baby, you can drive my car

a few weeks ago, the bean and i managed to sneak out of the house to attend a party at my friend mommybelle's house, for her son.  remember LFM?  he's exactly two months older than the bean.

the party happened to fall on the very day that the carpet installer dudes were coming to replace the old, stained carpet in the house.  we'd had to wait two weeks for the carpet to arrive, since we'd managed to pick a color that was totally out of stock.  of course.  so it was a good thing we were getting out of the house, which was going to be a madhouse for hours that day anyway.

the invitation, which i'd looked at briefly before packing it with other stuff in a box that's god knows where, was super cute. MB is a big ol' party nazi, just like me.  we're both insane when it comes to the little details that probably don't matter to anybody but us.  heh.  anyway, having been to their new house only once, i pulled up the address from my email, plugged it into my phone, and we were on our way.

of course, the bean hadn't had a nap, and despite the hour-long drive down to the OC, she stayed wide awake.  we were running a little late, based on my recollection of the 12:00 start time on the invitation, but we made a quick stop to find something to wrap the gift in (yeah, i'm a procrastinator like that) and made our way to the house.  when we got there, i noticed something odd - there was a great parking spot available right in front, and there weren't any other cars there.  shit.

as i was unsnapping the bean from her carseat, mr. MB came outside to put some decorations out front, squinted at me, and when i saw the surprise on his face, i knew i'd totally fucked up.  "uh...what time does the party start?" i asked.  "2:30," he said. 

it was only 12:45.  damn.

he ushered us inside, and as soon as i put my bag down, MB popped out from the kitchen with a slightly scared look on her face. 

"you nerd!" she said.  "but if someone was going to be early, i'm glad it's you.  uh, i haven't even taken a shower yet."  haha!

with LFM taking a nap, LP was happily jumping in the giant bouncer in the back yard.  she came in, took the bean by the hand, and led her back there so they could play together.  having just come from gymnastics class, she was ready to go.

while she bounced around in there, i checked out the party zone.  the theme was disney's "cars," which is apparently LFM's most favoritest movie ever.

we all laughed our asses off at MB's hand-painted sign, modeled after a café in the movie.  it's supposed to say "flo's cafe," but it looks like something else:

haha, MB, you big ho!

i was most impressed with the kids' party favors, which MB had fashioned out of bakery boxes that she spray-painted and assembled the night before.

i told you she was a party nazi.  she even had this cute little station set up for the kids to decorate little wooden cars and then race them down the ramp.

under the tent, she'd set up a little eating/relaxing area for the kids with inflatable "tires" and crates that held windshield wiper solution as tables.  there were cars sunglasses too, and the bean wasted no time in modeling a pair.

she liked poking her little hand in the wagon/ice chest and grabbing pieces of ice to snack on, too.

there was lots of food.  they'd ordered like 20 pizzas...this is only part of what the domino's guy brought.

MB had also made cupcakes, along with this cute little cake for the birthday boy's candles:

after watching the kids scramble up the stairs and fly down the giant slide, the bean sprouted a pair and gave it a try too.  and she LOVED it. 

but not as much as she loved her cupcake.  well, the frosting, anyway.  and the ring on top.

MB's sister's boyfriend (you got that?) drives a cool OG volkswagen bus.  at a car show, he'd bought a cute little cover for the windshield that happened to fit the party décor quite well:

and even though we were the first ones to arrive, we still managed to be almost the last ones to leave.  and i still had to bribe the bean with a tootsie roll to get in the car!  five minutes into our ride home, i turned to find this:

since she'd gone all day without a nap, she slept and slept and slept - during the ride home, through the transfer from car to bed, and all the way through the night.  she didn't wake up again till 7 the next morning.

maybe we should get a bouncer and stick it the back yard, permanently.  ha!