24x24: Saturday, Oct. 9, 2011

Two days after I came home from the hospital (the second time), we hosted Nicholas' 7th birthday party at our house.

We had a good crowd, but a few families I expected to attend never showed up. The funny thing was that they assumed we had canceled it! My cousin Lesley (one of the women who stayed with me at the hospital) e-mailed me that evening to say, "Mom told me you had Nick's birthday party today!!! We didn't come because I thought that everyone you'd invited would KNOW what you've been through and would know you had canceled it!!!"

I was thinking to myself, "If I WERE going to cancel it, I certainly would have let the invitees know ahead of time." And when I was telling my friend Vanessa (who also stayed with me at the hospital) about the e-mail later, she said, "I would have assumed the OPPOSITE. That of course you were having the party. Because you are YOU."

Ha! Two people who know me so well, but came to two totally different conclusions.

For the record, I decided to go ahead with the party because it really was a simple little shindig. And I had asked our babysitter Anna to come over at 9 a.m. and help me get ready for it. Having helping hands made it all very easy.

Nick had requested a Nerf party, at which he just wanted to shoot soft bullets at his friends. WHAT A HOST.

Jake was more than happy to help with the shooting of the friends.

He was locked and loaded at 11 a.m. SHARP.

Once his friends entered the yard, Nick adopted a no-holds-barred mentality.

Luckily all of his friends are blood-thirsty little creeps, too. (HI, APRIL!) (April is the proud mom of Owen, pictured below.)

I would love to tell you that it was controlled chaos out there, but let's be real. There was nothing "controlled" about it.

Bullets were flying, and everyone disregarded my Rules, which really consisted of "No shooting at the head or face." Genitals were fair game.

The boys (he only invited boys this year) made excellent use of the tree fort and rock wall as far as seeking out the best vantage points for maximum damage.

Lisa's son Josh was the oldest in attendance, and he jumped from place to place. His strategy was very effective.

The tree fort was probably the most popular spot for getting above the fray and being able to see their human targets.

There were very few lulls in the action, but I tried to get a few pictures of each child. Kevin was kind enough to actually stop and stand still for me.

The dads' primary purpose was picking up and redistributing bullets. Bravo, men, brah-voh.

Nick asked for a dual-themed party, actually ... he wanted a "Nerf/Harry Potter party." So of course I had our cake lady Vickie make a Harry Potter cake.

I didn't ask her to make it different from Jake's (last April), but she did.

Yet again, her attention to detail was amazing!

And, as always, it was totally delicious.

Eventually we called all the warriors inside, and we sang Happy Birthday to Nick.

After we enjoyed our pizza and cake, we headed back outside to tear up the pinata.

It was a Harry Potter hat, and I think all but one child got a chance to whack the crap out of it before it was demolished.

We'd loaded it full of candy and given each child a Ziploc baggie, so they were quick to snatch up as much candy as possible when it broke open.

I had bought a pack of Harry Potter glasses, so of course I wanted a picture with all the kids wearing them.

You know I had to give Amelia a pair, too.

I. DIE. FROM. THE. CUTENESS.

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