We throw great parties

Honestly, we do -- we have really, really fun parties, even if they are, more often than not, kid-themed. Aidan had his birthday party planned in great detail, and the theme this year just had to be Power Rangers. He wanted me to make a Power Ranger cake (yikes), and after coming up with a good plan, by the time I priced out all of the different colored icings, cake batter, etc. it came just a few dollars short of me buying a cake, and thus saving me all that effort. So yesterday we stopped at Carvel and Aidan placed his order: a Power Ranger ice cream cake that said "Happy 5th Birthday, Aidan" in red lettering. My boy is very specific about these things.

The day dawned beautiful, a perfect party day. We spent the morning trimming the hedges and tidying up the yard, and the afternoon was spent decorating and getting everything ready. Aidan could hardly contain himself.

Then came a huge bust. Don took Aidan to Carvel to pick up the cake and to my boy's utter despair he saw that they completely botched the order: it was a plain cake, with no Power Ranger in sight, and blue lettering instead of red. His little heart broke. But my little heart soared: in recognition of their error, they fully refunded our money and gave us the cake for free. You can't beat that gift! And Aidan was quickly and easily appeased by a trip to the party store next door for an 8-pack of Power Ranger party plates and a few cardboard masks for a couple of bucks. Wow ... grace-snacks now come in the form of ice cream! Cool!My sweet, big boy is asleep now, with his new Yellow Ramone (from the Cars movie -- "Now my collection is complete," he said) tucked next to his pillow, and a couple of glow-in-the-dark necklaces hanging in the bedroom (a part of favor, of sorts, for all the kids -- a huge hit). I have a massive headache, bordering on a migraine -- more from the severe stress and anxiety of the last few days and not of this party at all -- but the joys of the day far outweigh my grown-up problems. Happy, happy birthday to our beautiful boy ... we love you, precious gift, wonderful child.