Hogwarts Birthday

The following is the culmination of 60 days worth of planning for our daughter's 6th birthday party. Man were we excited when she said she wanted a Harry Potter birthday party. First off we had to get our costumes in order. The kids (Ben 8 and Allie the birthday girl) costumed up in authentic Gryffindor house robes and ties. I got to work on a Hagrid costume and my wife was set to play Professor McGonagall. A close friend also agreed to play Professor Trelawney, and did some timely divination with the kids as we waited for everyone to arrive. The house was decorated with a series of Harry Potter themed signage for the guests as they came up the driveway. Hargid was set up on the front to greet the 13 guests we were expecting. All the guests arrived in some sort of wizard or witch attire, further adding the fun and atmosphere.

Once we had all our guests they were escorted to the first floor, candle lit with a roaring fire in the fireplace, for the sorting ceremony. This was a big hit with the kids! Hagrid discretely acted as the voice of the sorting hat, starting off by singing the sorting hat song from book 1. We had mostly Gryffindors in the group with a few Hufflepuffs!

From there we passed out Marauders Maps to all the kids, and after the required reciting of "I solemnly swear I am up to no good", they were led around the Hogwarts grounds on a scavenger hunt. The culmination was unearthing a chest filled with magic wands buried in a pile of leaves just outside the forbidden forest. The kids filed in and up the stairs to the main activities table, where they all had the chance to decorate their own wands. This went surprisingly quickly so we opted to move everyone into an adjoining room for gifts. The end of gifts we had a golden snitch balloon drop which turned into a chaotic bout of fun!

The hit of the party happened next. We cleared off the wand decorating items and set up the potions class. This included each kid pairing up, and listening intently to our Professor Trelawney (Snape was away for the day). Ingredients included Troll Bogies (dish soap), Troll dandruff (baking soda) and a few other Troll items (vinegar and green water). The kids were talked through adding the necessary ingredients, with the finale being a big, bubbling mess that left the kids screaming and giggling! It was then cake time (after we cleared off the mess) and all enjoyed a HP themed cake of chocolate and vanilla!

Finally, the end was near. We thought it would be funny to have a pool party. After all it was late October in VT, some of the ski hills were already open, it was freezing out and even snowed that morning! The pool was steaming like a witch's cauldron! Most of the kids changed into their swim suits and dashed across the lawn and jumped into our pool, which we spent days heating up to a toasty 90 degrees! This was a great way to end our magical gathering and it was fun watching their little feet scurry across the freezing lawn and back into the warmth of the house!

1600/Allie+6th+Birthday+075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> This was one for the ages, and we all had a great time planning and executing this little bash! Now its time to start planning our son's party, due to happen in a few months!

Does our government have a reset button?

So the government is taking their ball and going home, who cares I think? After all its not like our elected officials have any real clue about what its like to be in the trenches. Well I was wrong. I stand to have a significant number of client's deals not happen, or at least sit idle until our mighty elected stop holding their collective breaths and right the ship. There are so many great memes out there that bring home the equivalent of what is up for grabs here. My favorite is the one that shows a family's income, compared to what they are spending, and their cumulative deficit as a result. If any of us lived the way the government has been conducting itself we'd be screwed, simple as that. So why do they get a pass? So anyway, I have a wonderful collection of deals in the works that are in need of a small business administration guaranty, but guess what? That program is considered non essential so all these hard working folks, trying to put together a business of their own (remember, the American dream), can only sit and wait for some resolution. Is that a big deal, you're damn right it is. Here is why, some are waiting to sign leases, some are waiting to order equipment, some are waiting to hire. Sure sounds like all those wonderful things that all these donkeys ran their campaigns on right? Stimulating the economy. Creating small businesses, you know the back bone of the economy. Well you're not going to believe this but that was all a bunch of lip service. So the next election remember this collection of Washingtonians, and get some new folks in there that are working in the interest of we the people. In fact let's really get nuts and keep campaign contributions to $50 a head, its damn hard to feel any obligation to folks if they only drop $50 in the pot. Oh yes, and let's also do away with lobbyists. I mean really, a job whose sole purpose is to try to influence policy? Shouldn't we as the folks voting these people into office be the people they ultimately report to and shouldn't we be the ones that dictate policy? It all seems to simple, yet it is also so hard. Let's start with having longer memories, I know I will come election day when I remember all these wonderful small businesses, sitting on the side lines, as our current group of elected fumble, bumble and fake smile their way through this mess. Shame on all of them, grow up. We deseve so much better.