Sunday, January 11, 2009

Libby's birthday party


Libby's Candyland birthday party was yesterday and it went really well - although it didn't start out that way! So, I knew all along that I wanted Publix to bake Libby's cake and ice it and then I would decorate it. I went on Thursday night after work and ordered the cake and told them how I wanted them to ice the cake green with lavender trim and told them that I'd be there to pick it up Friday at 7:00pm. I get there...and there is NO CAKE! The girl looked everywhere with no luck. She finally found the order form from the night before...in the wrong basket so the cake was never made. I considered coming across the counter and digging my nails into the girl's jugular but I didn't. I smiled and asked, "How can you fix this?" She said that she wasn't experienced at deocorating and I told her that she didn't have to be...I was decorating the cake. I just needed an iced cake from them (I love Publix cakes...a birthday isn't complete for me unless there is a Publix cake involved). :-) She breathed a sigh of relief when I told her I only needed a blank cake. She said it would take a couple of hours because of the process and she asked if I could come back at 9:00pm. I agreed and Libby and I went home. I went back at 9:00 and the cake was finished - and she reduced the cake price by half and the manager told her to tell me that they were giving me a free container of ice cream, as well. Woo hoo!! :-) Once I got home with the cake Libby helped me put together the favor bags that were packed with sick amounts of candy. :-)

Saturday morning I woke up and got ready and then started decorating the birthday cake. It didn't turn out quite like I had intended...the cake was much smaller than I thought it was going to be but oh well. It was still cute. I got the cake finished right as Karen and Wyatt arrived at our apartment. I needed to go to the park early to set everything up and Ryan had to work Saturday morning so Karen and Wyatt came over to sit with Libby and then brought her to the park in time for the party. I get to the park a few minutes after 9:00am (for the 10:30am party) and both of the pavillions were already taken!!! AAAhhhh!!! That's the entire reason why I planned a 10:30am party! One guy was there reserving one pavillion for a birthday party that was going to start at 2:00pm. At the other pavillion were some people who were doing a free organized work out at the park that morning. I talked to the guy in charge of the group and asked if I could have the pavillion and he agreed. Whew! That was close! :-) I started getting everything set up and I worked as fast as I could for the next hour and 15 minutes getting everything set up for the party. One table had the cake, drinks, etc, another table was set up to make snowflakes because of Snowflake Lake in the game of Candyland. Another table was set up to make candy necklaces, another table was set up to play the game of Candyland, another table was set up to color Candyland pictures and one table was set up to just sit at. Every table had candy on the table and the "sitting table" had containers of candy in addition to candy all down the center of the table. There were 10 kids there and everyone had a really great time. They all got along very well, especially considering that some of them didn't know each other. They participated at all of the activities and then it was cake time!!!!! After cake it was time for Libby to open her presents and as usual she got just way too much stuff! :-) When the presents were all opened the children ran over to play on the playground at the park and the parents chatted at the pavillion. It was great getting to finally sit down and relax and chat with them. They all even pitched it towards the end and helped me get everything cleaned up which was just super great! :-) Clean up was a snap with so many people pitching in to help! :-) Libby had a great time playing with her friends and I had a great time chatting with the parents. It was great. After the party was over I asked Libby if she enjoyed it and she said that it was her best birthday party ever! :-) Woo hoo! :-)

Libby's best friend Madison came home with us after the party to spend the night with Libby. They had a lot of fun playing all afternoon. The only time I was able to get them to stop playing was when it was time for dinner and then they were right back at it. They had a great night. This morning they were right back at it bright and early and they played until Madison's dad came to pick her up at 11:00am this morning.

Whew, Libby's birthday is over and it was great. But now you know what that means...FOURTEEN DAYS UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

2 comments:

Karen said...

That's such a cute picture of all the kids at the party. We had so much fun! Wyatt enjoyed himself more than he was letting on...he said he had fun too! :)

Kristina Muzzey said...

I was really hoping to see a picture of the candyland cake! But seriously, it sounds like you and Libby had a great time. Where do you find the energy?