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I forgot to tell you all about Izzy’s birthday party.  Oh boy.  John and I googled around until he finally discovered that the horse barn down the road from us had a reasonable package—a better deal than the one ceramics place that Mary was hoping to have HER party.  Horses and ponies for 6- and 7-year olds?  We’re THERE.

We’d been to this horse farm previously.  Mary had her very first pony ride there when she was probably 3 or 4.  I also took Mary down there last spring for a horse ride on the trails.  We had 12 girls who were supposed to come counting the birthday girl and her sister (can’t have a horse party for Izzy and NOT invite Mary), but only 9 showed.  John decided to keep Keith home to help him clean the garage.  A barn full of little girls is probably not the most fun for a 9-year old boy.

The party was a bit of a let-down for me for two simple reasons:  they were supposed to provide the party goods—and they did, but there was no table cloth on the painted-on, crafted-on, don’t-know-what-on table and there were NO napkins; they were supposed to provide goody bags—they did NOT.  (My one friend reassured me that the party had HORSES so NO ONE CARED that there were no goody bags, and NO, I did not look like a sucky hostess.)  But the ponies!  Oh, the ponies!  The girls got to feed them and pet them and brush and comb them, and then they got to ride them.  Really, when there are pony rides, do the kids really care about getting dollar store plastic toys and candy?????  The girls all had a blast, with ONE exception.  One little girl and her mother discovered about 20 minutes into the party that the girl was HIGHLY allergic to something in that barn—be it the horses, the dust, or the straw, or all of the above.  The poor little thing got hives and started wheezing, and well, NOW they know they should dope her up with allergy meds if she gets close to a horse again.  So, she had to leave before she even got to ride a pony.  

I’d do the party again.  But make sure to bring a table cloth.  And wet wipes (thankfully, two parents had some stashed in THEIR cars so that the girls could eat their cake with moderately clean hands).  And birthday candles (oops).

Izzy got some great gifts just perfect for her.  Lots of craft items AND a Zoobles mommy and babies set.  There was a neat little Barbie Volkswagon with a Barbie included which is NOT quite up Izzy’s ally—we’re going to donate it for the holidays.  (But *I* want to play with it, it’s so cool.)  And Mom and Dad let her pick out a new bike.  Maybe she’ll learn to ride without the training wheels this summer?

I’m now officially done with work, and they’ve already asked me to come back next year.  I told them it all depends on my day care options.  It’s nice to be wanted, tho.

I hope another little temp job pops up before #4 gets here.  I can’t imagine sitting around the house for a whole trimester.  Not only will I miss that little bit of money I’m bringing in, I’ll probably go batty.  I am much more productive when I get out of the house on a daily basis.  

We are mostly ready for the holidays.  We got the house all decorated.  We have all the gifts for the kids all bought.  We have the Star Wars Advent calendar bringing us joy every day.  Now we need to work on getting gifts for the nieces and nephews and anyone else we can fit in our budget.  And I am going to start wrapping the presents that the UPS-Santa-man has been dropping off now that I will be home all day while the kids are not around.  I will NOT put it off like last year and end up staying up until 3:00 in the morning watching bad movies and my husband drinking beer while I wrap up a closet full of gifts!

Check out my rant on the baby blog!