Birthday Drama

 The Birthday Girl bright and early yesterday morning!

What do you get when you mix the aftermath of a major holiday with a birthday celebration and then throw in a few handfuls of sugar overload and sleep underload?  And then times it by 5 children?  If you guessed lots of birthday drama you'd be right!  Hahaha.  Oh Grace.  

You see, yesterday was her 9th birthday.  The day dawned inauspiciously enough and despite the later bedtime the night before thanks to Halloween, she managed to wake up on time and get ready for school without any trouble.  She was even in a pleasant enough frame of mind to agree to my suggestion that we postpone her actual cake and ice cream celebration until today so that we'd have enough time to do it justice.  Her only caveat was that she be able to open at least 2 of her presents that day.  Little did she  know the tricks I had up my sleeve, and as I dropped her off at school I told her as much.  Mwahahahaha.  

A couple of weeks ago I came up with the brilliant idea of giving Grace a birthday surprise that would completely make her day.  Since the cousins only live a couple hours away now, I arranged with Kristin to meet halfway and pick up Hannah to spend the weekend and celebrate Grace's birthday with us!   I knew Grace would NOT expect something like this at all and it was so fun to plan something I knew she would love.  When Grace got home from school yesterday, I let her know that I would be taking her out after dinner to pick up her biggest birthday present and simply left it at that.  Hahaha.  

Things are never completely smooth and hassle-free over here, though, and we experienced a slight hiccup in the afternoon and evening's plans when Alex ate part of a No-Bake cookie and let us know that he is indeed allergic to peanut butter.  I guess I should add, in full disclosure, that I was the one who gave it to him because I wanted to see what would happen.  I know, I know.  Epic mom fail.  He's never technically had anything with nuts in it, though, and we've avoided it due to the assumption that he probably WAS allergic and I figured that I could give him a little bit and then keep an eye on him to make sure he was okay.  After giving him a piece of the cookie, I sat him down right in front of me and stared intently at his face for several minutes to see if any rash or swelling would take place, and after nothing happened I sent him scampering off merrily on his way while I tried to get dinner started.  Fast forward about 15 minutes later to when I was sending Scott off to the store to pick up something I forgot and asked him to take some kids with him.  Specifically Lover Boy who had been a cranky mess all day {blast that sugar overload} and had been whining and fussing and wanting me to hold him for the last few minutes. Well, apparently I'm the world's worst mom and should have looked a little closer at the 2 year old to see WHY he was whining and fussing and wanting me to hold him so much, because Scott was back inside almost immediately saying Alex was having a reaction and needed some Benadryl.  Poor little lamb had broken out into hives all over his face and one of his eyes was close to swelling shut. 

 He wouldn't stay still {or stop crying} long enough to get a picture that would do the rash justice.  Suffice it to say that it looked pretty bad. 

I was slightly worried for a second there and vacillated back and forth on whether or not we should use the EpiPen, too.  In the end, I realized the rash wasn't spreading, and he wasn't having any trouble with breathing or swelling, so I just tried to keep him happy while he kept rubbing and rubbing at his poor little eye. Once Scott got back from the store, he settled onto the couch to cuddle him up while I finished dinner and was rewarded for his efforts with Alex throwing up all over him.  Not once, but TWICE.  Yep.  And just for good measure, he threw up one final time while Scott was trying to bathe him and clean him up from his first two attempts.  All's well that ends well, though, and after his bath Alex was as good as new.  Yay!

Once the Alex interlude was over, we had just enough time to eat Grace's requested birthday meal of hamburgers before heading out to pick up her "present."  I had only given her 2 clues -- "banana" and that it was something bigger than her.  I told her they only had it at this one CVS that was kind of far away but that she would REALLY, really love it.  Hahaha.  Let the record show that Grace is probably our ONLY child who would willingly and excitedly embark on a journey of unknown length to an unknown destination and not even think twice about it.  That would probably be Ethan's definition of a nightmare.  Hahahaha.  At this point, I was getting more and more excited as I realized that she really had NO CLUE where we were going and that because it was so dark outside she probably wouldn't recognize our usual meeting spot when we got there.  Seriously, I was dying!  She lasted a whole half hour of driving before piping up that we'd been driving forever and how much longer till we got to the CVS.  I managed to distract her with "20 Questions" and "6 Degrees of Selena Gomez" before I broke down and let her play on my phone for the last 15 minutes of the drive.  

We got there a few minutes before Kristin and Hannah, and after I had used the restroom, I watched in hilarity as Grace tore up and down the aisles of the CVS searching for this "present" that was supposed to be bigger than she was.  "Are you sure it's here mom???" she kept asking, and "Is this the right CVS??"  Yes, I told her over and over again as I slowly walked with her trying to stall a little longer while waiting for Kristin and Hannah to arrive.  As they walked in the door, I directed Grace to go up towards the front once more saying I was pretty sure the present was by the checkout.  When she saw Hannah she came to a complete stop and asked what they were doing there.  As it slowly dawned on her that Hannah WAS the present, it was so much fun to see how excited they both were. 

With the girls falling asleep rather quickly last night, I was hopeful that today would be free of any problems and we could enjoy the day unscathed.  Alas, that was not to be the case.  There were definitely moments of happiness and fun -- school was played, candy was eaten, dollar movies were attended -- but there were also plenty of moments of misery and despair.  Mostly because certain firstborn children spent the majority of the day feeling left out and retaliated by going completely into the red zone {it didn't help, of course, that he'd basically only eaten candy all morning long}.

It took me a lot longer than I had planned on to come up with and create the "Series of Unfortunate Events" inspired cake that Grace wanted me to surprise her with and in the end, Grace rewarded my efforts with a freakout fit of her own -- exclaiming in her patented shrill and shrieking meltdown voice that I picked out the worst presents {"You know I hate books and clothes for presents, MOM!!!!!"}, she didn't get anything that she liked, and it was the worst birthday ever.  Exclamation point.   Happy Birthday!

The inspiration for the cake -- Lemony Snicket's seal found on the back of every book and with the signature of every letter he includes in the series.  I don't think Grace was overly enthused.

 Cute little Jane spent about an hour coloring in Grace's sign while I was decorating the cake.

Pulling a Miley.

Posing happily before she knew how horrible her presents were.

 Group Shot -- Take 5!

 Group Shot -- Take 12!  

 Uh oh.  Foreshadowing?  {A word which here means it won't be long before the real stink starts.}

 Admiring the view.

 Making a wish.

 Unwrapping "the book."

 Discovering "the clothes."

 Stealing "a candle."

 Feeling "the funk."

 Having "a rough time."

Ending on a happier note.

And that was that.  For the record, Grace didn't like the makeup and nail polish that "Sophie" picked out for her or the robe that "Ethan" got for her at Costco either.  The only thing she DID like was the box that Grandma sent with the gold coins and painting from Grandma Grandma {Scott's grandma}.  After eating some cake and ice cream {and Oreos}, however, she seemed to perk up a bit and spent the rest of the evening playing with her make up and nail polish, making a music video with Hannah, and at the very end kicking Sophie completely out of her room and thus out of all their plans and activities and leaving her a wailing heap on the floor outside the door.  So that was that.  Hahaha.  All in all it's been a weekend to remember.  I'm sure tomorrow will be even MORE memorable as we bring Hannah back and brace ourselves for the storm that is bound to start brewing.  Hashtag Grace is a joy and a wonder!