10.5 Hours In

 Hello.  I'm writing to you from inside of an 11-hour birthday party.  If I don't get out alive, this will be my last correspondence.

OK, that was probably too dramatic.  But you have to understand, I have been surrounded by eleven year old girls for ten hours.  Nothing is "good" or "bad."  Everything is "THE BEST/WORST/CUTEST THING EVER!!!!!!"  In that spirit, this had been the best party ever!

When Ari asked me if she could have an eleven hour birthday party on this day, I said, "Let's see...we have four ballet classes, three Nutcracker rehearsals, a violin ensemble rehearsal, another birthday party and tickets to Phantom of the Opera.  So...I don't see why not!"  Golda disagreed.  She said, "Mom, you have to draw the line somewhere, even if it's beyond insanity."  Ah, Golda, that's a classic.  Don't worry, we'll draw the line...somewhere.

When I woke up this morning, there was a foot of snow on the ground and the power was out.  I wondered how we were going to pull of an eleven hour party with no power.  What, change the theme to "emergency preparedness?"  Break out the wheat grinder and 72-hour kits?  I thought about it and decided to not think about it.  First, we had to get a few of those ballet classes out of the way.  By the time the party started at 10:30, the power was back on, so my plan (denial) worked.  All systems go!  The girls started the party with brunch at Grannie Annie's.  Scott oversaw brunch while I took Freestone to his rehearsal.  We decided ahead of time to order everyone a scone, thus avoiding a two hundred dollar breakfast tab and enough leftover food to host a second party.  It worked out perfectly.  Even Scott, like, had SO MUCH FUN!

 We were originally going to ice skate in Bountiful and then go to Nana's to rake leaves.  Alas, a private party at the ice rink and two feet of snow ruined that plan completely.  Plan B was ice skating later in Ogden and spending the early afternoon opening presents, getting nails done and playing a game Ari got for her birthday.  (Headbandz, in case anyone is looking for a fun Christmas present.  The girls loved it.)

 Ruby and I took all the girls to a seasonal boutique...you know, the Barn Boutique on Mutton Hollow.  They all had fun looking at all the cute stuff.  Everyone loved the American Girl Doll outfits.  I mean LOVED!!! Like, LOVED them!!!!   Sorry, I let down my enthusiasm for a minute there.  With the girls downstairs watching a movie, I started to get my regular personality back.

 Anyway, while Scott hid in the basement watching sports and some of the girls and I went to Nutcracker, the remaining party-goers kept it alive making a cake and devouring it.  After that, there are several hours unaccounted for, which can happen when you attempt to document an 11-hour event.  I made dinner for the girls, which they ate in Tziporah's room, formerly known as The Cafe.  Ari had a cute table and some blankets set up in there.  Scott asked me why the girls were eating in Tizzy's room.  I said, "I dunno."  Like I'm going to micromanage 660 minutes of birthday fun?  They can eat wherever they want!  Lots of things about 5th grade girls don't make sense.

After a very early dinner, I took the whole group to the Ogden Ice Sheet to skate while Scott, Xanthe, Golda and Ruby got ready for Phantom.  We had this one divided up perfectly; Scott hates ice skating and I hate Phantom (Sorry, ALW.  You know I still love you for Cats), so everyone was happy.  Instead of sitting there shivering, I skated too.  It was fun gliding around and around the ice rink, working up a sweat.  It's such a zen feeling of freedom...until you fall on your bum.  Maybe it's a good thing I forgot the camera.  It was hard enough texting Scott about Phantom and Coco about babysitting while I skated.  They really should have a No Texting and Skating sign up.  Maybe a picture with a red line through it of a 40-year-old mom falling on her tush, phone flying through the air.

Nevertheless, skating was a blast.  (Did I just say that?  Maybe I really am turning into a pre-teen.) The girls were outraged by some teen-age boys who were extremely comfortable on the ice and were whizzing around at light speed.  After our girls heard one of them utter a swear word, every "member of the staff," as Ari put it, received a complaint from our group.  Groan.  The girls weren't shy about logging their complaints, to the point that I had to follow behind them whispering to members of the staff, "You know, those boys were fine.  I'm sure they didn't notice my girls at all and weren't trying to spray them with ice OR swear words.  We're very sheltered.  We never see boys skating that fast." Can you say, like, DRAMA?

Next on the agenda:  Aquamarine, a movie Golda, Ruby and Lexie used to love.  (I had to go to Cosmos Video to rent this movie.  If you've never been there, well, it's ugly, but they have every movie.  They use 3x5 cards to look up your name.  They didn't have a 3x5 card on me, so it took awhile.  So long that Scott texted to ask where I was.  I texted back, "1988."  He knew right away that I was at Cosmos Video.  It's surreal.)

My Cosmos sacrifice was rewarded; the girls are loving the movie and I'm loving eating a whole bowl of popcorn with Freestone.  Next year I think we should go for 12 hours.  You in, Ari?  Thanks for being a great kid with great ideas and great friends.  You are like, THE MOST AWESOME GIRL EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!  Love ya. :)