Yet another Saturday...yet another kid party!

Yes, it's yet another birthday party in the family. This time a freshly minted 8 year old niece, as seen below:

Ain't she a cutie? I went all out and hand drew the inside of her card:

She seemed impressed until she tossed it aside. When I showed up at the house, after an hour in the pouring rain on I 80, carting along another 8 year old nephew asking countless questions about bridges, tunnels, wishes, Christmas presents, underwear, camping, and bears...we both smelled fresh cake:

Oh dear:

and this was the cake we encountered upon entering:

Apparently, there had been issues with the pans and flour and butter and stickiness and so on. The finished product was great, strawberry cake with vanilla frosting, a kid favorite:

I decided to take some snaps while awaiting party action:

While wandering the house, I encountered the horror of Hannah Montana themed party goods:

The humanity!!! At least we could cover most of it with pizza, as the boys of the party happily did:

Some kids had too much soda. I WON'T say who:

The party girl could wait no longer:

Let the ripping and tearing commence!

Some people were having problems with seating. I WON'T SAY WHO:

And then, of course, I attempt to take a group photo of all cousins present and accounted for:

And I tried again:

and finally gave up:

Ahh, the perfect photo of a kids party and all it entails:

Some balloon foolery while we await cake time. Presenting Mr Ballywho Balloon, Esq:

and his neighbor, Pinkalicious Balloonatis:

and the freak down the street, Baffoony the Balloony:

Between a balloon and a hard...well, another balloon:

Meet the new boyfriend, Baballoony:The always amusing to a6 year old... "static reaction":

and the totally inappropriate but still hilarious...BabyMama:

Meanwhile, the more mature girls were hanging with the new toys:

Off to the side, one young man discovered the joys of Cheetos:

And finally, it was time for cake:

The child is no fool...take care of yourself first, then cut cake for others!

The Ingrate Bird moves on up to the East Side...

Twas the night before the next day
and all through the house...
all the creatures were stirring,
except for that mouse (the one Killer Diller struck down last week).

When what did that Ingrate bird and I hear?
Coming from outside, so far yet so near...
I arose from my couch, and answered the call...
and what did I see, on the front porch and all?

A birdcage I saw and stared at in wonder...

as the neighbor explained why she brought it asunder (OK, not sure if this word is right here).

"Tis a Christmas Gift" she said "For Ingrate to enjoy"...

The first gift of the season, for no mere girl or boy.

I thanked her profusely, as Ingrate stood by...

eyeing us both with ingratitude in eye.

Then I compared the two houses, showing the difference...

as Ingrate flew by, showing his INdifference!

New toys and new perches and bigger by far...

with space for a party and room for a bar!

The moment drew near, amidst all the din...

would Ingrate, that Bastard, even go in?

Nervously I watched as Ingrate stood thinking...

taking his time, without even blinking.

Then in shock I groaned as Ingrate chose badly...

and walked to the old cage, and sat there so sadly:

Oh no, said I, this will not do...

That Ingrate will learn to live with the new!

So I placed the cage wisely...

By window with sun,

And slowly but surely, the new cage had won!

Finally, that Ingrate, all tired out...

ventured to new lands,

With hardly a shout!
It didn't take long for Ingrate to explore...

and find his old lover awaiting once more:

I thanked Katelyn again, and asked Ingrate to as well...

but he seemed more interested in loving his bell:

Later on, as I cleaned up, and stored the old house...

Killer Diller arrived, this time with no mouse!

And so dear readers, with this peaceful sight...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The DELIGHTS of Gingerbread House construction

It's December. I had my niece and nephew for the afternoon. I thought it would be nice to make a SIMPLE Gingerbread house. You know, the pre-baked kind. No need to get all Martha Stewart and whip out the gingerbread recipe, the cutters, the icing, and so on. No...one kit, two kids and some light Christmas music in the background.

Before beginning, we set out for some lunch to bone up for the afternoon. Some coloring while we await the burgers, dogs and shakes:

Of course we had to top the meal off with a little ice cream:

Then we insisted the artwork be displayed for future diners to enjoy. And the waiter complied. Yes, I did give him a nice tip for this little favor:

both pictures, taped to the back wall for generations of other children to admire.

It was now time to "get to getting" and head home to undertake the gingerbread activity. You probably can't read the circled portion of the box below...it says "EASY TO ASSEMBLE".

Already stressed, I handed the instructions over to DP, who told us it was simple construction and to stop crying already:

Meanwhile, in FULL VIEW of DP, this girl was sucking down one of DP's family!

Nevertheless, DP chose to make sure everything went well in preparing the icing:

and the boy helped out as well:

Well, we started to assemble the house, and after waiting for 10 minutes for the icing to dry, the boy suddenly realized something:

and so we started over:

A mere 20 minutes later...and with the help of several leftover cans of olives and cranberry sauce (and a jar of peanut butter to boot)...the house took shape and HELD ITSELF TOGETHER:

and then the REAL work began:

a lot of icing, a lot of candy pieces, and a little luck helped us along:

Suddenly, we heard a crash in the background and found that Santa Claus had himself a little old accident in the village:

The kids were quite artistic and I was happy to sit back and watch their work take shape:

Check out those design lines! That window frame!

Finished Product, side one (girls' side)

Finished Product, side two (boy's side)

a daring "Aeriel shot":

A beautiful girl holding a beautiful gingerbread house: a not so beautiful kitchen:

On to some quality Lego time while awaiting parental pick up:

I amazed and stunned them with my ability to create a candy cane out of Legos. Well, OK...they laughed at me and told me it was lame:

While I was busy crafting the candy cane....

OK, fine, they are obviously better at Legos than me. Here's a parting shot as they prepared to head home: