Baseball game birthday

We had Valerie's birthday party last night.  Well, since I'm writing this at 8:30 in the morning, we are actually still having Valerie's birthday party.  The girls are still asleep in the basement.

This year we invited less kids to her party since we took them to the Clippers baseball game.  I think less kids is the key to less madness and more fun.  All the girls got along very well and it really was enjoyable for all, including me.  Val caught me more than once to glow about what a great time she was having.

I'd highly recommend a Clipper's game birthday outing.  We didn't actually do the formal Clippers party event, we just got there at 5:30 for the free band and food specials and after we found our seats, I sent the 4 girls off with money to buy whatever they wanted for dinner.  They also went off together during the 5th or 6th inning when they were getting restless.  It was the perfect combination of 12-year-old freedom and supervision. 

Ken brought Jason and a friend to join us after Jason's soccer practice.  They made it just in time for the first pitch.  It was neat to watch the boys together at the game.  They are both on the same baseball team and were really interested in the game.  We decided we will do a Clipper's game for Jason's birthday next year.  The trick is to plan it at the last minute to ensure the weather will cooperate.  Maybe it's an option to have a rain date for the party so the party occurs only if the weather allows.  Mmmmmm, not a bad idea.  We planned to take Jason's friends to the Crew game (soccer) at his party two weeks ago, but it rained so they went to an Imax movie of How to Train Your Dragon in 3D, instead. 

I picked up a Graeter's ice cream pie that was Val's slightly-less-than-traditional birthday cake. I don't know when we started that, but she has decided that Black Raspberry pie with a cookie crust and heavy hot fudge on top is the perfect birthday cake.  Since it's so untraditional, I also had some vanilla ice cream on hand just in case some of the girls weren't big black raspberry fans.  That turned out to be a good idea as two of them opted for vanilla.  I also picked up little plastic makeup bags and filled them with hair bands, emery boards, ring pops, and candy for the party favors.  Before I went to bed at some crazy hour in the morning, I made nachos for the girls and they ate them while winding down with a movie.  I have no idea what time they went to sleep.

I hear rustling.  The girls are up now.  I think we're having waffles this morning.  Or cereal.  Or toast.  Or whatever they want.  Hey, they're 12.  They can get their own breakfast, right?  I love this "getting some independence" thing.