Double Birthday Party Day Arrives

After a quiet week it was finally the day of the birthday parties. Emily had come home from school with Lily on Friday and stayed for a sleepover. They had a great time. Lily's party started at 1pm while Tom was away at a football game. Aimee, Lauren, Willa & Emily were here for it. We had a treasure hunt and a game of pass the parcel. The rest of the time the girls played nicely and quietly...
We had also hired a large bouncy castle for the day.

So what with that and the pool, it was easy to keep the girls occupied.

Setting up the bouncy castle.

3pm dawned and the boys started to arrive for Tom's party. Suddenly noise levels rose along with stress levels. After an initial frenzy of bouncing and splashing in the pool we rounded up the boys for their treasure hunt. Then there was more mucking around in the pool before calming them down with a chocolate eating game. Unfortunately my photos of this didn't turn out as I neglected to check the settings on the camera after Deanna had been using it. (Deanna is a serious photographer so actually uses the camera properly, whereas I just use the automatic setting all the time). The last game the boys played was the beachball challenge - if you read this regularly you know what the game is. We throw the ball at them as they jump off the diving board and they have to catch and keep hold of the ball until they reach the side of the pool - deceptively difficult but great fun and energetic enough to keep the boys happy. Finally 5pm came and the parents started to arrive and take the boys away. The bouncy castle was packed away with the help of Tim, Shaun & Dustin and peace ensued. Bliss. Unfortunately we didn't have time to enjoy it.

After tidying everything up, giving the children something to eat and jumping through the shower Nick & I were off out for the evening with friends. Luckily, it was a relaxed evening and we were home by midnight and tumbled into bed. Now we have Sunday ahead of us with nothing to do except relax and enjoy the day.

Our good friends and magnificent helpers, Deanna & Tim.