My friends and family are awesome!

The Memorial Day party may have been the best yet. The weather was beautiful and lots of people showed up. And two families even came the night before, which I was thrilled about but a little nervous about entertaining and getting the house ready for a bunch of people all at once.

So my mom came on Saturday to help with the cleaning. And she brought her really nice children’s picnic table and a bunch of chairs. And for the party she brought brownies, all different melons, meatball and veggie skewers and cheesie potatoe casserole. Do I have a good mom or what?

And I should have given my friends more credit because they were awesome. First, when I awoke Sunday morning my girlfriends told me that the men had offered to watch the kids while we went for pedicures during the day. They didn’t have to talk me into that. Then before the party my girlfriend Cheyenne got busy in the kitchen doing everything while Erika vacuumed and picked up. Nice. We had a whole hour to relax before company even came.

The whole day was nice too. A flurry of activity. Rachel brought over a new crazy shark slip-n-slide and her big bouncy house, along with her grape salad. Sara brought over tons of popsiscle treats and her ice cream Sundae treat AND a vegetable tray. See what I mean by awesome? People brought so much to share.

And we’ve realized we just really don’t even need to buy too many sodas or beers. Everyone brings a sidedish and beverages. Anyway, enough about that, I’m just blown away by how much everyone pitched in.

The kids loved the slip-n-slide. I didn’t know how the 2-year-olds would handle it, but Steve pulled Ella along and she loved it. And little Finn held the hose happily the whole time. The kids were just busy the whole time between the playset, the sandbox and the water toys.

We also sat in the screened in porch for awhile, which was perfect. I think it’s like 10 degrees cooler in there so on an 80 degree day it makes the weather perfect. Then our friend Brent got out his guitar and Rochelle sang along. It was great.

Then the highlight (or lowpoint – depends how you look at it) happened. Ella was sitting on my sister’s lap for quite a while, in her swim diaper and swimsuit and all of the sudden Emily looked at me, while holding Ella up and said “Houston, we have a problem. Ella just peed all over me.” I think we all bust out laughing and I grabbed Ella to go change her and realized she was still going. So, I had to run through the crowd of people and through the house all while Ella was still peeing. On me. It was hilarious though.

I was so happy to see some other friends with their new baby. Their baby is six months old now and I just got to meet her for the first time. And I have known this couple now for I think about 8 years! And we all worked together in Marion and in California, so I’ll always have a special bond with them. I’m so glad you came Tom and Kara!

Anyway, it was little crazy to see how many kids were there. Just five years ago, most of them didn’t exist and our parties were quite a bit different. But it was really cool and I’m glad we all were able to watch them play together.

The party ended at 11:30 for me when I was just too tired to talk anymore. It ended with a campfire and smores and some latenight funny talks. A perfect party.

The kids navigate their “ship” away from the pirates!

Some members of my helpful crew.

Grant and Ellla practice before the crowd arrives.

A relaxing time, just before the pee incident.

Some good girl time.

Boys gone wile.

Belated weather post

Summer weather finally arrived last week in Indiana. Hallelujah. And it’s actually pretty HOT.

I pulled Ella’s tiny $3 pool out from last summer to cool her off. And she had a blast. I put it under her slide and she went up and down about 100 times. Each time saying “Mommy, watch this!” Cute. I’m glad it doesn’t take a lot to make kids happy.

More on Memorial Day party later.

Tasty drink

I forgot to blog about something funny Ella said the other day. Steve made a special mixed -drink (not alcoholic, something like a “suicide” – remember how you mix sodas when you’re 12? Steve still does that. Sorry honey.) Anyway, he mixed orange drink, lemonade and a little sprite. And Ella had to try some.

After she took a sip, she looked real serious and said “Oh that is tasty.” And she wanted more immediately. I thought it was so funny she used the word tasty. I’m not surprised she liked it though. She is a miniature Steve, that’s for sure.

I feel it coming …

This weekend I’m hosting an annual barbecue for our local friends and our college friends we just don’t get to see much anymore. Once you get to that age where you have kids and important jobs life just gets too busy and complex for get togethers. Plus we don’t all live a few streets away in the same college town anymore.

Anyway, the tally is now at about 26 adults and 16 kids. Should be a lot of fun.

Last year my girlfriend Cheyenne and I planned an elaborate menu, spent a lot of time at Sam’s Club with our two crazy toddlers and exhausted ourselves with preperations the day before. Steve nearly broke his back trying to finish a landscaping project just in time. Then that night, the puking began. Ella was sick all night long. Poor girl. I remember finally at 4 in the morning when she looked so dehydrated and spent we decided to take her to the ER. So needless to say, the party was cancelled last year.

So anyway, I decided that this year, we’re not going to be elaborate. Just burgers, hotdogs and a few side dishes. And we’re not going to go all out trying to make everyone happy with our good beers or fancy drinks. Our friends usually bring their own anyway.

Part of me feels a little stress coming on anyway – mainly getting the house ready. With a 2-year-old I just don’t keep it as neat and clean as I used to. But I’m trying to remain chill. It’s about hanging out with friends and family. Steve will help. My friend Cheyenne will probably help too. My mom would help in a minute if I asked.

And the weather should be great. Our first party was really hot, it rained for the second one and as you know, year #3 was cancelled. So, maybe this will be the perfect year. Just cross your fingers the flu that’s going around now is going to skip us this time.