It’s been a busy week.
Last Friday I baked 48 cupcakes for Simon’s birthday party. (Why? Because it seemed like a good idea at the time.) 24 chocolate, 24 vanilla. Then early Saturday morning I made vanilla and chocolate buttercream frosting, dividing between the cupcakes such that we had vanilla-vanilla, vanilla-chocolate, chocolate-vanilla, and chocolate-chocolate. Something for everyone.
I was already exhausted, and I hadn’t even gotten to the party yet.
The birthday party was quite a success, despite my fears that everything would go wrong, from no one showing up to parents saying, “Cupcakes???” We had it at a nearby park. 15 of Simon’s closest friends showed up to eat chicken nuggets, play on the playground, do crafts, and eat cupcakes. The craft was painting and putting stickers on wooden picture frames, and the kids really got into it. (Michael’s Art Supply is a wonderful place to get stuff for a kids’ party.) The kids got horribly dirty, which they utterly loved. I had a box of baby wipes so parents could make an attempt at cleaning up their kids.
When I put Simon’s birthday cupcake in front of him, several kids leaned forward and blew out the candle. He didn’t care—moved him that much closer to eating the cupcake.
(I tried to make a joke for the parents: “Don’t worry! The cupcakes are low carb!” Instead of a laugh, I got, “They are?” Waaah.)
Then Darin’s parents arrived for a visit, which is always great—the kids love Grandpa and Grandma.
Then we all got sick.
The kids had been sick for a couple of days. Sophia had a one-day cold and fever, and then Simon got it much worse, with fever on and off for a couple of days. The excitement and strain of Simon’s birthday party may have weakened his immune system, although he’s always gotten colds a lot more easily than Sophia has.
Then Darin got sick enough to stay home from work—trust me, that’s sick—and I woke up one morning going, Ennnnnnhhhhhhhh.
Not that that has stopped us: kids need to do stuff, and when grandparents are in town we need to do extra stuff. So there was the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, which is the kids’ newest favorite spot:
(No, I don’t know why whenever I tell them to sit together for a photo, Sophia decides they must hug. I guess next time I try to take their picture somewhere, I will have to enforce separate seats.)
And we went to the park in town that has a fountain for playing in:
(This is them post-frolic. They were wet and exhausted and very happy.)
The grandparents’ visit is almost over, the kids have only a residual cough, and I think I’m getting better too. Darin even went to work today.