{"id":856,"date":"2010-10-31T15:55:42","date_gmt":"2010-10-31T19:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/?p=856"},"modified":"2010-10-31T15:55:42","modified_gmt":"2010-10-31T19:55:42","slug":"happy-birthday-now-with-party-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/?p=856","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday – Now With Party Notes!"},"content":{"rendered":"

So here we are again, facing down the frightening prospect of another Halloween \u2013 another birthday for the Human Tape Recorder.\u00a0 On Saturday (yesterday), we had the Party of the Bus, whereby the HTR invited 5 other 6th grade girls, with whom she rides the bus, to celebrate her birthday between 11am and 3pm.\u00a0 Since SOBUMD had knee surgery earlier this week, I was the principal party coordinator \u2013 and believe you me, I know how to throw an AWEsome party!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yeah, right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a DVD player downstairs, along with 3 computers.\u00a0 Yell if there\u2019s blood; I\u2019ll call you for pizza.\u201d\u00a0 These are bright 11- and 12-yr olds; I figure if they can\u2019t find something to do for 4 hours, she\u2019s invited the wrong group.\u00a0 Needless to say, she had the right group.\u00a0 But – what do 6 girls in 6th grade in this high-tech, high-octane world do for a 4-hour birthday party?\u00a0 These are the children of the Internet!\u00a0 Why, they play their high-tech games and listen to their techno-pop modern music, of course.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You know, like the Beatles.\u00a0 And such games they know!\u00a0 Twister.\u00a0 Foosball.\u00a0 Truth or Dare.\u00a0 And a few good rounds of Hide-n-Seek.\u00a0 \u00a0Between the music, the games, and the homemade pizza sauce and self-made pizzas (I had them shape their own dough and place their own toppings), these girls could have had this party in the 1950s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(A huge shout-out for party facilitation is due to our dear friends who removed the Reigning Queen of Pink for several hours, with no notice whatsoever \u2013 pink 8-yr-olds and Goth-leaning 12-yr olds do not mix as well as you\u2019d think.)<\/p>\n

There were a few notable highlights:\u00a0 During one round of Hide-n-Seek, I stepped into the upstairs bathroom.\u00a0 Luckily for all concerned, I was only there to grab the laundry basket.\u00a0 Also luckily, my heart started right up again after a small voice whispered, \u201cJust so you know, I\u2019m back here,\u201d from behind the shower curtain.\u00a0 Scared the hell out of me.\u00a0 Needless to say, she won that round.<\/p>\n

Another note highlighted the historical knowledge these girls show:\u00a0 Walking past the pizza-scarfing sextet, I heard one of them shouting, \u201cIch bin ein Berliner!\u201d\u00a0 Unable to resist, I interjected, \u201cThat\u2019s right \u2013 you ARE a small jelly doughnut!\u201d\u00a0 As I walked upstairs, I heard her explaining to the group that the reason that exchange was so funny is because \u201cthat\u2019s what John F. Kennedy really said in Berlin when the Berlin Wall came down.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOBUMD and I laughed until we hurt \u2013 I was NOT going to dissuade her of that notion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The only other highlight, if I may say so, was the cake.\u00a0 There are significant downsides to letting your kids watch too much Food Network TV, and the raising expectations are probably highest on that list.\u00a0 \u201cDaddy, since I\u2019m turning 12, you\u2019ll make me a 12-layer cake, right?\u201d\u00a0 How could I refuse my little angel?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"You

You can eat the pieces as they\u2019re taken off the field, you know, like rugby players do.<\/p><\/div>\n

Again:\u00a0 Yeah, right.\u00a0 She\u2019s only lucky that I view this as a challenge \u2013 I maintain that TV is mostly crap, and if I\u2019m to hold my end of the argument, I see it as necessary to be able to cook anything that shows up on their little screens, just to prove that I\u2019m better than the TV.\u00a0 I had the same problem with Number One Son a few years ago \u2013 he wanted a birthday party with a chess cake.\u00a0 That would be a cake on which one could play chess, and then eat the pieces as they\u2019re taken off the field, you know, like rugby players do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So yeah, 12-layer cake.\u00a0 Step one: bake 12 small cakes\u2026\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take as long as I thought it would largely because we got the damn oven fixed that morning, and I was able to bake them 6 at a time.\u00a0 Came out OK, and looking more complicated than it was \u2013 which is of course the idea.\u00a0 All the girls liked it, even though several of them couldn\u2019t finish their slice.\u00a0 At first I couldn\u2019t understand this, until I realized the finished cake weighed something over 6 pounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"12

12 years, 12 layers. If she's still living here at 19, I'm in trouble.<\/p><\/div>\n

If the entire post above seems choppy and disjointed, I assure you the party seemed like that as well.\u00a0 All in all, a good and happy birthday party for the Human Tape Recorder!\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today being her actual birthday, Trick or Treating for her birthday is on tap for tonight, along with visits from the Very Clever Grandparents and Aunt Janice.\u00a0 More cake!\u00a0 Happy Birthday to the HTR, and Happy Halloween to one and all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During one round of Hide-n-Seek, I stepped into the upstairs bathroom. Luckily for all concerned, I was only there to grab the laundry basket. Also luckily, my heart started right up again after a small voice whispered, \u201cJust so you know, I\u2019m back here,\u201d from behind the shower curtain. Scared the hell out of me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,42,3,40],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=856"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}