A reward for good grades

The kids' honor roll/good grades party last night was a blast! They had a wonderful time, my sister-in-law did a fabulous job with the menu and decorations, and my husband brought home a beautiful and delicious cake.

The only disappointing thing (and it really wasn't a big deal at all) was that most of the people the kids invited didn't get to come. Their only guest was a lively nine-year-old, and with her and our four girls — my two daughters who are 8 and 6, and my two nieces, who are 9 and 5 — there was plenty of little girls to have an exciting party!

My eight-year-old daughter made all A's and the two nine-year-olds made mostly all A's. The six-year-old in kindergarten and the five-year-old in preschool don't get letter grades, but they got lots of checkmarks on their report cards. Everyone was well deserving of a big "good grades" party, that's for sure.

The theme of the party was balloons, so we had balloons everywhere. One of the games they played and loved was one in which you kick ballons into a box. It sounds easier than it really is, because you cannot touch the balloons with your hands, and of course they are so light they go all over the place and you can't get them in the box. We played several different versions of the game with all the balloons that my five-year-old niece and I aired up with a bicycle pump, which was great fun in itself!

The girls also played musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey (with Donkey from Shrek on a huge printout my husband came up with somehow) and danced their hearts out, mostly to "Soulja Boy" and "Wall to Wall" by Chris Brown. They choreographed some good moves to "Wall to Wall."

The party food was barbecued smokies, baked beans, chicken wings, and chips and dip, all made by my sister-in-law, and that delicious cake made by a woman who works with my husband. It has a great big "A" on it because my older daughter made all A's and her name starts with an A.

The kids had such a good time that we left the decorations up so they could have another party today. This one was much briefer but they still had a good time. We are still eating on all that great party food and the cake.

The girls even got gifts! My sister mailed packages for all four of the girls, and a friend of ours gave them a gift bag this morning.

We told them that we won't give them a party every single time they make all A's or get on the honor roll, but we will always try to reward them. We'll definitely do another party, and we think they'll remember this one and work hard to have another one.