In the middle of the night, Peyton woke up and felt my face and head Helen Keller-style, since it was so dark in my old room. I told her to lay down, and she went right back to sleep. She was in the middle of the blow up bed, so I had to curl myself around her, so I didn’t fully awake her when I first got in. She woke up this morning, and whispered, “Are my friends coming over to our house today?” I nodded, and then she plopped back down until she said she had to go potty. It was 815 am by the time I got up. My mom had made eggs and waffles, so we ate a quick breakfast, then headed home. My grandma wanted to know if we were all going out for Dave’s birthday, and come day-of, he agreed, so we left Brandon there much to his delight! We headed home with Peyton to get ready for her friends to come over for a gingerbread-decorating party. Dave and Peyton headed out to do some errands, while I vacuumed, and cleaned up here. They came home after about an hour, and I sent her right to nap. It was noon, and the girls were to be over by 2pm. I took a nap, too, and woke up by 145 pm. Peyton was still sound asleep, but I had to wake her up to let her get her grumpies out. I stood in her room and just watched her sleep, and she didn’t look close to waking at all. I gave her a hug, and she slowly opened her eyes. As I suspected, she was a bit grumpy, but she worked it out, as I fixed her hair. Neha and her mom showed up right at 2 pm. Peyton snapped out of it, and both girls took off to Peyton’s room. Later, Sydney and Natalie came over, and Dave let them in, as they didn’t ring the doorbell. The three girls continued to play with puzzles, and Peyton’s kitchen. Peyton wanted to turn the Christmas music on, as she LOVES the songs. Dave had it going downstairs, too, so that’s definitely something they have in common. Finally, Misha and Sona arrived, and the girls did a puzzle together before heading down to decorate. Dave had warmed up some snacks for the girls, while I was getting the cookie decorating things ready. He helped take pictures, while the girls decorated. I had some coloring books, stickers, and other activities prepared, but the girls just wanted to color. Then, they headed back to Peyton’s room, and then Peyton looked a bit stressed. I asked her what’s wrong, and she was worried they were going to make her room messy. I told her that she just needed to tell them to put her toys back where they found them. I tried to help out, too, so there wouldn’t be a total mess when they left. We had also had the twistable crayons all splayed out, and the moms asked if we usual put the crayons back each time. I told them we did, and usually Peyton doesn’t take them all out at once. She’s pretty anal, and was hovering around her room, trying to monitor everything. The adults were downstairs, and the girls were slowly migrating with toys downstairs. Peyton kept telling them to keep it upstairs, so I’d go back and bring stuff back upstairs. Pretty soon, Misha had to leave, then Neha, and then Sydney. I think they all had fun, and eventually, Peyton loosened up a bit and just enjoyed herself. Here are the pictures Dave took.
We headed up to get Brandon, (Sydney was the only girl who asked about Brandon, as she knows him the best from the field trip, when they sat next to each other) as my mom and dad were meeting us there with him. My grandma, aunt and uncle also met up there, too. We had a nice warm, Chinese dinner, and then we headed back to my parents’ house for some cake. My mom told Dave, “If you don’t like the cake, Brandon picked it out.” We asked what it was, and he told us, “It’s coconut. And chocolate.” My mom shook her head at the chocolate part, as it was coconut cream. It looked like a big Hostess snowball. Dave was able to blow out the 5 candles (4 – one for each decade of life, and then one to grow on), but then they re-lit. My mom had gotten re-lighting/trick candles, and it didn’t take Dave long to figure it out. The kids were loving it! And they tried to help out, too, but they kept re-lighting. We packed up and left by then, as it was late for them. We got them home by 8 pm, and whisked off to bed. Brandon was already showered thanks to my mom, and then I got Peyton bathed. Neither kid came out, as I think both had a long weekend!
Best line of the night, as my grandma’s handing Dave his present, she says, “Here’s to the YOUNG man!”