My Party Girl

Yesterday was a big day for Lydia. In the morning, we had our annual garage sale - a lot of houses on the street participate, we put up big signs and advertise in the paper. We usually keep it short and sweet - from 8 to noon, no longer, especially yesterday, since we were expecting 7 kids for 2. Lydia wanted to do a lemonade stand, we put out a little table, she made the sign the night before - LEMONADE 50c. I made the lemonade (the simple way, with frozen concentrate, pink and yellow). She was soooo excited. She got up around 8:30, she ran out to see the garage sale in her pj-s, then I came in with her and helped her look for her lemonade t-shirt (a pink elephant on a purple shirt, and it says Lemonade 15c. - must be an old design... LOL). Then she sat out, and was really disappointed because people were coming by with coffees in their hands, and nobody wanted to buy lemonade. Finally, the neighbours across the street bought a cup, then Andy took pity on her, then I suddenly got the urge for a refreshment (the other people were right - coffee and lemonade DON'T go together.). Then slowly, as the morning got warmer and more people came, she had some traffic. All she made was $6, but she was very happy with that. After we packed up the garage sale, we went to pick up her cake (Fairytopia Barbie), had a quick lunch and made the sandwiches and veggie tray for the party. She was a great helper, putting out the plates and cups on the deck on the table, but she kept coming up with things that we could do: Mommy, can we put up christmas lights? Mommy, can we make different kinds of sandwiches for everybody (other than the 5 kinds I was already making), Mommy, can I take a look at my cake (for the fifteenth time), so at one point, I lost it, slammed the fridge door and said NO, you can't look at the cake - I was afraid she will drop it. She of course started bawling, so I comforted her, said I was sorry, and sent her outside to help Andy fill up the water balloons. Finally, it was time for the party, Erin arrived, then the little girl down the street, Alyssa (5), without her 7 yr old sister, Kareana, who was having a total FIT about her bathing suit... (see, it starts early - bathing suits are very stressful things). Then my friend Dianne showed up with her two kids, Kyle (5), the only boy, and Hannah (7). Kyle was shy at first, uncharacteristically, but warmed up soon enough. Keana (10) came, too, and finally, Leila showed up, too. Yeeey! Everybody got juice or ice tea, and then Keana said: Umm.. I think Lydia should be allowed to open one present at the beginning of the party - mine. I said, OK, one present. And... IT WAS A POOL!!!!! A crocodile sprinkle blow-up pool. Of course we had to blow it up (thank goodness for the air compressor Andy has), and put water in it, then we set up the Sponge Bob sprinkler and put out the two baskets of water balloons. The kids had a great fight, then lounged in the pool, played under the sprinkler, while Kyle did his best to spray everybody out of a spray bottle and a water gun (adults included). The girls of course squealed, Kyle did his evil laugh, everybody had a great time. Then we put out the sandwiches, Dianne and Andy helped, the pizza arrived and was DEVOURED in about 5 minutes. Some more play, then finally it was time for cake and presents. She got spoiled, as usual, and was very happy with her new toys. I was ready for the kids to leave though by the time the parents started showing up, but everybody had such a great time that they kept begging to stay, so we ended up entertaining some of the parents, too (thankfully I had some beer in the fridge), but it was ok. We sat in the shade on the deck and the kids played some more. It was an exhausting but very fun day. I was ready for bed around 10:30, but Lydia insisted she wasn't tired (kept rubbing her eyes and yawning, but still, wouldn't go to bed), she wanted to play with her new toys. But as soon as we got her settled on the couch with her pjs on with her blankey and turned on the tv, she was out in five minutes.