The Calm Before the Storm

Saturday was Jackson's birthday party. Two words. Holy. Cow.

Thank goodness it is over. Thank goodness we survived. Thank goodness is all I can say.

We all know that I have five boys. A few more (four to be exact) shouldn't really make a difference. Or so I thought. My boys can be rowdy at times. They are boys, you know. But this was different. These weren't boys. They were like wild animals being led into captivity. Oh yeah. It was that bad. It started at 2 p.m. They all arrived at 1:50. By 2:41 p.m. I was wishing it was over. In a good way. My mother, who raised eight children, agreed that it was wild and hairy. At times we would look at each other and just shake our heads.

Let's see. The highlights? Besides the "normal" wrestling, running, attacking, jumping on the furniture, screaming, running through the house with food, and lack of manners, we had "choking." Apparently it's a fun thing for boys this age to put their hands around someone's throat and "choke" them. Uh. No thanks. And, the best part? Oh, that would be when the boys flipped over my sofa. Hands down. In an act of desperation, after the crafting (that took all of 15 minutes, I think) and make-you-own mini pizzas, I resorted to allowing them to watch Meet the Robinsons. I was desperate, you know. (They saw my older sons watching it in the family room and wanted to watch it, so I caved.) At some point in the first five minutes of the movie, the sofa was flipped. They all "won" a seat on the floor for the rest of the party.

Now I have two more birthday parties to look forward to this month. Taylor's and Carter's. One down. Two to go ... Oy.

(I should mention that one nephew and two nieces were there and you barely noticed them. They are so well-behaved. I should also add that the boys who attended the party are not bad children. I think they were just excited to be together.)