what i did today

Um, I have none really. 

Scott works today and tomorrow and is off Sunday.  Mom didn’t get the girls today like normal and I have S this afternoon.  I’m hoping MIL gets the girls tonight as it’s been 3 or 4 weeks since she’s kept them overnight.  They are supposed to go to a birthday party tomorrow but I don’t think I’ll take them.  After last weekend, I’m sort of partied out.  I know I should though.  Maybe MIL will take them since it’s a sort of family member on her side. 

Anyway, besides that I have no real plans.  I’ve got a roast in the crockpot so we’ll be eating in tonight.  If MIL gets the girls, I will be doing a deep-clean of the house in the morning.  I want it spotless like it hasn’t been all at once in quite some time.

Obviously the birthday party went well.  The only glitch of the entire day is that there was MAJOR construction on the interstate and many people were late.  One child didn’t show up until an hour into it.  I felt bad because they were pushing us out of our tables because we only get them for 90 minutes.  The whole thing was kind of hurried but it was great because then we were free to play as long as we wanted after that.  The order of the whole thing was play, pizza, show time, cake, play, open presents, play again.

All of the parents were SO nice and SO helpful and it is true most of them were just running around with their own children or making sure they had something to drink and eat.  FIL manned the table to hand out coins.  Mom helped with the presents and wrapping paper.  Dad took some pictures and helped carry ALL the presents out to the car..  Heather was on Lexi duty some and even donated her tickets at the end – Heather, I’m so proud of you.  MIL was on Emma duty some.  Everyone really pitched in. 

Apparently Lexi’s little boyfriend is into Lexi as much as Lexi is into him because he gave her a big hug when he got there.  I HAVE to show this picture of them.  I will take it down by tomorrow though just so it’s not sitting out in cyberspace.   Lexi wanted him to sit beside her but he was a little afraid of the stuffed, moving characters on stage.  I can’t blame him but Scott says he doesn’t know if he can let Lexi marry a man that’s scared of things like that.  lol.  As for Emma, her little boyfriend showed up but he is quite shy and according to his mother is not nearly as aware of Emma as she is of him.  He is a sweet little boy though but ended up playing with the other little boy that came from Emma’s class.  Which HE was a sweetie.  His mom said he would NOT play a single game until he had searched the entire game room to tell Emma Happy Birthday.  But Emma was stuck to the hip with this little girl as soon as she showed up during the show time.  They had a GREAT time and her parents were nice enough to follow the two of them around the game room to supervise them.  

Emma and Lexi both liked their cakes and boy were they delicious!  Only spent 18.99 on each and WAY better than the ones I had paid $30-40 for at a bakery.  They were obviously very happy with them.

The presents were a hit and I really can not tell you how many they had.  They literally had 3 tables worth of presents lined up.  I really, really was not expecting that.  Everyone was extremely generous especially since I had the double party and people had to buy two gifts.  They had a great time opening them.  Lexi finally can unwrap a present with no help and she had a great time doing it. 

But we all know the REAL reason I let the kiddies have a party at the Cheesola is the skee ball.  I love me some skee ball.  I didn’t touch it until 2 hours into the party but I put out some coins to play a couple rounds of it.   I watched Emma play a few rounds with her little friend and it looked a little more like a game of softball than skee ball.  We were lucky there weren’t lost balls.  As for Lexi, poor thing couldn’t get it more than 2 feet from the starting line so we let her cheat a little.  Somehow we couldn’t convince her to stick them in the 50 point hole instead of the 10 point hole though.

The girls racked up on the tickets though as several people donated theirs to them.  They walked out with 500 tickets in exchange for a little 6x6x6 Princess box and two little plastic rings.  At one point, D saw me at skee ball and said, "Wow, you’re going to get a GREAT jelly bracelet with that."

By the end of the evening, my girls were tired and Scott had a headache but we all had SO MUCH FUN.  I’m so glad we did it and it was worth every penny.  I think everyone had a great time.  I’m not sure if we’ll be doing this every year, but I for one will always remember Emma’s 5th birthday even if she doesn’t.

And lastly, I must mention the presents again.  It was like Christmas morning around here.  I seriously considered just wrapping some of these things up for Christmas.  In fact, they got a couple duplicates and I think I’m going to exchange them and use them just for that.  It’s just really ridiculous how much they got.   They were happy as larks with it.  I looked at Emma and said, "Remember all those times you say you want a toy at Target?  Well, this is it. These are all the toys you want."  And as tired as they were, they haven’t quit playing with them for a skinny minute all evening.

We are so blessed.

Last night turned out to be quite the busy evening at the last minute. 

MIL called and wanted everyone to get together for FIL’s birthday yesterday so we cooked and everyone came over here. 

I also called yesterday morning and made an appointment for my hair.  The last inch or so of damaged hair from my really bad blonde streak in my hair HAD to be cut out.  So the good news is my hair is nice and soft now but the bad news is the layers around my face are a little shorter than I had wanted.  Overall I’m really happy with it and I shall post some before and after pictures for your enjoyment and/or amusement whenever I finally decide to get a shower today.

M (girl that used to be in our youth group) went with me and we stopped at Starbuck’s on the way out of the mall.  Yum.  Hair cut, hair products in a bag and Starbuck’s.  Heavenly.  We headed back to the house to finish up the night by completing the weekly ritual of watching Grey’s Anatomy together.  More to come on that, but it turned out to be a great evening.

As for this weekend…Mom has the girls out now for the weekly Friday shopping/lunch date.  Tonight the girls are staying with MIL (I hope) and then tomorrow is the big birthday party.  Right now we have 17 kids plus Emma and Lexi and all the parents and family going.  I’m guessing we’ll have 40-50 people. It should be quite the event.  I’m just really glad I don’t have to clean my house, buy decorations and paper products and have people over.  I love having people over but 19 preschoolers and their parents and both sides of the family all within 200 square feet?  No thanks.

So this weekend should be busy but fun.  Especially since it will be a long one for me since we have Monday off.  Whoo Hoo!

First glass of egg nog for the season.  Yum, this is good.

Do you drink Egg Nog during the season?  I do.  I start early and end late.  It’s one of my favorite treats of the season.

So apparently Lexi has a "boyfriend".  His name is Will.  Pronounced by Lexi as Whee-heel.  I don’t know how it started but if you ask her who her boyfriend is, she’ll say Whee-heel.  So I sent invitations to school today for the big Chuck E. Cheese party this weekend and Will’s mom called to RSVP.  That was sort of a weird conversation in itself because I told her my daughter calls your son her boyfriend.  And she ensures me he’s a sweet boy and loves girls because he has a 6 year old sister.  That’s a plus I guess.

So I go outside to tell Lexi Will was coming to her party. She seems semi excited but Emma is really excited.  "Lexi, Will’s coming to Chuck E. Cheese’s to our party!!"  So I go to walk back inside and Emma runs up to me and says, "Stop!  I want to see Lexi and Will kiss at the party!" 

What?!?!  "There will be no kissing at this party!"  Is it just my preschooler that is obsessed with boyfriends, kissing and getting married??  Sheesh.  They’re not old enough for this yet!