The Wonderbugs turn 6!

When did that happen? I suppose somewhere between this horrible summer and me turning almost all gray (I kid you not, I am more gray than my 60 year old mother in law!), my Wonderbugs are turning six... in two weeks exactly from today! This year I won't even bother with the "how and when did that happen?". Maybe because this year feels like an eternity so I guess I wouldn't be surprised if they were turning 10 all of a sudden! So ... their birthday. For me, birthdays are very important. They are a way of saying "Thank you for being born! I loved that day and every single one since. I am so happy you are here and I am so proud you are growing up"... As soon as I told my in laws I was having this big party, they were all over me of course... On one hand, my father's passing and on the other the dire financial conditions of our country, and they were borh saying I shouldn't do anything... but you see.. it doesn't work like that exactly in my "weird" Tina mind. My father's passing: the boys have already lost someone they had daily and intimate contact with and they miss him dearly. Their summer has been marked by their mother being absent almost the entire month of August while he was struggling in the hospital, then their mother breaking down more or less. I do not want it be the first year they didn't celebrate their birthday. I never have people over, we don't have many playdates either as all of their friends are so busy with extra curicular things, nobody actually plays anymore!! (which is why my boys ONLY have swimming and for John, the mandatory therapy)... so it's not like they get so see their friends outside of school all that often. Then the financial aspect.... well, I have been saving up since July for their party. Any pocket money I made from my photoshoots, went to their party fund. I stroke deals and did most of the things myself. I bought a lot of things online (they are so cheap even with shipping added if I get them from the US or China for instance), so all in all it will not cost me as much as they think... plus lets not forget our TINY 2 bedroom apartment that last year fit exactly 3 friends and their parents were literally sitting on top of each other... I didn't sit down all afternoon because... there wasn't enough room in our tiny apartment... first and LAST time we did their party at home. So they were chewing my ears up all Sunday afternoon, my in laws... At the end I got so mad at them that I said "I didn't steal the money, I didn't ask you for the money, it is my money, I worked hard for it and I want to spend it for a party, what's YOUR deal with it?" If you know me, you know I NEVER raise my voice but since dad died, I have been pretty aggressive to be honest...which is NOT all bad. I stand up for myself now much more than I used to... :) So I got a super cheap deal for a local Kid Disco for 30 people and I can bring extra people for only $5 each (and under 5's they go for free!!!! ) In other places they asked for at LEAST $10 per person with only ONE coffee included in the price and NO food and younger kids over 18 months would pay full price. But for a fiver in that place, they can have as many coffees or sodas or juice they want and some finger food is included :) They will also provide the music, fireworks, balloons etc etc... but if you know me, you know I am Type A... so I am providing very specific music, balloons and extra food ;) We also love theme parties and this year we are going with the boys' favorite, Star Wars!!! Both boys are going dressed as Clone Troopers (Thank you Barbra for your invaluable help in getting the costumes from the US!) and I got masks and inlfatable Lightsabers for the kids. I made the invitation to sound like the beginning of the Clone Wars cartoon... like "The Extremists are attacking with their Droid army but the brave Clones are cutting them off on every turn. Will you help save the Galaxy? Training starts...." (details of party and time etc) I designed and printed them myself too :) See? Saving $$ everywhere. I am also doing the cakes, cake pops, cupcakes and some light finger food like meatballs, whole weat turkey sandwiches, a pasta souffle for the adults, salads etc. Yes I will be cooking all Saturday before the party but I love it :) Yesterday I did the music CDs and printed them too (so the DJ will know which ones are ours. And to make sure, I printed proper covers for them with the boys' photos on them)...and yes, I have actually bought all the music I own ;) (Thank you iTunes and Nokia lol). My pop/rock boys have very specific music tastes so I wanted very specific music: Pink, Queen, Bon Jovi, Avril Lavigne (Cody's favorite!), Meatloaf are but a few of their faves... of course they also love Big Time Rush and Victoria (from the Nickelodeon and Disney channels) so their music went in there too.We do not listen to Greek music much so I wanted to avoid that and most places will put on the "latest hits" and ... ewwww!! I want the Star Wars theme to play when the birthday cakes arrive so I put that in there too, renaming it "Cake" just in case the DJ has no idea who John Williams is or what Star Wars is lol :) I have a folder full of stuff, addresses, keeping track of orders, to do lists, menus, shopping lists... trying to dot my i's and cross my t's as best I can. Which reminds me, I need to burn a couple of back ups for the music and also put them on a USB stick and memory card... just in case!! I still need to do their birthday video which will be projected on a wall projector thingy. Hmmmm.... good thing I know a couple of things about computers, right? Movie maker here I come...