Who is in charge of this party anyway?

 I've wondered at times how it is that two very mellow adults have together created children with such strong personalities? Does it have something to do with our parenting techniques? Is it a gift from God to bring excitement into our lives? . . . Perhaps both.

Another idea that has recently been flickering across my mind is that God in His infinite wisdom knew that I would not be one of those "cool" mothers who knows how to throw a world class over the top birthday party certain to secure endless friends for her child. Thank heavens my children are so good at making friends by themselves, because if it were up to my birthday party throwing skills . . . they would be doomed!

If you are an elite Birthday Party throwing parent you send your invitations out weeks in advance and they are handcrafted with cute scrapbook paper. This is a fact. I have a friend that lives down the street who sent out her sons birthday invitation weeks in advance and the invitation was so incredible that the kids have been fighting for days over who gets to hold it!

Ya . . . we sent Drew's invites out a day or two before the party. He was going to invite three kids from his class and a couple kids from the ward. Well he brought the invitations to school on Friday and later that day I get a phone call.

"Hi, is Drew there?"

"No, sorry."

"Well, he told me to bring a ball to his birthday party, and I was wondering if he wanted me to bring a big ball or a small ball."

Certain that it was his friend David I said, "David, I don't know what Drew told you. I will have him call you okay?"

He hesitated and said, ". . . Okay."

Mmmmn . . . what is Drew telling his friends about his party? And how did David get his invitation already? Drew must have run it over to him.

I called David's Mom and asked her, "Hey, what time did it say the party was going to be at on Davids invitation?" I was a little paranoid that I had written 2 on some of the invitations and 3 on others. Yes . . . it is totally something that I would do.

She answered back, "Um . . . David never received an invitation."

"What? He totally called me saying that Drew told him to bring a ball or something."

"No . . . I'm pretty sure that David never called over there."

Nice. I am AWESOME!! So then later I get a phone call from a parent of a child that Drew gave an invitation to.

"Hi, is this Drew's Mom?"

"Yes."

"Oh good. Connor will be coming to the party tomorrow, and he told me that he is supposed to bring his Beyblade Stadium?"

What? "Oh! It must have been Connor that called earlier! I thought it was Drew's friend David. I even called David's Mom and she had no clue what I was talking about! How embarrassing. Ha ha ha."

"Uh . . . Connor didn't call you."

"Oh." Awkward.

So the day of the party comes. Oh ya . . . that would be the next day. And I was preparing for the party. When I had asked Drew what he wanted to do at his Beyblade party he said, "We are going to "Bey" Mom. Of course!" Which if you know anything about "Blading" . . . Bey is short for Beyblading.

I knew that we couldn't just have the kids come and "Beyblade" if I were a good party throwing Mom.So I decided that we would start off with the children decorating cupcakes. Each trying to make their cupcake look like a Beyblade. Then we were going to do a little scavenger hunt in which there were notes from the "Dark Bladers" who had hid the Arenas and they would have to find the clues in order to find the arenas to Beyblade. And then possibly if we had time we would play "Pin the Beyblade to the stadium." Ya, that would satisfy any elite party throwing mother.

Well the first kid, Connor, arrived with a stadium in his hand.

Then a mystery child shows up. His name was Nicholas and he was holding two soccer balls.

"Ah . . . You are the one I talked to on the phone aren't you?! I called you David didn't I."

"Yeah."

"Sorry about that."

I said, "Okay guys. Come to the table and we will decorate cupcakes!"

But Drew ran to his friend said, "Great you brought the balls! Come on let's go in the backyard and play some soccer!" And off they ran.

Oh heck . . . I would rather play soccer than decorate cupcakes too. And so I let them. Other boys showed up with their stadiums (that Drew had asked them to bring) and the kids all played soccer for awhile and then they had a Beyblade tournament. No pin the beyblade on the stadium. No scavenger hunt. Drew had his own plans and was running the show. And I let him. His party turned out to be more exciting than the one I had planned anyway. I mean honestly, how did it come about that "Pin the tail on the Donkey" and all other versions started to rule the birthday party agenda? Is it really that great of a game that we feel like parties aren't complete unless we add it? . . .
Anyway, I attempted to make a cake that looked like a Beyblade . . . but when the kids came in Drew looked at the cake and said, "Mom! I thought you were going to make a Beyblade cake . . . Not an Octopus!" He was completely serious.

Ya . . . that's why I don't decorate cakes.

Oh boy, what can I say? I may not be cut out for birthday planning. But Drew is!! Drew had that party planned! I had a few extra cupcakes at the end of the day . . .  but hey, Drew enjoyed his party. I may not have impressed anyone with my party planning, and I certainly didn't impress anyone with my cake decorating skills . . . but I'm pretty sure Drew had fun, and he knows that I love him! And that is what matters. . . . I hope. Because if I get to the final judgement and the extent of my birthday party throwing skills is a determining factor . . . I am so in trouble!!!!!