Isaac is so picky that about the only foods he will eat are: chips with cheese, macaroni and cheese and cheese quesadillas (Brian and I are endlessly trying to explain to him why these are all basically the same food). Once in awhile he will accept a taco, hot dog, cheeseburger or green smoothie. I know the last one seems out of place on this list, but it's true.
My mom is so fabulous that she hatched a plan to serve Isaac chips and cheese for his birthday dinner. She just included a bunch of other amazing toppings (like sweet pork and homemade guacamole) for the rest of us. At last, Isaac could be served a big plate of his favorite food at Sunday dinner instead of having to sit at the table staring at a plate of food he hates for 1/2 hour before someone gives in and makes him a plate of chips and cheese like usual.
He is really into Legos and wanted one of those giant $100 Lego sets. I say giant, but in reality, all Lego sets are tiny when you take out the bricks and build what is pictured. He has one million Legos already and he has to keep them spread over his entire bedroom floor. Every once in awhile, I ruin his life by cleaning them up so I can vacuum. It ruins his life because he has to be able to see all of them all the time, so he quickly scatters them all over the floor again. It takes me over an hour to clean them up (it would take him months because when he cleans them up he has to build a tiny Lego digger that scoops them up one at a time and drives them to the "dump") so--it was a little hard to buy him more Legos. My parents and Brian and I went in together on the big police station set for him because we knew it would make him so happy and there are only so many years of life when you can make your kids that happy by buying them a toy. The Lego madness continues!
On Sunday, he got the giant Lego set and chips and cheese for dinner and cheesecake with candles for dessert. Also, Sunday morning he woke up to a giant stuffed Mario. You know the really giant ones that you can win at amusement parks? Sophie went to an after hours games party at Lagoon where she works and won one and she is so sweet she wanted to give it to Isaac. Lately, he has been asking me to buy him a stuffed Mario and Luigi. It was a very good surprise when he woke up on his birthday to find giant Mario sitting at the table waiting for him. Now whenever someone rings the doorbell, Isaac grabs Mario and hides behind the door while Mario "opens it" and greets whoever is there.
We decided to throw a giant shindig for Isaac's birthday party. In my mind, there were twelve party guests. We made a list of about 9-10 boys from school who he wanted to invite. Somehow the list grew from there and without even realizing it, we must have invited 35 people and they ALL showed up!
I think I meant to put on the invite that the party was from 7:30pm-10pm, but instead I put 7pm-10:30pm -- A 3 1/2 hour party!? With 35 wild and crazy 10-year-old guests?
We survived. It was memorable. Isaac got lots more Legos.
Brian made some awesome Lego City invitations. We rented a colorful bounce house and inflatable slide. I bought everything lego that I could find from Oriental Trading including awesome lego wallets and lego bracelets for the party favor bags. There were 24-bags which I thought would be way too many. The favors came in twelves and I considered buying one set (because in my mind there were 12 people at the party). I decided to buy two sets in the end because what if there were 13? Hahahahaha.
I also had 24 plates and cups and only 24 cupcakes since I accidentally dumped a pan of 12 of the 36 I was baking and when it happened I thought, "Oh well, 24 will be plenty." After everyone arrived, it was clear I was going to be short. Brian said, "Do you want me to run to the store?" I said, "Please don't leave me." Because having that many crazy kids running through your yard going from trampoline to bounce house to night games that encompass the backyard and the front yard and sometimes the street after dark is a very overwhelming responsibility. Luckily, my mom was able to go to the store for more food, cupcakes and supplies -- most importantly cups -- and bring them to us. You do not want to run short on cups with a big crowd of thirsty kids on a hot August night.
In the end the party was saved and even though it felt like a long 3.5 hours at the time (it was a long 3.5 hours because the bounce house was at my house all day and there were lots of kids playing on it in a loud and rambunctious way long before the very long party ever began) -- despite it being a pretty big undertaking -- I couldn't stop thinking how nice it was that 35 people showed up to Isaac's party. Having friends is pretty much the best.
