Very Effective Birth Control

Well, the minecraft birthday party was as cool as expected. It was also a VERY effective form of birth control.

We showed up at Aunt Liz's place on Friday night and helped finish up some of the things for the birthday party. Andrew and I were in charge of wrapping boxes in green paper to make a creeper. Creepers are the monsters in the game that come after you and blow up when they get close to you. I think they're called creepers because they have a habit of creeping on you. I was in my house  (in the game) the other day and I tried to go out the front door and there were two creepers just hanging out, waiting to blow me up. Unfortunately I didn't have a back door so I waited for like an hour to see if they'd go away. Nope, they just kept creepin' on me from my front door. I had to dig a tunnel out of my house, but I digress.

We made a creeper out of boxes and then I helped Liz with the cake while Andrew went into the office to help Uncle Rob with a secret Christmas project for the kids.

After the preparations were all done, Andrew, Rob, and I sat down to play minecraft. At about 4am I could no longer keep my eyes open so I went to bed. I think Andrew followed at 4:30. At about 6 you could hear the kids starting to get up and by 8 there was no way we could pretend we were asleep anymore so we got up.

The party started at 10 and it started with a craft. I had to help Sophie with her craft because she was too young to understand what to do. Liz was helping the other kids and at the same time, manning the prize exchange table. Soon after the craft started, Rob came out and handed me a video camera and informed me that they were clearing out a regular camera too so I could take still pictures. All this while I'm trying to help Sophie with her craft. Phew! During all this time, the men were hiding in the office. They came out to give me the cameras and then out again to take care of Sydney who is only 2 and wanted to get into all the prizes. They disappeared with Sydney into the office.

Finally, after trying to take care of everything ourselves, we made the men come out and help. Andrew took his turn helping Sophie so I could use the cameras. It was still crazy because I had the video camera in one hand and the still camera in the other. There are a few frames in the video of just people's feet or the ceiling. =P

The party was supposed to be an outdoor party, but we had to bring it indoors due to the 4 inches of snow on the ground. Andrew describes the party pretty succinctly when he says "pandemonium".

The last activity of the party was just a free for all with post office boxes. There were probably about 60 or so boxes that the kids were allowed to build with and knock down as they pleased. There was a lot of screaming going on, along with they typical sharing issues with some kids. They didn't need a lot of corralling but the noise was enough for me. I am not having kids for YEARS after that.

Once all the kids were gone and the house was quiet again, we all breathed a sigh of relief. It was fun, but it was crazy. I told Andrew on the way home that I really don't want kids for a long time after that experience. The noise was crazy, but after watching all the careful planning that goes into themed birthday parties, I don't think I'm ready for it. You have to remember, I'm the one that never dresses up for halloween because it's too troublesome. And what do I do for the 4th of July? The same thing I did on the 3rd of July but with a flag outside my house. The only holiday I celebrate is Christmas. I don't even celebrate my birthday. I'm just that uninterested in celebration.

I told Andrew, and my mom because she and the rest of my family are here this week,  that I just barely figured out what to do with an infant. I have no idea what to do with a child that realizes that it doesn't have to go everywhere I do. What am I going to do if my child, despite all my efforts, likes Dora the Explorer. What if they want to have a Dora party!? What if they end up liking barbies!? WHAT IF THEY ARE A GIRL!?! (Yeah I'm still on about that). But on the other hand, what if they like Transformers!? Bleh!

And that's just birthday parties. They're going to want to dress up for halloween...and I don't think I can get away with making them all masquerade as ghosts more than two years in a row. I can't sew. I can't craft at all! My Halloween decorations this year? Free corn stalks from my garden.

No, I'm not going to be a very good parent at all. It's kind of depressing because I have some pretty amazing parents to live up to. My kids are gonna think I'm super lame and boring. Probably because I am.

Nope, that birthday party has convinced me never to have children, or at least not have them for a very long time. Next time I go over, and Reed asks if we're a mommy and daddy, I'm just going to have to tell him, never.

In other news, my family is here. My sister, Brianna, goes into the MTC on Wednesday. Crazy stuff.