How is it possible that my youngest, my baby, my not-so-Little-Man is now double digits in age???
I. CAN'T. EVEN.
Quite some time ago, when we started talking about bday plans for this year, my son made it clear that he wanted to hang at home with his buddies for this go-'round. OYE.
Now, I'm sure some parents might be like: Yes, this is fantastic! No major party location costs!
But, me, I was basically like: Noooooooooo. There might not be a house left standing when all is said and done!
Because the cold, hard truth is this: I have girls, and I have a boy, and as much as I like to claim gender neutrality, when it comes to get-togethers, there is a difference. A big, rowdy, insane difference!
I mean, don't get me wrong: when we have girl-power get-togethers, it's LOUD. And when we have our mixed gender, out-of-control Flash Craft Holiday parties, it's LOUD. But when it's just my boy and his friends, it's not only LOUD, it's destructive, ha. Boys are just a whole lotta energy and violence and chaos that is unique unto them (in my humble, personal-experience-only opinion).
Nevertheless, it's my firm preference to actually live and make memories in our household--regardless of what it does to my blood pressure, ha. So when Little Man never really strayed from his let's-do-it-at-home request, I did my best to: 1) talk him about of it, and 2) if #1 failed, make the at-home shebang as fun and "grown up" as possible.
Enter: A Friday night event!
Now. There were a whole lotta factors that made Friday night the winner for a rare birthday get-together:
First, it was Little Man's actual bday! Fantastic, right?
Second, our Chicklet is out of town this weekend for her Confirmation retreat (more on that, later), so I felt an event to distract me from her absence would be just the thing.
And, third: it's really, really hard to get kids together on a Saturday during the school year. Sports conflicts abound. And Sundays aren't much better. Plus, since we narrowed it down to just a small gathering of Little Man's closest friends, I wanted to make sure they could all be present and accounted for!
And, lastly...this might be shameful to admit, but life has been, and will continue to be, really crazy for us (shocker/not shocker). And I very much liked the idea of knocking out this major social event on a Friday night so it wouldn't be looming over my head the whole weekend!
And, boy, am I glad I did!
That's not to say that it was easy. Oh-hoooo-NO, it was not. The hubby and I were running around like maniacs all dang afternoon, basically racing the clock to prep and clean and wrap and get everything pulled together.
It was also pretty overwhelming to get Chicklet packed and ready to go out of town, but...you know what? WE DID IT. And it was a huge, raucous, SMASHING success, with nothing by smiles for miles for my now 10 YEAR OLD son!
Victory!
Oh!
One final bit of context for the party!
When Little Man originally requested an at-home event, he wanted to arrange for a gaming truck to come to the household, which is essentially a small fancy trailer with all sorts of gaming consoles and seating for kids to just go nuts. But when I checked into the cost of the rental of said truck, combined with the small number of boys we were planning to invite, it just didn't seem economical.
So the hubby and I gently steered Little Man toward a more economical option: ditch the idea of a gaming truck and he could receive an Xbox for his bday, like he'd been dreaming of. In the end, it was kind of a no-brainer. The gaming truck would have been a brief couple of hours; the Xbox is for a lifetime!
Luckily, the hubby spent time in the afternoon getting the Xbox all set up so things would be ready for the party--though, it wasn't really necessary, because the gaggle of boys basically spent 85% of their time wresting, playing dodge ball, playing soccer, playing football, eating, and just being happy, giggling maniacs, ha.
But it was still nice for Little Man and the hubby to get some gaming time in before everybody arrived!
Now, for kicks and giggles, I'll share this hysterical run of text messages Chica sent to one of her friends about an hour into the party.
I think it says it all that she used all caps--and that she has some frantic typos, because my eldest is nothing, if not a grammatical texting teenager, ha:
It really was such good fun that none of us made it to bed (the kiddos, included) until well after 10:30 p.m. But I went to bed with mopped floors and a house that was put back together--Amen, Hallelujah! So it was worth the effort!
Then, this morning, Chica had a cross country preview meet in the morning, then a few friends over for lunch and a short round of chill time, before I showered, collapsed and declared us on household LOCKDOWN. And I sat for the first time in what felt like weeks.
The hubby and I are getting ready to do some outdoor Halloween decorating now that it's dusk (Little Man asked us to wait to really let our freak flag fly until after his party), but, all in all, it's been such a beautiful--if busy!--weekend.
Missing my Chicklet SO MUCH right about now, but I know she's having an amazing time, and I'll love up on her as much as she'll let me, tomorrow!
Another birthday, another celebration, another year IN THE BOOKS!
It's wild to know my youngest is now so old, but...life is beautiful, peeps. :)
More, soon! Until then...
OVER AND OUT.
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