.  He couldn't say no to that.

So that was the party.  We all kind of crashed that night, but not Meri!!!  She went to a late movie with a friend and got locked out of the house.  But that's a story for another time.

What did you do this weekend?