I woke up to the sound of my youngest daughter Lillian screeching, "GOOD MORNING, MAMA!". I laughed, hopped out of bed and looked at my phone. Nothing important except the date. November 7th, Michelle's birthday. I smiled and said to the six year-old, "Today is Aunt M's birthday. We're going to throw a party and have lots fun!". She smiled back and asked, "Will there be ouce cream?". emJust like her aunt, /emI thought. "Yes," I answered "You know how much Aunt M likes her ouce cream too!
About an hour later, after a shower and getting Lily, Evan, and Harper to eat breakfast, we were out the door on our way to get party supplies. "Okay guys," I said as my Ford backed out of the driveway, "The theme for the party is pink and blue." The colors had been chosen by Stephanie, who thought since Michelle was 2 months pregnant, she might like the baby theme. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a baby shower, we intended to throw one of those, too. It was just to celebrate everything that had happened to her. She had gotten married (his name is Dylan Goodman), and was having a baby. She had also just finished Med school and was on her way to being a doctor. She already has figured out her life, and she's only 29 (Well, as of today).
We pulled into Party City, just as the kids started fighting. "Stop!" Harper yelled, "Just leave me alone!". "Harper, be nice. And you two," I said pointing to Lily and Evan, "Leave her alone, it's not always easy being the oldest.". They sighed and opened the door to the store.
I roamed the party supply isles with Harper, the other kids had gone to look at the left-over Halloween costumes. "What about these?" Harper asked as she held up two packages of baby-blue napkins, "Ooh, they have plates in this color, too!". "Those are good. I think we'll need two packages of every thing for each color. Here, what do you think about this pink?" I held up some napkins. "I think those will work. Now we have to find cute 'Happy Birthday' balloons. Like the cute ones you see in the Party City catalogs," she stated walking over to the balloon counter. We chose yellow ones, with a just a simple 'Happy Birthday' written on them. After that, we apparently also needed stuff to put in the middle of the tables, oh and, we also needed tables clothes.
After I had wrangled up the children and had driven away, was reminded that it was also needed to buy cake. Unfortunately, Stephanie had left most of the responsibilities to me. She had sent out the invites and had offered to decorate Michelle's house while Dylan distracted her somewhere else. I stopped and parked at a little cake shop. I told the kids to wait in the car and no fighting. As I walked in I saw the area with blank cakes that you can get to say what you want. I walked over and the lady standing behind the counter asked, "What can I get for 'ya sugar?". "Can I please get a cake to say, 'Happy Birthday, Michelle!'" I asked. "Coming right up!" she said happily. I got my cake, paid, and left. For once, when i came back to the car the kids weren't fighting. emI can tell this is going to be a good day,/em I thought and smiled to myself.