Phew! We Survived the Party!
It was about midnight on Friday when I started thinking, “This is going to be a complete nightmare!” As parents, why do we willingly invite stress into our lives? Why do we welcome dozens of people into our homes to give them the prime chance to watch us flailing about? As if they don’t have plenty of opportunities to give us the sideways ‘what kind of mother are you’ looks on an average day, we open the doors for our entire social circle to judge us at the exact same time in our own homes where we should be free of such judgements!
You must understand that at this point in the night, I was covered in black icing trying to replicate tiger and zebra stripes on the 48 cupcakes waiting to be adorned on my kitchen counter. It was two hours past my targeted bedtime. Nothing I had wanted to accomplish that evening was finished. All decorations-not up! Presents-not wrapped! Cupcakes- not iced! Food- not prepped! Renee- exhausted!
I refused to go to bed until the cupcakes were done! Finally, at about 1:00AM all 43 of them (several zebras were attacked by vicious tigars) were happily lined up on the counter! Decorations – not up! Presents- not wrapped! Cupcakes – ICED! Food – not prepped! Renee – still exhausted!
When I woke up the next morning, amazing things began to happen. I opened my bedroom door to the smell of my mother-in-law’s homemade danishes! When I turned the corner, I saw my father-in-law hanging the decorations I didn’t finish the night before. When I stepped into the home office slash Moanna’s private Chucky Cheese, I saw that my husband was taking toys outside for the children to play with!
Things were going smoothly.Presents were finally wrapped. Decorations were up. I even had time to shower! However, I began to get nervous again when the hash browns were not browning! The party began at 10:00AM, and I had about 30 minutes until showtime. On cue my mom (queen of all hash browns) and step-dad arrived. They quickly took over finishing up the food.
By 10:30AM our house was packed with about 30 guests. They ranged from 8 months old to 80 years old. I had no idea that our home could handle that many people at once. What is more surprising is that we had that many people in our home at once, and no one was severely injured… physically or emotionally! Everyone was fed, and everyone seemed to have a great time.
Thank God for giving parents, and husbands who can tell when you are on the verge of cracking! Thank you to everyone who helped make Moanna’s party a success, and to everyone who came to share the special day with us!
Now when you ask our daughter how old she is, she happily says, “Two in June!” brought to you by Grandma Annette, and Papa Bob!
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