Marie's Toad's Extravagansa

When we turn eight at the Sorenson's house, you get to have a birthday party. This year it was Marie's turn.  She wanted to have a party at "Toad's Fun Zone."  We invited ten kids and went to Toad's.  The kids got to eat pizza and drink pop, but they weren't really that hungry because it was short day at school and most of them had just finished lunch, but they ate some anyway.  We hurry and opened Marie's presents from her friends.  She got a lot of really fun stuff including a "Moxie" girl (kind of like a Barbie), a fun game, a few crafty things, a kite and much more. 
The kids were so excited to go play laser tag, or go mini golfing.  I was going to make them all stay together and do laser tag with Marie, but then I realized that laser tag scares some of the kids and that wouldn't be very nice. So half of the kids went with me to mini golf, while the other half went with Dale to play laser tag.  Both groups basically did a lot of running around for fifteen to twenty minutes.  When they were golfing, they basically ran from hole to hole pushing the ball into the hole by whatever means possible ie... clubs, feet, hands.  It really cracked me up watching them.  Two of the kids were brothers. They both picked black balls to play with.  On a black light golf coarse, that isn't such a good idea, especially for eight-year olds, nevertheless, that is what they wanted.  On one of the holes Zach couldn't find his ball and just about came unglued when his brother Max hit what he thought was his ball.  I quickly showed him that his ball was next to my foot, but he was stilled determined to put it into the hole before moving on, even though the others had already moved to the next hole.  He was so stressed about them leaving him he was almost in tears.  The poor thing. Gratefully the kids waited for him (a little), and he got caught up. 
Meanwhile the laser taggers were running all over the place having a great time.  Most of the laser taggers had older sibblings (mostly brothers) and so they KNEW how to play the game.  It was entertaining to watch them all go at it, even though I only got to watch the last few minutes of their game. 
After that the kids had some loaded cards to go play the games with.  Marie and Julie immediately went to play one of those games where the claw comes down to get a stuffed animal of sorts, and both of them won something.  I couldn't believe it.  The stupid thing was that it cost a dollar just to play the game.  Emma had been watching, and she really wanted one, so when she got her card, she went right over to try it out.  She didn't know how to work it right away and so she swiped the card again...Still nothing.  Then Dale came over and attempted to help her...still nothing.  Finally we realized that it was issuing credits and she now had four chances to get something, but no more money on her card.  So she tried for something and on the first try she got a little pillow.  The other three tries she came up empty handed.  We basically wasted three dollars.  Dale felt sorry for her and added three more dollars to her card and she was off and playing again.  You could tell the kids that had played at Toad's before.  They knew what games to play to give you the most bang for your buck, and how to play them.  Dallon was the master.  He had the most tickets at the end of the party, and he had a great time spending every one.  It was now time for cake and ice cream.  Jen Vesper our dear friend and cousin made Marie a "Stan and Chewy" cake.  The kids loved it.  It was so dang cute.  All of the kids were so excited to cut the cake. Unfortunately I had to crush the kids.  I wanted to save the cake for my family to see, so I had brought cupcakes for the kids to enjoy.  I felt bad, but I didn't think they would care THAT much WHERE the cake came from.  I guess I thought wrong.  I'm sorry.  Other than missing out on the cake thing, I think everyone had a great time, especially Marie.
At our house we tend to celebrate birthdays many times during the week and this was no exception.  We decided to have the family over on Friday night and eat the cake and open her presents.  Both sets of grandparents came, along with Lesa and her family, Ernie and his family, and Chad with his family.  We ate a lot of cake and ice cream, and enjoyed each other's company. What a great birthday!