The party

Elayna's party went damned well.

libidoergosum and blueingenue met us for breakfast. shadesong's parents, running a bit late, told us to head to Bagel Palace, so we all gathered there, where much food was eaten and coffee quaffed. After, Elayna went to karate, shadesong and her parents went to Party City to pick up the piñata and other stuff, and libidoergosum, blueingenue, and I went to Toys Is Us to buy extra goody bag stuff and their presents.

Afterwards, we got back and did set up, and then Shadesong's dad and I went to Publix get the cake and food platters. No problems with the cake, but when we got to the deli, they A) hadn't prepared the chicken tender platter yet, and B) insisted that we ordered a cheese platter instead of a fruit platter. After fiftteen minutes, that was finally straightened out. At which point, we found out that the credit card machines were down. They had to call in each cc order from the service desk individually. On a busy Saturday.

At 2:10, after the party was supposed to have started, we finally got back, to find that lots of kids had shown up. Lots of them. All loud. Lots of adults, too.

The party was a blur from that point onward, but a fun one. Only a few mild incidents, nothing major, and every (child and adult) had a blast.

I'm sure Shadesong will post a list of birthday booty. There were lots of great gifts for Elayna. She's watching one -- Spy Kids 2, courtesy of her grandparents -- right now. Other DVDs included the recent version of Annie (from my Mom), the new edition of Beauty and the Beast from her aunt, and something else I can't remember. Lots of books, including a Lewis Sachar, a Bruce Coville, a nice hardcover Secret Garden, and only a couple of doubles (someone got her the Hello Kitty Memory Maker, and there was a repeat book).

There was also much piñata fun, as the kids couldn't break it, and it took three adults to finally destroy it. Apparently, we had the only piñata with a saving throw against sticks.

By 5 or so, everyone had gone, and we collapsed.

No, I've not been checking LJ much today, nor will I do much checking tonight (going away party for chelona and voltbang or tomorrow (more stuff with Elayna's grandparents). But it's been a good, if exhausting, weekend so far.

This little woman, who had just turned 4 when I first met her, is now 8.