{birthday} Parade

A friend and I signed our boys up for VBS last week. Which meant we inadvertently signed them up to walk in a parade and hand out candy for the church. Neither of our families actually attend said church however that did not deter our boys' enthusiasm for participating. 

So the girls and I geared up to walk the parade with the boys. And my friend waited at the end to pick up our little parade participants. 

Parade day happened to fall on Hannah's first birthday. Birthday girl was clearly thrilled to celebrate with the entire town! 

Still thrilled:) In her defense it was quite hot and MUGGY!

About half way through the parade I realized I was IN A PARADE therefore I should probably wave and smile since I wasn't handing out candy! That thought was gone as quickly as it came. Because really who has time to smile and wave while guiding/corralling 6 kids ages 6 and under during a parade?!? Not this mom. I was far too busy shouting orders..."keep up", "stay away from the car", "remember to hand out candy", "now stop giving out candy", "watch out for that car", "hurry up", "SLOW DOWN", and the most used and least obeyed command of the morning, "stay with our group"!

Oh look I did manage to wave...just once for the camera:)

Afterwards we look our crew to McDonalds for an ice cream treat to cool off! Birthday girl was happy then. As an added bonus we managed to avoid the chaos off the carnival at the end of the parade and all it cost was 0.49¢ per cone! I would say that was money well spent. Thank you friend. 

After it was all said and done, I was left wondering if it was worth it. I spent most of the time directing and redirecting the kids. I shouted each of their names too many times to count! I felt like I was the "bad guy" and ruining all the fun...or at least putting a damper on it. However when asked all the (verbal) parade participants enthusiastically confirmed that the parade was a BLAST! 

Bless little kids and their innate ability to only remember the good. The heat, humidity and near constant "reminders" from me hardly registered. To them it was a GREAT morning. They were IN A PARADE! Handing out candy. Getting lots of attention. Waving at strangers having a grand old time! Plus they got to EAT candy:)

I was just glad I had all 6 of my charges accounted for at the end of the parade! It might just be a long, long time before I sign up for walking in a parade again. It certainly isn't becoming Hannah's birthday tradition! The baked mac n cheese I made for her birthday dinner...now that might become our tradition. Parades, not so much:)