Day 1637. There's no sleeping in with our kids. Sammy was up first, bright and early, then Emmy, then Tammy. Eventually Randy got up to give them breakfast, and later he took them downstairs to play. I turned my computer on to continue working on the financial report for last year. At 10:45 I already had to go to the kitchen to make lunch, and by 11 they all came back upstairs already. It wasn't even 11:30 yet, when we sat down to eat.
After lunch we only had a few minutes of R&R. At 11:45 we started getting ready to leave the house, putting their costumes on for one last time, and at 12:15 we actually left. We took the subway to the end, then took a tram - a line that the kids have never taken before. After we got off, we still had a little walk ahead. Then we reached the address. It was suspicious that there were no other kids on the street, and the theater at the address was locked, with no people anywhere. A person was entering the house there, so we asked her, but she didn't know anything. I double-checked the address, and it was correct. Then I called the organizer's phone number, but they're only available during the week. Was it gonna be another party that was not happening for us? This time we had received right on time, at 1 pm. I then decided to check the organizer's website, and lo and behold, they had a different address on there. It was on the same street, but a few blocks in the opposite direction we had taken. And so we started walking and got there a few minutes late. Again, no lines on the street, and there were surprisingly few people inside, given that the website said it was booked full. When we paid for our tickets, I let them know about the wrong address on the website, and they were shocked, passing the information on to the other team members. They apologized, but we had found them after all, so all was good. We were given tickets for the buffet, where they had donuts and sandwiches, and then we went inside the big room, where the party was taking place.
There weren't a lot of people yet, but more were still arriving. There were balloons lying all over the floor, and they had put up a lot of decorations. You could tell they had really made an effort to put a great party on, and it was the best of all the parties the kids had attended (3 in total). They started playing with the balloons on the floor. There was a clown there that was making balloon animals, and he made a heart for Tammy and swords for the boys. They were all enjoying them. Emmy started using his sword, playing with Sammy, and also "attacking" the clown and the dinosaur.
The kids had spotted the face-painter right away, and Tammy ended up being the first one on the hot chair. She wasn't a great painter, unfortunately, but the kids didn't really care. Sammy was the next one, and the lady actually recognized him. She had been at the big party in town hall as well and had painted him there. Emmy went last.
The clown started not only playing with the kids, but he got a rope that the kids had go under to get to the other side, and they kept lowering it. Tammy stuck with it to the very end, crawling on the floor, and Emmy then crawled as well. Then the clown started his show, doing all kinds of tricks. I believe we've seen this clown before on a much larger scale. It was nice in this more personal setting, as he interacted with all the kids. He handed out hats or stuff to put on their heads to all the kids, and Emmy wanted the poob hat. Tammy got the unicorn wig, and Sammy got the bee hat, but he doesn't like hats and took it off. The clown then got a toilet brush out, saying it was his magic wand and waving it in front of all the kids' faces who were laughing. You can see Emmy laughing on the pictures. Then he started doing tricks, always involving the children, who were having fun.
After he was done with his program, he put a song on and started a line, all the kids lining up behind him and putting their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. He then marched through the room with everyone like that, and Randy had Sammy on the very end, pushing the wheelchair. Then he put other songs on that the kids were dancing to. I started dancing with Sammy, who had lots of fun with me.
Then they got the parachute out that kids always love and were moving it up and down. They put balloons on top, so that they were all flying into the air at the same time. And the kids went under. Emmy was the leader in all that, going first with the others following. Sammy also wanted to go under and crawled to the kids in the middle. It was so much fun!
Then Tammy discovered the crafts station in the back that we hadn't seen before and immediately said she wanted to draw. She sat down and was given a paper plate that she started drawing on. I then helped her glue the legs and arms and hair on. Sammy wanted to draw as well, and I sat down with him. Randy then took him and continued helping him draw. Even Emmy wanted to draw, which surprised me, and I helped him as well.
After they were done, they were still in the middle of the drawing of prizes, but we had not bought any tickets. And as the party was about over, we decided to go home. We had only cashed in three of our coupons, and so we got two more donuts to take with us with our last tickets, plus the lady gave Tammy a sandwich for free. The kids had enjoyed the food. As we walked out the door, one of the organizers asked us how we had enjoyed ourselves and apologized again for the wrong address. We had still heard the good-bye song before walking out the door. It was 4 pm; the party had lasted three hours.
We walked to the tram stop, rode it to the subway, then took the subway home, where we arrived at 4:40 pm. Randy and the kids went downstairs to play. I wanted to work, but was too tired. They came back upstairs before it was 6 pm. At 6 I warmed up some food for them, then I made bread with salami and cut up fruit for them. They had some and had more in the bathtub, then we got them ready for bed. I read them Bible stories, they brushed their teeth, I prayed for them and put them to bed. Emmy went to his baby bed on the bottom, while Tammy went to my bed. I went to the kitchen to make my salad and carried Tammy to her bed once I was ready to sit down and eat. I was surprised, when Emmy walked up to me at 1 am, asking to sleep on the top bunk. He's always been too scared to sleep up there. I put him up there and gave him his pillow and comforter, and he fell back asleep. Now it's after 1:30 am, and I still have to take care of the dishwasher before going to bed.
