Day 1504. Yesterday Randy took Tammy and Emmy to piano class, while I stayed home with Sammy, so I could bake the kids' birthday cake. Since we were on the road on their birthday end of August, we did their birthday party at home today. Yesterday afternoon we had planned to go to church, but everyone was so very tired and just not up to getting up so early from their nap to leave the house right away.
This morning the boys were up at 7:15 am again, the time we have to get up during the week. They were done sleeping, but I was not. Randy eventually got up and gave them breakfast, while I got up later. Randy then took them downstairs to play, while I started working on the cake to get it ready. I rolled out the fondant and covered each side with the respective color. Then I decorated the red side with everything having to do with firefighters, and the pink side with everything having to do with princesses. Then I covered the cake up so the kids would not see it. Next I made the two HAPPY BIRTHDAY signs. You had to get the paper out of the holes and put the cord through to make the sign. Once sign was firefighters, and the other princesses. I eventually took all the balloons downstairs for Randy to blow up, and for the kids to have fun helping with that. I'm glad I did as time would have been too short to do it during their nap.
Given how busy we were with preparations, I ordered food to be delivered online. Just before noon Randy and the kids came upstairs. Since the doorbells in the whole house don't work right away, Randy then went to the entrance of our building to pick up our pizza. Just after 12:15 we were able to sit down to eat. Sammy was already so hungry that he was impatient, and he did end up eating a lot. So did the other two.
Then I went downstairs with Randy to hang up the HAPPY BIRTHDAY signs and finish getting everything ready for the party. At 1:30 I put the kids to bed for their nap. For some reason Tammy needed really long to fall asleep today. Randy, of course, was not sitting with them like he usually does but downstairs blowing up balloons. I stayed with them for a while, then left to continue preparing. I never got to lie down to sleep, even though I was really tired.
And then Emmy was already up at 2:15, just after Tammy had finally fallen asleep, and with that Sammy was up as well. They couldn't go downstairs, so they had to play upstairs. Just before 3 pm Grandma arrived, and a few minutes later Sonja. The kids were happy to see them again; they hadn't seen Sonja in months. Eventually we woke up Tammy and dressed her. Emmy was excited about his new firefighter helmet, and Tammy had some new princess jewelry and a cape.
Even though the others hadn't arrived yet, we decided to get started. I had the cake sitting in the living room already and just needed to light the candles and the sparkler. Then the kids came downstairs, walking into a sea of balloons and to the cake, while we were singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to them. Then they blew out the candles and admired the cake. I took all the decorations off and started distributing the cake.
Then the kids got some presents.
Soon our other friends arrived that had been invited, and our living room ended up being full to the last place. The kids got more gifts and were really excited about many of the ones they got, as they were thoughtful and exactly what they liked. They were having fun playing with them, and the three visiting kids were also having fun playing with all the toys our kids have. The adults were enjoying talking with each other, eating cake and drinking coffee. As for me, I got more and more tired, not having had a nap. Soon the first family left, and so did Grandma. The others stayed a while longer having fun. At 6 pm everybody started getting ready to leave and said their good-byes, including Randy who had a pickup.
And so I found myself alone with the kids by 6:15 pm. Everbody started playing on their tablest or watching something, which gave me a break as well. With 7 pm approaching I gave them some leftover spaghetti and made their bread with salami and cut up fruit. After they had eaten, they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating, while having fun. Then I got them out and ready for bed. Then Randy returned with Emmy's new iceskates. I read them a bedtime story, prayed for them and put them to bed. I stayed with them for some time, as Randy was still making his dinner and eating. He then took my place once he was done. I got myself something to eat and went back to work. I had too many pictures and was too tired to get my report done and went to bed at about 12:30 am.
