Frustration...

I never cease to be amazed at how much money people spend on their kid's birthday parties. My son has been invited to 4 birthday parties of his classmate's. The thing is, the invitations are handed out to the entire class! I would not, even in my craziest moments, invite sixteen 6 and 7 year old kids to a party. Can we say insanity? And these aren't little at home, cake and ice cream parties...they are huge, all out parties: The first one was a joint party, 2 brothers a year apart, parents welcome too. There were no less than 40 kids there. They had a cookout and a huge Bonzai slide for the kids to play on, plus games, pinata, bounce thingies, etc. The second was a Chuck E. Cheese party. The third was a Bounce Party. The fourth one, today, was a party at a Martial Arts studio.

The invitations were sent out a month ago, which, to me seemed a bit early for birthday party invites to go out. Anyways, they said meet at the studio, the party goes from 3-5. Then, this week, my son brings home a note saying that there will be pizza, so maybe just give your kid a snack for lunch. We arrived at 2:50, they arrived at 3:10 and said that the party had been changed to 4-6pm, didn't I get the note? Ummmm, no. That's why I was waiting here at 2:50! So, I told birthday boy's mom that we would be by to pick up my son a little early because we had dinner plans with my mother-in-law.

I told my son that he should only eat 1 or 2 slices of pizza and only 1 piece of cake, so that he would be able to eat dinner with my M-I-L. She is the type of person that has an opinion about everything, including portion size and what kind of food is eaten. We get there and, of course, my son tells Grandma ALL about his exciting day and the fun at the party. And he says, "I had 2 pieces of pizza, so I'm not going to eat a lot of dinner." To which she replies, "I know, I'm very dissappointed." I can't fault him, he's a 6 year old, brutally honest kid. She on the other hand could have exercised some tact. She is never completely satisfied with anything.

He did eat his entire dinner.

But I digress.

On a happier, more wallet-damaging note...I found a couple things while Diaper Hunting that I simply MUST order. GoGo Natural, Hiney Lineys, Blue House Soaps all have terrifically tempting websites.