Damn. Just hit some key, no idea what, and everything I'd typed just vanished. I thought it was just the caps lock (to turn it off after accidentally turning it on) but apparently not.

Anyway, just complaining about being tired out from Sarah's party, so no great loss... Actually, it went well. No one got hurt or threw up (at least not while they were still in my house). Nothing was broken, and no one (except Olivia who was a bit tired & grumpy to start with) ended up in tears, so that's all right. A lot of the mums here don't serve the cake at the party itself - for one thing, less mess. I did that this year, and it worked well - brought it out last thing before the parents were due to collect the kids, they sang, then we cut it up, wrapped it in napkins & added it to the party bags. And if you are serving lunch anyway, they don't really need to eat it there. We got lucky this year with the weather. It wasn't as good as today, which was one of those beautiful Indian summer days, but it was fairly sunny, quite warm, and no rain. So they could eat outside as well as play a bit and get rid of some of that energy.

We've also stopped opening presents actually at the party, which I think is a good idea. Let's face it, most kids, especially the boys, just don't have the patience to sit around and watch someone else open gifts. They're bad enough playing pass the parcel, where they know they are all going to get a chance to unwrap a layer! The treasure hunt was a big success, though, and despite hoards of kids running up and down my steps & in and out of rooms, nothing was damaged and everyone got a chance to find a clue. You never saw such an excited bunch of kids, except maybe Christmas. :) But that's good. Better than my friend Teresa who had a party last year which was the same day as another party (after it, not at conflicting times) and the first party was a disco so half the kids kept telling Teresa how much better the other party was. Of course, those were 6 year old boys, and we know what kind of mouths they have on them!

Sarah's got two birthday parties next weekend, one a girl from her old school, one a boy from her new school. Luckily, they aren't on the same day, which should be better for tempers and tiredness. Friends of mine with school aged kids have said that it's a never ending stream of birthday parties, and I'm beginning to think they are right. But that's ok - it's important for Sarah to make friends and have fun, so I don't mind (too much) being a chauffeur. Or however you spell that.