We had a difficult time coming up with a way to celebrate Renee's 9th birthday with her friends. We thought of having a Spa Day at the house, going to a pottery studio to decorate bowls or having the kids to a bouncy, jumpy, sweaty kind of place like Graeme. None seemed just right. Renee wanted to invite all the girls in her year, which was fine with us, but 14 nine year old girls seemed hard to please! Too old for the play places and too many toenails and fingernails for me to paint! So we came up with the idea to have pizza and watch a movie at our house. Renee loved the Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie so we had Baba and Poppa bring it over from Canada to play on our Canadian DVD player, as it wasn't yet available here. We finished the organizing and breathed a sigh of relief that we had planned a party that was different than the others. Well, that sigh of relief ended in a cry of frustration when our brand-new Canadian DVD player stopped working!!! We tried everything to get it to work to no avail. Oh, no! Kris came to the rescue with his idea of playing the disc on my laptop which would be connected to the tv and to the speakers that we used with our old desktop computer. It worked! Fingers were crossed for the big day! The big day arrived and the doorbell started ringing, and ringing and ringing! What had we gotten ourselves into! The guests visited with each other, played a game, ate pizza and then squished together on the couch and on pillows to watch the movie. Renee enjoyed herself, which makes the party a success in my books. She received some lovely gifts, including lots of crafty things that I've been helping her make. Kris and I were so glad when that last guest left and we looked at each other and smiled...we've conquered! We survived! Never again!!
