Why every party needs a bouncy castle

Magical weekend. Miss L's fourth birthday. I dread organising parties. Even though I used to teach drama and spent lots of time directing big groups of children. Its different when its your own children, for some silly reason it scares me. So we decided to cheat and go for a bouncy castle. It turned out to be a very good idea. We kept the guest list simple, the cousins, children from next door and two friends from pre school. It was all miraculously calm. I think all thanks to the bouncy castle giving them a space to go crazy. We were very lucky with the weather, over the week the forecast changed from a very black raincloud into a warm sunny afternoon with showers (the showers, by some huge stroke of luck, never appeared).
We went old school with the party food: heart and butterfly shaped sandwiches, cheese and pineapple on sticks, sausage rolls, pomm pom bears, hula hoops, grapes, Fox's party ring biscuits and fairy cakes. The cake was chocolate, Miss L spotted it in Baking with Kids. She had a great time covering it using four tubes of smarties and a grab bag of maltesers. She also decorated the fairy cakes with smarties and sprinkles. Making the sandwiches was a lovely family production line with Grandma buttering, me filling and Miss L and Aunty S cutting out shapes.
The bouncy castle meant we didn't have to work out the logistics of party games and whether or not they would cope with winning and losing. Maybe next year. We did pass the parcel which sent my OH into a panic as he couldn't remember the etiquette. No one really cared though. My brother (he's 30) had the biggest tantrum. He was gutted he didn't get a party bag as they had those old fashioned polystyrene glider planes in, and magnetic ladybirds/frogs. In planning everything I got totally nostalgic for the things of our childhood parties.
Miss L was very excited to have a her first 'sleepover' (her cousins slept in her room). Both the Aunties and Uncle A were celebrating birthdays too so the evening was a chance for the grown ups to party. Its didn't take many drinks before we hit the castle ourselves. Proper nostalgic fun. Less than a minute of proper bouncing gave even the fittest amongst us shaky legs. God knows how they kids coped all day. We were excited to get our first lie-in in a while though as they all woke up late and then occupied each other playing.
Breakfast was fried eggs and left over baguette courtesy of Auntie S. Lunch was baguettes tuned into pizza slices. Baguettes, it turns out, are very versatile. Lots more bouncing on Sunday morning after an initial panic when the extension lead to the castle fused. As my OH replaced it with one supplied by our lovely neighbours, Miss L remarked 'My Daddy knows how to fix all castles'. We all laughed, me especially as I had detected the fault and sorted out a solution, my OH simply plugged it in. I bit my tongue.
It was really sad that mum wasn't well enough to come as I know she would have loved watching all the children. But Miss L was very excited to be taken over to Gran and Granddad's house, without Mr G, on Sunday afternoon, for more cake and presents. We all curled up together on the sofa and watched Mum's Fantasia DVD, the perfect end to a perfect weekend. My dad couldn't get over how grown up Miss L was, how tall and talkative she was. All the way there and back in the car she chatted with me. I realised how much more complex some of the concepts she was trying to explain had become. Organising her new toys, school vs pre school, super hero's powers, time, why Gran's don't have babies anymore. We talked a lot about time and growing up, not prompted by me. It felt like a really poignant end to a magical weekend. My little girl has three days left of being three.
Mr G looked out of his window this morning and was utterly shocked to find the castle had 'Gone! Gone!'. I was proud of him too, he just pottered so happily all weekend, and even though he was too excited to nap, kept going all day. It was also lovely to see him being so relaxed and giggly with family he hasn't seen for a few months.

A smelly but peaceful Friday afternoon

I have deleted several attempts at a post. So instead I am just going to start 'In media res' as writers are 'meant to', in the middle of the action where I am now, in the middle of an ordinary Friday. Except there's not alot happening. I'm sat on the sofa in the living room with my laptop on my knee. Mr G is in his cot contemplating his post lunch nap. He is shouting 'tractor' repeatedly, his latest favourite word. Miss L is standing far too close to the TV, watching Dora and demanding food. This is my official 'lunch hour'. Normally I tear round like a mad thing doing jobs and making lists of more things to do. Friday I like to take it easier.
The house smells of gas and rotten food. The fridge has packed up and the gas board are relaying all the Victorian pipework in our road. It has driven me mad all week ( I had no idea fixing a fridge could take three engineer's visits over the course of two weeks) but now its Friday so I am prepared to ignore it all. Despite all the inconvenience, the workmen are proving to be great entertainment for the kids who got their Bob the Builder tool kit out and tried to join in. We found Mr G a pair of dugarees in a bag of hand me downs today so with his protective glasses round his neck and his screwdriver in his pocket he really looks the part.
Today I was reminded how rapidly life with children changes. This morning we had six other children to play and for the first time since Miss L was a baby, I actually managed to have some fairly uninterrupted chat with my friends. It had all gone ominously quiet so I popped up to check on the three year olds in Miss L's room and was astounded to find them all playing mummies and daddies together really nicely. Blimey this feels like a big corner to turn. Downstairs the one year olds haven't hit the snatching and not sharing phase yet so they were happily pottering round. I am starting to finally see some benefits to my children's age gap (2 years).
This afternoon, (if we get the gas back) we are going to start cooking fairy cakes for Miss L's fourth birthday party tommorow. I looked at her yesterday as I was putting her to bed and tried to see her as the little baby she once was. I just can't see it anymore. But I see this amazing big girl who is full of ideas and questions. When she was first born I wanted time to stand still, for her to always be a baby. But now watching her grow up is amazing. My favourite thing about being a parent, and sometimes also the toughest bit is that you never know what they will do next. She has one more year before school. So starting this blog is also a way to record our last year at home together.