Two Parties + Two Days = Too Much! (October 11)

I woke up at the crack of, well 8 a.m. to start working on Griffin's birthday cake. He wanted a Wall-E party, so I baked his cake the day before, then set aside the time this morning to decorate it. I have a great picture of it, but Griffin misplaced my camera, so I can't show it to you. That also meant that I didn't have a camera to take pictures of his party, so we had to rely on cell phone cameras and our Flip video camera. (The only problem with that was that the batteries were dying about 30 seconds after I started filming.) Because John came up with the idea of playing Wallyball at the local rec center for the Wall-E party, we invited a few more kids than we usually would. So instead of 4 kids, we invited 8 and then with Griffin and Ellie, that made 10. Maggie invited her friend, Anna. 12. John and I made 14. Happily for us, three of the kids weren't able to attend. That took the number down to 11. We left for the rec center around 2:20, and then were in the court by 2:30. (A side note here: the picture at the start of this is Griffin walking around saying, "Caps for Sale! 50 cents a cap!" This is from a well-known child's story and I thought it was so clever!)

This is the most important thing to remember when you are planning a party for a boy with Aspergers that doesn't like loud noises. DON'T TAKE HIM TO PLAY WALLYBALL!!! The court was so loud and echoed every scream that nine-year-old girls make. One of the other boys in attendance seemed to have the same reaction, but in an opposite side of the room. We tried to stuff their ears with toilet paper to muffle the sound, but they spent the majority of the time sitting in corners. The other kids seeemed to have fun as we decided to play with beach balls so it would lessen any potential injuries. Warning: Watch the video at your own risk. It will really pull at your heart strings.

After wallyball, we returned home for cake and presents.

The other little boy found a friend in Snowflake and Wilbur and was happy playing with them in and around the house. Griffin received an assortment of Wall-E toys and pillows, some candy, a Pokemon game, and $10 from Grandma Hopkins.

Unable to collapse due to a house that required upkeep and some work that needed done for John's company, I sat down for a few minutes before recording a couple of pages of prompts for Smart. Maybe someday you'll call a pharmacy and hear my voice!

Needless to say, I realized by mid-afternoon that two parties in two days is too much. I decided to reward myself for all my hard work by playing Guitar Hero for an hour before falling asleep. I figure I earned it.