Birthdays Frighten Me (...and now I know why)

Today is Adam's 8th Birthday-Hooray Adam. Congratulations on being a new number - wow. Okay, so birthdays cause me a lot of anxiety and I don't know why! To me it is just a lot of fuss for no good reason and lately I find myself doing the least possible amount of birthday "stuff" that I can get away with and still be considered a good mom/wife/friend. March is a particularly stressful month for me because many people that I love were born in March - dumb luck that! I don't know what the big deal with birthdays is, but I've been playing along for many years...in fact, I played along today, too, as I threw my boy the birthday party he always dreamed of (fortunately, he did not dream all that big - whew!) However, I dreaded it all week. I've lost sleep over it. Now it's over and I am breathing a huge sigh of relief. I decided to document the event for posterity because I'm 99.9% sure I never want to do that again!

The party started at six o'clock and went until ten o'clock. We called it a "late-over" party since we don't do sleepovers. Adam's 7 wild and crazy friends showed up right on time and the evening began with pizza and plenty of soda which marked the first of several courses of sugar...what was I thinking!!
After pizza, I gave each kid a can of silly string and sent them outside to do as much damage as they could, and they didn't disappoint! Meanwhile, I scrambled to clean up dinner and get the table ready for birthday cake festivities.
After the kids came in we played a few fun games, one involving a lot of dollar store presents and a pair of dice (thanks Angie!) and the other involving a pair of dice and a bunch of candy bars (thanks Suz). The kids had a lot of fun, but they were SO HYPER (you thought the phrase "bouncing off the walls" was a figure of speech? Believe me, it's not!) Maybe giving them more candy had something to do with their heightened rowdiness...hmm.
Next, on to the ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Adam actually wanted an Oreo Pizza from Dominos, but apparently they don't sell them anymore so this was our much more delicious "Plan B".
Then it was back outside with everyone so I could clean up the cake mess and prepare for present opening and more games (at this point I'm wondering why on earth I am hosting a four hour birthday party, especially with my fear of birthdays...I have issues!)
Finally, the part I had been waiting for all night...movie time!! I put on Bee Movie and sent the kids downstairs and stocked them with plenty of popcorn and lemonade (sugar-free, ha-ha kids!) They enjoyed watching the movie while trading Pokemon cards, experiencing occasional bouts of rambunctious behavior, but all-in-all it was good-times. Dare I call it a "success?" Well, when I asked my nephew Logan, one of the party-goers, if it was the best party ever, he said "I don't know yet, because I have another birthday party to go to tomorrow." So, I guess the jury is still out on that one! Happy Birthday, Adam! I need sleep now...