Ben's 6th birthday party!

I don't think I've had a birthday party for one of my boys be quite so stressful. Public school is a lot different that pre-school. They have a lot stricter rules about giving out addresses and phone numbers of the parents. My intentions were to mail the invites for Ben's party, but then the day before school was out his teacher told me she couldn't give me the addresses of the students. So I had to figure out what I was going to do, set the date, place, time, print invites and get them ready to be handed out the day school was out. Thankfully - I got it all handled. I specified on the invites to the parents "Please RSVP I don't have your address or phone number the teacher couldn't give it to me." I'm thinking surely they'll RSVP now, right? We had been to a few other parties where the parents didn't RSVP and the children didn't show up. Apparently parties aren't as big in public school as they are in pre-school. In pre-school you go to 13 parties and you get invited to 13 parties. It's just the way it works. Public school has been a big shocker for me.

Needless to say, only one boy from Ben's class was able to make it - and they are the only ones who called me. I mean, really ... is it that hard to pick up the phone and call and let me know you can or can't come? My girlfriend tells me that it's not the norm to RSVP or send thank you notes for gifts anymore. That's just not the way I do things - so it's tough for me to deal with that.

For the party - we went to a local waterpark. The 5 of us, our babysitter (to watch Andy), Granny, the little boy who came to the party and his family, and our next door neighbors (there's 6 of them). All in all - it was fun. The kids had a great time. We played, then ate hot dogs, then played some more. Once the park closed we came back home and ate our beautiful birthday cake (shaped like a skateboard) and ice-cream. Then everyone left except Ben's school friend - he stayed for a sleep-over. This was Ben's first time to have a friend sleep-over. They had a great time. They played and played. I had to make Will sleep in his own bed (Ben and his friend slept on the air mattress in the living room) because he wouldn't leave them alone. In the morning, we got donuts - jumped on the air mattress and then our friend went home. It was a great party and great fun.