The kids’ party was a success. (Or if it wasn’t, eleven kids and their companion adults did a very good job of conspiring to present a unified false front.) So successful, in fact, that we completely dropped the planned craft from the schedule and sent the kids home with their choice of wooden object to paint, along with their superhero balloon from the balloon bouquet HRH went out and picked up this morning. (He also picked up a Superman t-shirt for the boy, who had reluctantly agreed to wear his Spiderman shirt but argued earnestly that Spiderman wasn’t really a superhero. “Are you kidding?” said HRH. “Superman is super-strong, but Spiderman’s much faster than he is.” He came home with the shirt as a surprise, though, and the boy was thrilled to bits with it.)

So many compliments on the Superman logo cake. I tell you, it’s great to be married to an artist. I bake it, whip up the icing, then let HRH go to town with bowls of tinted icing, a pastry bag, and a paintbrush.

No one went overboard on gifts (lots of craft supples, books, and puzzles — thank you deeply, everyone, from the bottoms of our hearts), and Nightdemons sent their gift home with us yesterday as they were fairly sure they wouldn’t be here. Liam opened the bubble machine just as his first guests arrived, and it was an excellent ice-breaker once more kids who didn’t know one another gathered in the backyard.

Platters of fresh fruit, juice, mini hot dogs, pizza, cookies in the shape of fours, foccaccia and coffee/tea for the adults. Really, I will miss these easy parties once he gets older and more sophisticated. Today it was sheer joy for him and his friends to run around the backyard, play on the swings and slide and trikes and such, and eat kid-perfect finger food. Excellent weather for it, too. And as an added bonus, all the adults got to see one another for the first time in however long.

We all crashed for naps around 1:30. As it’s now five, there’s no way I’m making it to Ariadne for Spin In Public Day.

HRH and the boy are currently out back dancing like crazed things on the tiny patio area between the sandbox and the back gate. It’s soaking wet for some reason (the hose was out) and the boy is flinging himself around with a huge smile on his face, pulling off some pretty fancy footwork. I’d say he’s very happy indeed.