Birthday planning

Phew, Mary and Gabe are off to school and I have 2 hours of peace(too bad that I have at least 6 hours of work to fill that time). Hans and Xander were fighting over reading the Cheerios box this morning(like they don’t have the back of the box memorized?) so I missed my valuable 15 minute showering time slot and I am still in my sweaty, snow splattered running clothes. Isn’t it sad when you are literally afraid to take a shower because you know your kids will try to kill each other?

We finally took the Christmas tree down yesterday(only 6 broken ornaments) and put away all the nativities and such. That gorgeous tree was up for 5 full weeks– a new record at our house.

Now that the tree is put away Gabriel has jumped fully into birthday party planning(because he knows his birthday is after Christmas). He pulled out a piece of paper today and made me write down details for his party. Superheroes are the theme this year. All invitees must wear superhero costumes, test their skills on superhero games and eat superhero food.

These plans are a huge improvement from last year. A year ago Gabriel dictated a list of party activities to Erik that included:

1. Throw pencils at each other.
2. Have a waterballoon fight in the house.
3. Build a snowfort.
4. Have a snowball fight until everyone cries.
5. Punch each other until everyone cries.
6. Dogpile on each other.
7. Run around and yell a lot.
8. Eat cake.
9. Have lightsaber wars.
10. Play dodgeball in the basement until everyone cries and goes home.

And I thought he was such a calm, sweet little boy….