There is nothing I like more than relaxing at home (which is spic-n-span clean)on a Saturday night on which we're struggling to find something to do.

The birthday party was a complete success. Four of the ten invited guests showed. Two of the ten invited guessed sent their regrets earlier. That means four of the 10 invited guests don't know the meaning of RSVP.

I would like to personnally plead to all of you: When invited to a soiree (sp?) that you may or may not attend, check the invitation for the initials R. S. V. P. If you see them, please call the phone number following these initials and let the hostess know whether or not you are coming. Please. You can call while I'm at work and leave a voicemail. Really, you don't have to actually talk to me! I would just like to know if your rugrat is coming to play with my rugrat. The only reason I care is it helps me figure out how much cake and how many plates to buy.

Lord that's irritating. If anyone needs 20 servings of chocolate Spider-man cake, let me know!

Otherwise, it was a blast. We had two boy guests and two girl guests and enough pizza for everyone, including Nana. After pizza, we had a water balloon fight. I spent an hour filling up about 100 water balloons so we could spend 15 minutes emptying them. (At one point, "GET THE MAMA!" was the battle cry! I think I'm still a little damp!)

While they were drying out, Little Boy took all the children into a shady spot in the yard and taught them how to make origami frogs. Unfortunately, some of them turned out to be better at it than he was, so Little Boy begged for goodie bags and I relented.

Since I had chosen and packed the loot bags, I was well aware of the contents. I knew all about the squirt guns and thought it would be a fun diversion for the afternoon. I did not, however, plan on the giant bungee balloons being filled with water and used as weapons. Within the hour all the children and I were soaked to the skin and the girls were complaining they were cold.

I quickly set up an old blanket on the floor in front of the TV and we picniced on ice-cream and cake while watching "Shrek". Halfway through the movie the kids all decided to play hide-and-go-seek and tag outside. Blissful quiet was enjoyed indoors until parents started showing up.

LB played outside with his two neighborhood buddies until just a few minutes ago.

I'm pleased with the way things turned out and with LB's behavior. In the past we've had problems with birthdays as he sees them as being "all about me" days. That's true, of course, but he's had problems in the past balancing that with the duties of being a host. Guess he is growing up!

And I enjoyed working together last night on cleaning up his room. I gave him one task at a time and let him complete that before going on, but I didn't let him off the hook until it was completed. We filled a garbage bag and a box of books for the library. His room is so tiny that it's hard to creat play space for him, but I found an over the door shoe bag that works well for his comic books, magazines and action figures as well as his shoes. This allowed us to clear enough floor space to play with his new toys.

I got so inspired, I did the same thing in my room! My shoe bag is mostly filled with shoes (of course) but I had room for my rarely worn baseball caps, too. And the shelf in my closet that used to be covered with shoes now holds the out of season blankets that were in a huge pile in the corner of my bedroom.

Now if I could just get this kind of excited about other aspects of my life! (Such as health and excercise!?)

Oooh. And the Visa bill came today. That was darned ugly. Guess I'll need to work on clearing up that mess, too.

But all and all, it's a good thing.