le birthday partay

Instead of lying comatose on my bed with a half-drunk beer on the bedside table, I am surprisingly awake after A's birthday extravaganza today. Maybe it was all the sugar.

We had several friends and family over, a MOUNTAIN of playdoh and pizza, and birthday cake with an inch of buttercream icing on it. DEELISH! A turned 3 on Sunday (remember, remember the 5th of November--I'll never forget it, that's for sure!), and thoroughly enjoyed himself today. I was wondering if he'd be cranky, because he woke up several times last night when we got back from seeing The Prestige, a singularly disturbing movie about 19th century magicians and their obsessive revenge against each other. I had bad dreams like A, all about guys drowning in tanks of water. I preferred The Illusionist, with Edward Norton, in story, but Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale are almost gorgeous enough to forgive the maniacal way their characters behaved. Plus Scarlett Johannson is a babe.

The birthday party was quite well-timed with the renovation of the dining room, if I say so myself. As I have no fear of making the walls look any worse, I put paper all over them for the kids to draw, use stamps, and color as they chose. And the stuff's washable, so really no harm done. Then, we had quite a lot of fun with the new playdoh sets A got from friends, and I continue to be amazed at the relative hush that falls as kids are mushing the stuff into molds, extruding spaghetti and mixing the colors. And the smell! Oh, ecstasy! They could do some serious mind control if they sprayed that scent into a room: "MUST...EAT...SALTY...DOUGH...MUST...PULL...PIGTAILS...MUST...TATTLE...ON...BADGUYS"

(room update as well: I decided on a warm pumpkin color for the top part of the wall, and the deep cerulean for below the chair rail. white trim, and buttery warm yellow for the kitchen. all match my smurf collection and paintings quite nicely!)

The weather today was absolutely gorgeous--warm, breezy, totally atypical of the cold wood-smoky air we normally have this time of year. So I was thrilled to have all the messiest parts of the party outside on the porch (thank you becky!! you saved my life!--and my carpet!). Double benefit because the kids could run off half the sugar they consumed in the yard.

My best friend's older boys weren't bored either, as they got to play Lego Star Wars downstairs most of the time, which is a great game and such fun to see them excited about.

A only had one or two crying episodes, which is great for such an exciting day. He drew deep blue marker all over his hands and said he was Spiderman, and stamped red stampers alllll over his arms, so he looked like some sort of pox victim. What more does one want for a birthday bash?

I am so thankful for him, and D, and all my excellent friends and family. I am also grateful for my health, which was so poor for so long after he was born. I had thought that constant pain would be the norm for me, and I don't have any now. Praise God!