Party Planning Fever

I am exhausted. I got roughly 4 hours of sleep last night because I couldn't shut my mind off! I must have gotten up 4-5 times between 10pm-1am to jot down thoughts to get my brain to relax. Sometimes I was up for 5 minutes, other times 25. Finally, at 12:45, I was laying in bed starving, since we ate dinner at 5:30. I went down to the kitchen and ate some yogurt, hoping that would shut my stomach up.

Then (after Kaylin slept in Ryan's room) I heard the kids up and awake at 5am. Thanks to the lack of window coverings, the sunrise blasts into Ryan's room bright and early.

This 8-9 hour a night sleeper (plus a 1-2 hour nap, now that I'm pregnant) is going to have a long, rough day.

Why was I tossing and turning last night - what's on my mind? You'd think baby boy planning (which is definitely floating around in there) but it's birthday party stuff. Up until now, I've copped out and had simple swimming parties for Ryan. But because he's turning 5 this year, I thought I'd finally give him a REAL party. With a theme. And games. And decorations that haven't been recycled from birthdays past.

We're having a Carnival! I've been planning for over a month and have found some really fun prizes at great bargain prices, so I'm excited to tally up my receipts when I'm done to see how much money I spent. Considering the costs of bounce-house rentals and the Chuck E. Cheese parties that other families have, I think I'm going to make out like a bandit. It's a lot of planning to do this party frugally but it will be worth it! If only I could convince Mike to dress up like a clown and make balloon animals...

My life would be so much easier if we could do this outside, but it will be well over 100 degrees, so I'm (gulp) clearing out our furniture and going to let the kids trash my house.

Less than 3 weeks till party day and I'm as excited as if it were tomorrow. For the first time, I'm not inviting a bunch of my friends and their kids (that Ryan knows) - he actually made out the whole guest list himself. I'm not sure how to break the news to him that his pre-school teacher will likely not attend...

Pictures and all of the fun details will follow after the party in a few weeks. Since I'm still in planning-mode...does anyone have any must-do ideas for a Carnival theme???